Absolutely.
That is something that we do in our training. We have a workshop called “the secrets of credit ratings”, especially for immigrant women entrepreneurs who come here and need to start a business because their credentials aren't recognized. They don't even know how the credit rating agencies build that history. Definitely, more education is needed, and that's some of the work that we do.
The other interesting thing about getting credit is that women are much more likely to be asked to provide more detailed financial information to support their applications for credit. They're asked to provide cash-flow projections more often, appraisals of assets more often. Their personal financial statements are being asked for more often. Those are the kinds of unconscious, gender-biased behaviours that we believe lenders are engaging in, which they don't even realize they're doing.
Definitely, education is important for the clients, the women business owners, and also for the lenders themselves.