ClearScore Group Expands into Mortgages with Acre Acquisition

ClearScore enters mortgage market with Acre deal

• ClearScore Group has acquired Acre Platforms Limited to accelerate its entry into mortgages, building on its position in unsecured credit broking.
• Acre will continue serving mortgage and protection businesses, while powering ClearScore’s broader mortgage capability and strategy.
• ClearScore plans to route mortgage demand from its UK user base through Acre’s broker ecosystem and enrich insights using additional property, mortgage and affordability data.
• The move follows ClearScore’s early-2025 acquisition of Aro Finance, which expanded capabilities in secured loans, and comes with plans to extend the mortgage platform internationally.

Overview of ClearScore Group’s Acquisition Strategy

ClearScore Group has been steadily widening its footprint from a credit-score-led marketplace into a broader financial platform that can match consumers with multiple forms of borrowing. The acquisition of Acre Platforms Limited fits that pattern: it is designed to accelerate ClearScore’s entry into the mortgage industry while reinforcing the Group’s existing strengths in unsecured credit broking.

At the core of ClearScore’s model is a data-driven marketplace that matches users to products—credit cards, loans and car finance—using a combination of credit and affordability data. That matching is facilitated through credit reports and Open Banking, positioning the company as a technology platform as much as a consumer brand. In that context, acquisitions are not simply about adding product lines; they are about adding infrastructure, integrations, and data assets that can be layered into the platform.

The Group’s strategy, as described around the Acre deal, emphasizes scale and “user-permissioned data” combined with a fintech stack and APIs. The logic is straightforward: ClearScore already has reach and demand—millions of users checking their credit and exploring borrowing options—and it wants to connect that demand to more complex, higher-stakes products such as mortgages. Doing that effectively requires specialist technology and an ecosystem of intermediaries and lender integrations, which is where Acre comes in.

ClearScore also frames its approach in terms of becoming an “integral layer” in financial ecosystems. It points to D•One, its Open Banking service for lenders, as an example of how it has embedded itself in the credit ecosystem. The intention is for Acre to play a similar role in mortgages: not just a consumer-facing feature, but a platform layer that supports brokers, lenders, and the flow of data and applications.

This acquisition-led expansion also signals a sequencing in ClearScore’s growth: from unsecured credit broking, to secured loans (via Aro Finance), and now into mortgages (via Acre). Each step adds complexity—more underwriting considerations, more data requirements, more stakeholders—and each step appears to be supported by acquiring specialist capabilities rather than building everything from scratch.

Finally, ClearScore’s stated plan to extend its mortgage platform beyond the UK into its businesses in South Africa, Australia, New Zealand and Canada suggests that acquisitions are being used to create reusable platform components. In other words, the Group is not only buying a UK mortgage technology provider; it is buying a platform it believes can be scaled across its existing international presence.

Details of the Acquisition of Acre Platforms Limited

ClearScore Group has announced the acquisition of Acre Platforms Limited (Acre), describing Acre as a leading technology solutions provider to the mortgage industry. The deal is positioned as a catalyst for ClearScore’s move into mortgages, adding to its established presence in unsecured credit broking and building on its earlier expansion into secured lending.

While financial terms were not disclosed in the information provided, ClearScore’s messaging is clear about what it believes it is buying: a “leading CRM platform for intermediaries,” a set of technology platforms and APIs, and a business that already supports mortgage and protection firms with “cutting-edge technology solutions.” Under new ownership, Acre will continue to provide those solutions to the mortgage and protection market, rather than being folded away or discontinued.

Operationally, Acre is based in London and has 47 staff. That team is expected to join ClearScore Group’s growing national footprint across London, Manchester and Edinburgh. The emphasis on footprint matters because it signals that the acquisition is not purely a product integration; it is also a people and capability acquisition, bringing specialist mortgage-industry expertise into a Group that has historically been known for credit scoring and consumer financial marketplaces.

