ATLANTA–Equifax and Fair Isaac Corp. have announced a partnership to sell not just consumers’ data to financial institutions, but also to sell each other’s services as well.
In some cases, the companies said they will approach clients together.
Equifax and FICO said the option of buying their services together will help lenders make underwriting decisions more quickly, especially for borrowers with thin credit histories. The companies further said lenders will be able to make more precise decisions about what products to pitch to pitch to consumers, while also making better decisions around new customers/members.
“But the companies will face competition from data providers and financial technology firms that do the same, and banks’ own in-house analytics resources,” noted the Wall Street Journal in its analysis. “Equifax, Experian and another large competitor TransUnion have for years been amassing growing piles of data about American adults that go far beyond people’s history managing their debts. At Equifax that includes information on people’s employers, their brokerage accounts and other information. Most of that extra data hasn’t made its way into credit reports or FICO credit scores, but credit-reporting firms have been selling that data separately to lenders.”
Equifax CEO Mark Begor told the Journal the company is out of the “penalty box” following the massive 2017 data breach.