Aaron Wislang
2019-04-07 19:15:42 UTC
The companies will pitch each other’s services to banks, which are eager to make more loans to more customers
<https://www.marketwatch.com/story/equifax-fico-team-up-to-sell-banks-data-as-credit-reports-increasingly-reveal-more-on-consumers-2019-03-27>
Two consumer-credit giants plan to start working together to sell consumers’ data to banks, the latest attempt to feed banks’ appetite for more information on customers.
Equifax Inc. EFX, +0.54% and Fair Isaac Corp. FICO, +0.62% , creator of the widely used FICO credit score, started pitching each other’s services earlier this month, and the companies are expected to announce the partnership Wednesday. Both companies already sell their services to banks, but now their sales employees will pitch each other’s services as well. Sometimes the companies will approach clients together.
Equifax, a credit-reporting giant still trying to recover from its massive 2017 data breach, maintains extensive data on U.S. adults that often includes their income, bank account balances and whether they pay their gas and cellphone bills. FICO’s software analyzes the data to help banks get a better read on loan applicants.
The partnership is the latest effort by companies that have been the bedrock of the U.S. consumer credit system to diversify beyond the nuts and bolts of credit reports and scores. For decades, most U.S. lenders have reviewed loan applicants’ reports and scores to determine whether to approve them and what interest rate to charge. After years of relatively cautious lending, banks and other lenders are seeking additional consumer data to help them make loans to more borrowers, including people with little credit history or with blemishes. Credit-reporting and -scoring firms have been pivoting to address the demand.
Late last year, FICO and another credit-reporting giant, Experian Plc, said they would begin factoring how consumers manage their bank accounts into credit scores. Soon after, Experian separately said it would add cellphone and utility payments into its credit reports and the FICO scores it sells to lenders. The new methodologies, which are optional for consumers, are designed to boost the number of approvals for credit cards, personal loans and other products.
An expanded version of this report appears on WSJ.com:
<https://www.wsj.com/articles/equifax-fico-team-up-to-sell
<https://www.marketwatch.com/story/equifax-fico-team-up-to-sell-banks-data-as-credit-reports-increasingly-reveal-more-on-consumers-2019-03-27>
Two consumer-credit giants plan to start working together to sell consumers’ data to banks, the latest attempt to feed banks’ appetite for more information on customers.
Equifax Inc. EFX, +0.54% and Fair Isaac Corp. FICO, +0.62% , creator of the widely used FICO credit score, started pitching each other’s services earlier this month, and the companies are expected to announce the partnership Wednesday. Both companies already sell their services to banks, but now their sales employees will pitch each other’s services as well. Sometimes the companies will approach clients together.
Equifax, a credit-reporting giant still trying to recover from its massive 2017 data breach, maintains extensive data on U.S. adults that often includes their income, bank account balances and whether they pay their gas and cellphone bills. FICO’s software analyzes the data to help banks get a better read on loan applicants.
The partnership is the latest effort by companies that have been the bedrock of the U.S. consumer credit system to diversify beyond the nuts and bolts of credit reports and scores. For decades, most U.S. lenders have reviewed loan applicants’ reports and scores to determine whether to approve them and what interest rate to charge. After years of relatively cautious lending, banks and other lenders are seeking additional consumer data to help them make loans to more borrowers, including people with little credit history or with blemishes. Credit-reporting and -scoring firms have been pivoting to address the demand.
Late last year, FICO and another credit-reporting giant, Experian Plc, said they would begin factoring how consumers manage their bank accounts into credit scores. Soon after, Experian separately said it would add cellphone and utility payments into its credit reports and the FICO scores it sells to lenders. The new methodologies, which are optional for consumers, are designed to boost the number of approvals for credit cards, personal loans and other products.
An expanded version of this report appears on WSJ.com:
<https://www.wsj.com/articles/equifax-fico-team-up-to-sell