Strategically, ClearScore says Acre will “power ClearScore’s overall mortgage capability and strategy.” That phrasing suggests Acre is intended to be foundational—an enabling layer—rather than a bolt-on feature. ClearScore also states it can now “route demand for mortgages from its users to Acre’s broker ecosystem via the platform.” In practice, that implies a pipeline: ClearScore generates consumer interest and intent; Acre provides the intermediary-facing system and broker ecosystem that can handle the mortgage journey.

Data is another explicit part of the deal rationale. ClearScore says Acre will provide “additional property, mortgage, and affordability data,” enriching insights for homeowners and home buyers within ClearScore’s platform. For a consumer marketplace, that kind of data enrichment can influence how users are matched to products and how they understand their options—particularly in mortgages, where affordability and property context are central.

The acquisition also comes with an international ambition. ClearScore’s plan is to meet demand from its 16 million UK user base first, then extend the mortgage platform into ClearScore’s businesses in South Africa, Australia, New Zealand and Canada. That sequencing implies the UK will be the initial proving ground for the combined platform, with expansion following once the model is established.

In short, the deal is framed as a combination of technology, ecosystem access, and data assets—plus a specialist team—intended to accelerate ClearScore’s entry into a market that is structurally different from unsecured credit, but adjacent in terms of consumer need and platform economics.

Impact on ClearScore’s Entry into the Mortgage Industry

ClearScore’s acquisition of Acre is explicitly described as accelerating the Group’s entry into the mortgage industry. The impact, based on the details provided, is less about a single product launch and more about changing what ClearScore can do end-to-end: generate mortgage demand, route it into an execution ecosystem, and support the journey with richer data.

Before the deal, ClearScore’s marketplace model already matched users to credit cards, loans and car finance using credit and affordability data, facilitated through credit reports and Open Banking. Mortgages, however, are a different category: they typically involve longer decision cycles, more documentation, and a broader set of stakeholders—particularly brokers and lenders—than many unsecured products. By acquiring a mortgage-industry technology provider, ClearScore is effectively buying a bridge into that ecosystem.

One immediate impact is distribution. ClearScore says it can now route mortgage demand from its users to Acre’s broker ecosystem via the platform. That matters because ClearScore’s consumer reach—16 million users in the UK—creates a large pool of potential mortgage customers. The acquisition turns that reach into a more direct channel into the broker market, rather than leaving ClearScore to rely on looser partnerships or less integrated referral paths.

Another impact is capability. ClearScore intends Acre to power its “overall mortgage capability and strategy,” suggesting that the mortgage proposition will be built on Acre’s technology rather than being a peripheral add-on. Acre’s role as a technology solutions provider to mortgage and protection businesses implies it already supports workflows and requirements specific to that market. For ClearScore, that reduces the friction of entering a regulated, process-heavy category.

Data enrichment is also central to the impact. ClearScore states that Acre will provide additional property, mortgage and affordability data, enriching insights for homeowners and home buyers within ClearScore’s platform. In a marketplace context, better data can improve matching and user experience—helping consumers understand affordability and options—while also potentially improving the quality of leads routed to brokers.

The acquisition also reinforces ClearScore’s broader narrative of building platform layers that become integral to an ecosystem. The Group explicitly compares its intention for Acre in mortgages to the role D•One plays in the credit ecosystem as an Open Banking service for lenders. If that ambition holds, the impact would be structural: ClearScore would not just “offer mortgages,” but provide infrastructure that brokers and lenders rely on, aligning the company’s growth with the operational fabric of the mortgage market.

Finally, the deal’s impact extends beyond the UK. ClearScore plans to extend its mortgage platform into its businesses in South Africa, Australia, New Zealand and Canada. That suggests the acquisition is being used to create a repeatable mortgage capability that can be deployed across markets where ClearScore already operates, rather than starting from zero in each geography.

