Equifax UK launches data decisioning platform for lenders in partnership with Render

Credit reference agency Equifax UK has, in partnership with Render, launched a data decisioning platform for lenders, called ‘Clear Decision’, which uses Equifax’s credit bureau data and categorised Open Banking insights.

Using a combination of Open Banking data and credit reference data, the new platform is designed to enable lenders to make more informed decisions based on customers’ individual financial circumstances.

The combination of the datasets provides a fuller picture of an individual’s affordability and creditworthiness and will help lenders, in particular, tackle marginal credit applications.

According to Equifax UK and Render, typically, most lenders rely on bureau data at the front end of a customer journey, and only supplement this with granular Open Banking data to inform marginal or borderline cases.

However, the new ‘Clear Decision’ platform automates the process of combining the data to help streamline manual underwriting, reduce errors, improve marginal lending decisions, and identify fraudulent applications.

The solution enables improved decision-making efficiency across all asset classes, including mortgages, retail finance, motor finance, and unsecured credit.

Stephen Maitland, director of partnerships and strategic alliances at Equifax UK, said: “Lenders are facing increasing pressure to deliver better consumer outcomes, so establishing a deeper understanding of customers’ affordability is increasingly important, particularly in the case of marginal lending decisions.

“There remains a significant opportunity across the industry to take better advantage of Open Banking data to aid decision making, and this new platform will help improve operational efficiency, broaden financial inclusion and enable lenders to approve more customers with confidence.”

Jonathan Mascie-Taylor, chief commercial officer at Render, added: “We already enjoy a strong partnership with Equifax as a provider to our lending business, Abound, making this new platform a natural extension, given Equifax’s industry-leading Open Banking capabilities.

“Clear Decision has the potential to be a game-changing solution for lenders, and one that can help expand the accessibility of Open Banking to improve decision-making at scale.”

At the end of last year, Equifax UK unveiled an affordability solution for lenders that combines credit bureau data with real-time transaction data accessed via Open Banking, and statistical estimates, called ‘Affordability 360’.

The launch followed research by Equifax which found that 24% of organisations rely on a customer’s self-declaration to assess expenditure.