How to use Mono with Lendsqr for credit scoring

Take Shola, a young professional living in Lagos. She dreams of fixing her laptop to serve her freelancing business better. However, when Shola approached a lender for a small loan to cover the cost, they asked for her bank statements to assess her financial situation.

Shola’s bank statements are like a detailed map of her financial life, showing her income from freelance gigs, regular expenses, and savings habits. These documents are essential for lenders to understand Shola’s ability to repay the loan responsibly.

However, accessing these statements can be tricky due to their sensitive nature. Thankfully, companies like Mono, Okra, myBankStatement (MBS), and Lendsqr’s Kolo are there to help. They securely gather Shola’s bank data and present it to lenders in a way that protects her privacy while highlighting her financial credibility.

For Shola, these statement providers aren’t just facilitating a loan application; they’re empowering her to achieve her dreams by proving her financial responsibility through her real-life spending habits and income streams.

Mono – a walkthrough

One of these leading providers, Mono, is a technology company founded in 2020 by CEO Abdulhamid Hassan. They are on a mission to power the digital economy in Africa, using open banking as a layer for financial data, identity data, and bank transfer payments for businesses. 

Featured read: What you need to know about Nigeria’s Open Banking

Mono is spread across Africa in 4 different countries: Nigeria, Ghana, Kenya and South Africa. They’ve secured partnerships with over 30+ financial institutions and counting.

Here’s how Mono works: Mono organizes different financial data in a single API for firms and third-party developers. It allows easy retrieval of information like income, account statements, real-time balance, and historical transactions. It also attempts to improve financial inclusion and connectivity in Africa.

Today, Mono offers one of Africa’s most reliable financial data services. 

The excellent news for lenders using Lendsqr’s loan management software is that they can easily access borrowers’ financial data, such as bank statements, with Mono’s Statement Pages feature. Access to such data improves credit scoring and overall credit decisioning.

Setting up Mono with Lendsqr

1. Before integrating with Mono, lenders must ensure they have a valid and current license. Prioritizing Know Your Customer (KYC) procedures to ensure compliance and security is also essential.
2. After you confirm the authenticity and currency of your license and lender information, Sign up on Mono, wait for account activation, and then log in. 
3. Begin integration by bringing your Mono API keys to the Lendsqr support team. Our engineers will configure Mono for your loan app as part of your custom decision model.
4. Once integration is complete, you can go ahead and request bank statements with your customers’ consent.
5. To access customers’ financial data, the next step is to call Mono’s Exchange Token API to fetch a customer’s Account ID.
6. Please note that this Account ID is a permanent identifier for the customer’s connected bank account. It doesn’t have an expiry time, as its time to live is indefinite.
7. With this information, it is vital to save this Account ID into your database so that you can make future API calls as desired and access their data. Learn more about Mono integration.

Feature read: Why using bank statements is important for loan decisions

Mono — pricing

Mono offers a simple and flexible pricing model designed to fit businesses at any stage.

Regular band

30 days plan

• One-time free trial
• Features: It is capped at five unique accounts, Account information, and transactions. 

Basic plan

• NGN 15,000.00 monthly (NGN 180,000.00/annually) for small developer teams
• Features: Capped at 100 unique accounts monthly, Account information, Transactions, Identity endpoint, Credits/debits endpoint.

Enterprise band

Contact the Mono sales team for pricing 

• Features
  • Unlimited unique accounts monthly
  • Account information
  • Transactions
  • Identity endpoint
  • Credits/debits endpoint
  • Transaction metadata
  • Income endpoint
  • Unlimited data sync calls
  • Assets
  • Earnings
  • 360 View
  • Widget customisation
  • Partner’s API/White label
  • Telco data

Feature read: Get bank accounts and statements of your borrowers

Take the guesswork out of lending

For Shola, getting that small loan to fix her laptop wasn’t just about the money—it was about getting her freelance business back on track. With Mono and Lendsqr’s help, she provided lenders with a clear, accurate picture of her financial situation, making it easier for them to say yes. 

Mono’s ability to securely gather and present financial data means that lenders can make better decisions, reduce guesswork, and lend with confidence. This not only speeds up the loan process but also helps build trust between borrowers and lenders. Say goodbye to lending with uncertainty. Send us a message at [email protected] to get started.