Taken together, the acquisition changes ClearScore’s mortgage entry from a tentative expansion into a platform-led push: consumer demand on one side, broker ecosystem and mortgage-specific technology on the other, with data and Open Banking as connective tissue.

Acre’s Role in the Mortgage Ecosystem

Acre is positioned by ClearScore as more than a vendor or a newly acquired subsidiary; it is intended to become an “integral layer of the mortgage ecosystem.” That phrase is important because it frames Acre as infrastructure—technology that sits between multiple parties and helps the market function more efficiently—rather than a single consumer-facing product.

In practical terms, Acre is described as a leading technology solutions provider to the mortgage industry, serving mortgage and protection businesses. Its platform has been built to simplify the mortgage journey and to “take the pain out of the process so that consumers can get into their homes quicker,” according to Acre’s chief executive. That mission aligns with the broader industry challenge: mortgages are often complex, document-heavy and slow-moving, and technology providers that streamline workflows can influence both broker productivity and consumer experience.

ClearScore highlights Acre’s “leading CRM platform for intermediaries,” which points to Acre’s strength in the broker channel. Intermediaries—brokers and advisers—remain central to many mortgage journeys, and a CRM platform can become the operational hub for managing client interactions, documentation, lender submissions and follow-ups. By acquiring a platform embedded in intermediary workflows, ClearScore gains a route into the broker ecosystem that is difficult to replicate quickly through organic development.

The acquisition also creates a two-sided connection: ClearScore can generate consumer demand through its marketplace and then route that demand into Acre’s broker ecosystem. That routing is not merely a referral; it implies a platform-level integration where consumer intent and data can be translated into broker-ready leads and workflows. For brokers, the value is potentially higher-quality, better-contextualized demand; for ClearScore, the value is a clearer path from user engagement to mortgage outcomes.

Data is another key part of Acre’s ecosystem role. ClearScore says Acre will provide additional property, mortgage and affordability data, enriching insights for homeowners and home buyers within ClearScore’s platform. In a mortgage context, property and affordability data can shape what products are relevant and what a consumer can realistically pursue. While ClearScore already uses credit and affordability data in its marketplace, the addition of property- and mortgage-specific data broadens the informational base for decision-making.

ClearScore’s comparison of Acre’s intended role to D•One’s role in the credit ecosystem also signals a platform ambition. D•One is described as ClearScore’s Open Banking service for lenders and as an integral layer of the credit ecosystem. By analogy, Acre is expected to become a similar layer in mortgages—supporting integrations, data flows and operational processes that connect brokers, lenders and consumers.

Acre’s London base and 47-person team also matter in ecosystem terms. Mortgage technology is not only software; it is domain knowledge, compliance awareness, and the ability to maintain and expand integrations with lenders and partners. ClearScore’s plan to keep Acre providing solutions to mortgage and protection businesses suggests continuity: the platform remains part of the broader mortgage ecosystem even as it becomes a core component of ClearScore’s mortgage strategy.

User Base and Market Reach of ClearScore

ClearScore’s expansion into mortgages is inseparable from its scale. The Group says it serves over 25 million users around the world, and it specifically references a 16 million user base in the UK. That reach is a central asset in the acquisition narrative: ClearScore is not entering mortgages as a niche startup looking for distribution; it is entering with a large, established audience already engaged with credit and borrowing decisions.

ClearScore describes itself as a leading financial marketplace. Its marketplaces work by matching users to credit cards, loans and car finance through a sophisticated mix of credit and affordability data, facilitated through credit reports and Open Banking. This model implies that ClearScore’s reach is not passive—users are not only checking scores but are being matched to products based on data-driven assessments of suitability and affordability.

That matters for mortgages because the mortgage journey typically begins long before an application is submitted. Consumers often start by understanding their financial position, exploring affordability, and comparing options. ClearScore’s existing proposition—credit visibility and product matching—naturally sits upstream of a mortgage decision. The acquisition of Acre is therefore framed as meeting “the demand” of ClearScore’s UK user base for a better home-buying experience, suggesting that ClearScore sees mortgage intent as a logical extension of existing user behavior.

