Equifax Introduces New OneScore Scoring Model to Help Expand Access to Credit and Drive Financially Inclusive Lending

Equifax continues to support financially inclusive lending with the launch of OneScore, a new consumer credit scoring model that combines the company’s leadership in alternative data insights with the power of the Equifax Cloud to provide US lenders and service providers with a more comprehensive financial picture of credit seeking consumers. OneScore is unique to the industry because it is the first single score to combine traditional credit history with telecommunications, pay TV and utility payment data on over 191 million consumers, as well as Equifax DataX and Teletrack specialty finance data on 80 million consumers – including payment history from non-traditional banks and lenders – potentially increasing credit scores by up to 25 points and the scorable population by more than 20 percent.

“Equifax has invested billions of dollars into unique data, verification insights, fraud reduction tools, powerful modeling techniques and cloud-based technology solutions that empower our customers to bring greater access to financial opportunity to more people in more places,” said Mark W. Begor, CEO of Equifax. “OneScore is a testament to the power of the Equifax Cloud in driving innovation that can increase the visibility of consumers to help expand access to credit and create new, mainstream financial opportunities.”

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While credit reports remain a strong indicator of credit history and past financial reliability, Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) compliant information that is not included in traditional credit report data has the potential to help responsibly expand consumer access to credit opportunity and support a more inclusive economy.

The majority of US adults have at least one utility bill or cell phone in their name, making access to utility payment provides a widespread and powerful indicator of past financial reliability. When combined with additional speciality finance data on more than 80 million credit invisible, unscorable, thin-file and credit rebuilding consumers from DataX and Teletrack, the opportunity to expand access to credit through alternative data insights extends even further. Over 99 percent of the tradelines, payments, and inquiries captured in DataX and Teletrack do not exist in the traditional credit file.

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Powered by advanced analytics and machine learning, OneScore is able to score an estimated 21 percent more – or 8.8 million credit seeking consumers – than when compared to traditional scoring models. In addition, approximately 15 percent more or 6.3 million applicants that are considered subprime, no hit or thin file could be approved for a near prime or prime offer without increasing risk when OneScore is used in combination with a traditional risk score.

“We understand that a single financial opportunity can be a critical step to establishing individual financial health and generational wealth that can change the trajectory and livelihood of families and communities for generations,” said Joy Wilder Lybeer, U.S. Information Solutions (USIS) Chief Revenue Officer and Senior Vice President, Global Partnerships Equifax. “OneScore is designed to provide lenders and service providers with a more robust financial picture of consumers who are actively seeking new financial services – helping people to showcase payment history that may not have historically been factored into loan decisioning to obtain new financial opportunities or better rates.”

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