Melanie Cochrane, CEO of Equifax ANZ
Equifax and Mastercard have developed Equifax Open Score, which they label “an innovative new bank transaction score designed to support the more than 2.5 million Australian consumers with limited or no credit history who may still need access to financial services.”
This includes young people, new migrants and those re-entering the credit market - groups often overlooked by traditional assessment models.
Developed by Equifax and leveraging Mastercard’s global open finance network, Open Score utilises bank transaction data obtained through the Consumer Data Right.
This data, which includes income, expenses and spending patterns, is analysed in real-time “to assess a consumer's financial health.
“The result is a score between 0-10, presented alongside other key contributing factors to help consumers understand what influences their score.”
Equifax and Mastercard said Open Score is designed to help consumers improve their financial awareness and uncover new insights about their financial health as well as improve financial inclusion.
They said they achieve this by “making more credit invisible consumers - those with little or no credit history - visible to lenders and financial services providers.
“And using banking transaction data to provide insights into a consumer’s income, expenses and spending patterns.”
Melanie Cochrane, CEO of Equifax A/NZ, said Open Score “will empower more Australian consumers to take a more active role in managing their financial health and will be especially powerful for those who have historically had limited access to credit.
“By tapping into alternative data like income, expenses or rental payments, Open Score can uncover insights into consumers that aren't available with traditional credit reporting information.”