Equifax has purchased DataX, a specialty finance credit reporting agency and alternative data provider to lenders nationwide.
Through the purchase, Equifax said it will help lenders expand credit access and broaden financial inclusion for more consumers, specifically in underbanked populations, through the addition of alternative credit and payment data, analytics and identity solutions on underbanked consumers.
Additional offerings include credit reporting, ID verification, bank account verification and custom risk services.
“Giving consumers fair access to credit has always been a key economic driver for upward mobility, and this acquisition will help more consumers gain access to credit and capital,” said Trey Loughran, president, United States Information Solutions, Equifax. “The combination of DataX’s data with Equifax’s unique and robust data assets will add more depth to consumer’s profiles and will help lenders expand borrowing options.”
Founded in 2004, DataX provides a suite of real-time credit reporting, data verification, and authentication services that benefit financial service providers, consumer durable goods services, gaming services, automotive finance, and private equity lenders.
Its services provides insights which allow businesses to “know your customer” (KYC), manage risk proactively, safeguard their business and consumers from fraud, lower consumer acquisition costs, increase revenue opportunities, and customize analytics to manage business performance.
“Only 39 percent of Americans1 are able to cover a $1,000 emergency expense, which means the majority of people at some point will need some type of financial assistance,” said Jon Geidel, president of DataX. “For more than 14 years, DataX’s mission has been to support our partners to find more reasons to include underbanked consumers. Joining Equifax complements our mission and affords consumers better access to the credit they deserve to meet their financial needs.”
Earlier this month, Equifax formed a strategic alliance with consents.online, a digital consent management and AISP-accredited open banking platform. Equifax said alliance was established to develop solutions for the U.K.’s open banking initiative, and added that the partnership enables consumers and small businesses to provide consent to organizations to access financial data.
Equifax and Fico also recently launched a new RegTech solution to help lenders meet affordability requirements. The FICO Risk and Affordability Decision Suite, which is powered by Equifax, uses advanced predictive analytics to assess a consumer’s repayment risk as well as their ability to handle both existing and new credit.
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