Geographically, ClearScore’s market reach extends beyond the UK. The Group states it will extend its mortgage platform into ClearScore businesses in South Africa, Australia, New Zealand and Canada. This is significant because it indicates ClearScore already has operational presence and user relationships in multiple markets, creating a pathway for scaling mortgage capabilities once the UK platform is established.

ClearScore also emphasizes “user-permissioned data at scale,” which is a key element of reach in a regulated environment. In financial services, scale is not only about user numbers; it is about the ability to use data responsibly and with permission to create value—such as better matching, clearer affordability insights, and smoother journeys. The Group’s reliance on Open Banking as part of its matching process underscores that it is already operating in a data-sharing paradigm that can support more complex lending categories.

The acquisition also suggests a shift in how ClearScore can monetize and serve its user base. Unsecured credit products and car finance are important, but mortgages are often the largest financial commitment consumers make. By adding mortgage capability, ClearScore can potentially serve users at a major life moment—home buying—while keeping them within its ecosystem rather than losing them to specialist mortgage platforms or broker-only channels.

Finally, reach is not only consumer-facing. Through Acre, ClearScore gains access to a broker ecosystem and lender integrations referenced by Acre’s leadership. That expands ClearScore’s market reach into the intermediary and lender side of the mortgage market, complementing its consumer scale with industry connectivity.

Previous Acquisition: Aro Finance

ClearScore’s purchase of Acre follows what the Group describes as its successful acquisition of Aro Finance in early 2025. That earlier deal expanded ClearScore’s capabilities in secured loans, marking an important step in the company’s progression from unsecured credit broking into lending categories that involve collateral and more complex underwriting considerations.

The sequencing is telling. ClearScore has long been associated with credit scoring and a marketplace for unsecured products such as credit cards and loans, as well as car finance. The Aro Finance acquisition broadened that scope into secured loans, and the Acre acquisition now pushes further into mortgages—arguably the most prominent secured lending product for many consumers.

ClearScore’s leadership explicitly links the Acre deal to momentum in secured lending. Justin Basini, the Group’s co-founder and chief executive officer, says the acquisition “perfectly complements our successful push into the secured loans market,” and notes “the significant growth we have seen in our home lending business in 2025.” While the details of that growth are not quantified here, the statement positions the Acre acquisition as a response to traction already observed in home lending-related activity.

Aro Finance is referenced as having given ClearScore an “embedded finance foothold,” and as expanding capabilities in secured loans. In the context of the Acre deal, that foothold appears to be part of a broader strategy: building a platform that can support multiple lending journeys, with technology and integrations that can be embedded into user experiences rather than treated as separate, siloed products.

The Aro acquisition also helps explain why ClearScore is leaning into acquisitions rather than purely organic expansion. Moving from unsecured credit broking into secured lending and mortgages requires not only consumer demand but also operational capabilities, partner integrations, and compliance-ready processes. Buying companies that already operate in those domains can accelerate time-to-market and reduce execution risk, especially when the acquired platforms are already embedded in industry workflows.

Importantly, ClearScore frames these acquisitions as additive to its existing strengths. The Group emphasizes its brand, reach, user-permissioned data at scale, and fintech stack. Aro Finance added secured-loan capability; Acre adds mortgage-industry technology and a broker ecosystem. Together, they suggest a deliberate build-out of a broader lending platform that can serve users across different borrowing needs.

In that sense, Aro Finance is not just a historical footnote; it is the immediate precedent that makes the Acre acquisition legible. ClearScore is building a pattern: acquire specialist infrastructure, integrate it with its data-driven marketplace, and use its consumer reach to drive demand through those newly acquired rails.

