Equifax is expanding the open banking solutions it offers lenders and fintechs with consumer-permissioned insights from Mastercard Open Finance. Customers gain access to Cashflow Analytics, Payment Risk Insights and Transaction Report, which can be used alongside the Equifax credit file. Cashflow Analytics examines up to 24 months of account activity, while Payment Risk Insights produces a score that predicts repayment risk. The aim is to widen access to credit for the roughly 76 million Americans with thin or no credit files.
What it means: Using bank account data, with the customer's consent, is gaining ground as a complement to traditional credit histories. A young professional or someone who has never borrowed may have no score, yet regular income and consistent bill payments say a lot about their ability to repay. The Equifax move also shows that large credit bureaus prefer to work with several open finance providers rather than lock into one. In Europe, the same logic sits at the heart of the proposed FIDA regulation on financial data access, although its negotiation has stalled. The revised Consumer Credit Directive also explicitly bans the use of certain categories of data in credit assessments. In Greece, Tiresias remains the main source of credit information, but PSD2 account information services already let lenders request access to account transactions. For fintechs lending to small businesses, cash flow analysis can shorten approval times. Its success depends on being transparent with customers about which data is used and why.
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