ATLANTA, Oct. 28, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Equifax®
(NYSE: EFX) and Urjanet have received the "Most Promising
Partnership" award from LendIt Fintech for empowering consumers and
businesses to enrich their financial profiles with utility, telecom
and cable payment history with respect to credit opportunities. An
independent panel of expert judges recognized the innovative global
relationship between Equifax and Urjanet as one that measurably
benefits the Fintech industry given the negative economic impacts
of the COVID-19 pandemic.
"More data provides more confidence in a time of uncertainty,"
said Joy Wilder Lybeer, United
States Information Solutions (USIS) Chief Revenue Officer and
Senior Vice President of Global Partnerships at Equifax. "We are
honored to be recognized alongside Urjanet for our commitment to
the use of alternative data sources as a way of helping people to
quickly and easily create a more robust financial profile. When
people and businesses truly need access to credit opportunities,
speed matters. The Urjanet and Equifax partnership provides
automated, scalable access to consumer-permissioned utility,
telecom and cable payment history. Utility data can be quickly used
to verify proof of occupancy, automate proof of address and help
lenders improve risk assessment and more easily identify
creditworthy borrowers."
While credit reports remain a strong indicator of credit history
and past financial reliability, credit scores can be reviewed
alongside trended data and alternative data to develop a more
complete picture of a consumer or business financial profile.
Utility payment data is a powerful source of information. Equifax
estimates that 5.5 million U.S. consumers are able to move from
unscorable or subprime credit score bands into prime or near prime
score bands when telecom, utility and other types of
non-traditional credit data are considered. Another 3.4 million
consumers are able to move from being unscorable into subprime
score bands.
"The LendIt Fintech award is recognition by our industry of the
importance and power of alternative data and the consent-based
model for accessing information in opening additional financial
opportunities for consumers and businesses alike," said
Sanjoy Malik, CEO of Urjanet.
"User-permissioned utility data not only helps in establishing a
more precise and complete picture of someone's financial history,
it can also serve as a powerful tool for individual identity
verification, occupancy verification and proof of address,
eliminating the need for cumbersome manual processes that may be
otherwise required."
For more information on Equifax alternative data solutions,
please visit equifax.com. Equifax is a minority investor in
Urjanet, having contributed to the company's Series D funding this
year.
ABOUT EQUIFAX INC.
At Equifax (NYSE: EFX), we believe knowledge drives progress. As
a global data, analytics, and technology company, we play an
essential role in the global economy by helping financial
institutions, companies, employees, and government agencies make
critical decisions with greater confidence. Our unique blend of
differentiated data, analytics, and cloud technology drives
insights to power decisions to move people forward. Headquartered
in Atlanta and supported by more
than 11,000 employees worldwide, Equifax operates or has
investments in 25 countries in North
America, Central and South
America, Europe, and the
Asia Pacific region. For more
information, visit Equifax.com.
ABOUT URJANET
Urjanet is the world's leading utility data aggregator,
delivering data from more than 6,500 utility, telecom, and cable
providers across 48 countries. Urjanet's cloud-based platform and
powerful suite of APIs provide a secure and scalable way for
businesses to access consumer-permissioned data for credit risk
decisioning and identity and address verification. To learn more,
visit urjanet.com.
FOR MORE INFORMATION
Kate Walker for Equifax USIS
mediainquiries@equifax.com
Sarah Arvin for Urjanet
sarah.arvin@urjanet.com
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SOURCE Equifax Inc.