Leadership Perspectives: Justin Basini and Justus Brown

The strategic intent behind ClearScore’s acquisition of Acre is most clearly articulated through the statements of the two chief executives: Justin Basini of ClearScore Group and Justus Brown of Acre. Their comments frame the deal as both a technology integration and a mission-driven attempt to improve the mortgage journey.

Basini emphasizes the combination of ClearScore’s scale and technology with Acre’s intermediary platform. He describes ClearScore as bringing “the brand, the reach, the user-permissioned data at scale and one of the most advanced, reliable and unique fintech stacks in the industry.” In his framing, the acquisition is about assembling complementary assets: ClearScore’s consumer distribution and data capabilities paired with Acre’s mortgage-industry tooling.

He also points to the breadth of ClearScore’s platform ambitions, highlighting “technology platforms, data assets and APIs spanning unsecured credit, auto finance and now mortgages.” That line positions mortgages not as a standalone venture but as the next layer in a multi-product ecosystem. It also underscores that ClearScore sees APIs and data assets as strategic building blocks—suggesting the company wants to integrate and orchestrate financial journeys across categories.

Basini links the acquisition to ClearScore’s recent trajectory in secured lending, saying it complements the Group’s push into secured loans and builds on growth seen in its home lending business in 2025. He adds that Acre technology will power ClearScore’s home lending business and help deliver “compelling new experiences” for users. The emphasis on experience is notable: it suggests ClearScore is not only chasing product breadth but also aiming to redesign how users navigate borrowing decisions.

On Acre’s side, Justus Brown frames the deal in terms of mission continuity and acceleration. He says Acre’s mission has been to simplify the mortgage journey and reduce pain so consumers can get into homes quicker. He credits Acre’s “data-driven approach” with building a platform that has transformed brokers’ businesses in the UK. That claim is aligned with ClearScore’s own data-driven identity, creating a narrative fit between acquirer and acquired.

Brown describes joining ClearScore as “an exciting next step” that will accelerate Acre’s drive to become the leading tech platform for the mortgage industry. He also points to “exciting growth opportunities” aligned with ClearScore’s brand, tech platform and lender integrations. The mention of lender integrations is significant: it signals that Acre’s platform is already connected into parts of the lending ecosystem, and that ClearScore’s broader platform capabilities could amplify that connectivity.

Together, the two perspectives converge on a shared thesis: mortgages can be improved through technology, data, and better-connected ecosystems. ClearScore brings consumer reach and a fintech stack; Acre brings intermediary tooling and mortgage-specific workflows. Both leaders present the acquisition as a way to scale those strengths faster than either company could alone.

Future Plans for ClearScore’s Mortgage Platform

ClearScore’s stated plans for its mortgage platform are ambitious but structured: first, use Acre to strengthen and scale the mortgage proposition in the UK, then extend that platform into ClearScore’s international businesses. The acquisition is presented as the mechanism that makes those plans feasible, providing both the technology foundation and the ecosystem connectivity needed for mortgages.

In the UK, the immediate focus is on meeting demand from ClearScore’s 16 million users. The Group says that under new ownership, Acre will continue to provide cutting-edge technology solutions for mortgage and protection businesses, and that together the companies will deliver “the best home-buying experience in the market for consumers.” While that is a qualitative ambition rather than a measurable claim here, it signals that ClearScore intends to compete on user experience, not merely on product availability.

A central operational plan is routing: ClearScore says it can now route mortgage demand from its users to Acre’s broker ecosystem via the platform. That implies ClearScore’s mortgage journey will be designed to move users from discovery and affordability understanding into broker-led execution, supported by Acre’s intermediary CRM and broader broker tooling. In effect, ClearScore is planning a connected funnel from consumer intent to mortgage completion.

