On Oct. 16, Equifax announced that three Mastercard Open Finance products were available to its customers, giving lenders more ways to use consumer-approved bank activity in credit decisions alongside credit-file data.
The offerings are Cashflow Analytics, Payment Risk Insights and Transaction Report. Finicity Corporation, a Mastercard company, supplies the Open Finance service. Equifax says customers can pair the products with its credit data, giving lenders and fintechs more options for bringing bank activity into lending decisions.
Cashflow Analytics reviews up to two years of account inflows, outflows and balances. Transaction Report supplies at least six months of cleaned, categorized and enhanced transaction records. Payment Risk Insights gives lenders a score to assess repayment risk and identify early signs of strain. Mastercard says its Payment Risk Score predicts the likelihood of a missed payment or repayment difficulty within one to 180 days.
Equifax says lenders may use the information in underwriting and portfolio management. The type of cash-flow data a lender needs can vary across personal loans, credit cards and commercial credit lines, the company said, because repayment structures and risk profiles differ. Jacob Osborne, Equifax senior vice president and general manager of Fintech and Payments, said, “a single cash flow partner does not necessarily fit each organization's needs.”
Equifax says its consent process lets consumers select a recipient and set how long their financial data can be shared. The company said the cash-flow insights could help extend credit access to 76.1 million U.S. consumers with thin or no credit files. Equifax reported no approval or repayment outcomes from the products.