Data enrichment is another explicit future-facing element. Acre will provide ClearScore with additional property, mortgage and affordability data, which will enrich insights for homeowners and home buyers within ClearScore’s platform. This suggests future mortgage experiences may be more contextual—grounded not only in credit and bank-transaction-derived affordability signals (via Open Banking) but also in property and mortgage-specific information that can shape recommendations and guidance.

ClearScore also signals that Acre will “power ClearScore’s overall mortgage capability and strategy.” That phrasing suggests future development will be built on Acre’s platform as a core layer, rather than ClearScore building a parallel mortgage stack. It also implies that ClearScore’s mortgage roadmap—features, integrations, and user journeys—will likely be constrained and enabled by what Acre’s platform can support and how it can be extended.

International expansion is clearly on the agenda. ClearScore plans to extend its mortgage platform into its businesses in South Africa, Australia, New Zealand and Canada. The plan implies that ClearScore sees Acre’s platform as portable—capable of being adapted and deployed across different ClearScore markets. While the specifics of how that will happen are not detailed here, the intent is explicit: the mortgage platform is not meant to remain UK-only.

Finally, ClearScore frames Acre’s future role in ecosystem terms, stating it intends Acre to become an integral layer of the mortgage ecosystem, similar to how D•One has become an integral layer of the credit ecosystem. That suggests ClearScore’s future plans are not limited to consumer-facing mortgage journeys; they also include building infrastructure that brokers and lenders can rely on, potentially deepening integrations and making the platform more central to how mortgage business is conducted.

The Future of Financial Technology and Mortgage Solutions

ClearScore’s acquisition of Acre is a reminder that mortgage innovation is increasingly being pursued through platform-building rather than isolated product launches. The deal combines a large consumer marketplace—driven by credit and affordability data, and facilitated by Open Banking—with a mortgage-industry technology provider embedded in broker workflows. The result, at least in intent, is a more connected mortgage journey: from consumer discovery to intermediary execution, supported by richer data.

The broader implication is that fintech competition in mortgages may hinge on who can connect the most pieces: user-permissioned data, lender integrations, broker tooling, and a user experience that reduces friction. ClearScore is betting that its scale and data-driven stack, combined with Acre’s intermediary platform, can create that connective tissue—first in the UK, then across its other markets.

Innovative Trends in Mortgage Technology

The ClearScore–Acre combination highlights a trend toward mortgage journeys being supported by specialized platforms that serve multiple stakeholders at once. Acre is described as providing technology solutions for mortgage and protection businesses and operating a CRM platform for intermediaries—tools that sit at the operational heart of broker-led mortgage processes.

ClearScore’s plan to route consumer demand into Acre’s broker ecosystem points to a future where marketplaces and intermediary platforms are tightly integrated. Rather than treating brokers as an external channel, the platform becomes the bridge—connecting consumer intent, data, and execution workflows in one system.

ClearScore’s comparison of Acre’s intended role to D•One’s role in the credit ecosystem also suggests an infrastructure mindset: mortgage technology is not only about front-end experiences, but about building layers that become integral to how the market operates, including integrations and APIs that can support scale.

The Role of Data in Enhancing User Experience

Data sits at the center of ClearScore’s marketplace model, which matches users to financial products using credit and affordability data facilitated through credit reports and Open Banking. The acquisition adds another data dimension: ClearScore says Acre will provide additional property, mortgage and affordability data to enrich insights for homeowners and home buyers.

In a mortgage context, that enrichment matters because decisions are shaped by more than creditworthiness alone. Affordability, property context, and mortgage-specific considerations influence what options are realistic and how consumers experience the process. ClearScore’s emphasis on user-permissioned data at scale suggests it sees responsible, consent-based data use as a competitive advantage—one that can support more relevant matching and clearer guidance.

If ClearScore succeeds in combining its existing data-driven matching with Acre’s mortgage-specific data and broker ecosystem, the user experience could become more continuous: fewer handoffs, more contextual insight, and a clearer path from “Can I afford this?” to “Here’s how to complete the journey.”