FactorTrust Defines a Segment of The U.S. Population to Reflect Credit Aspirations; Categorizes Consumer as CreditClimber™

FactorTrust, The Alternative Credit Bureau, encourages lenders to examine the underbanked population with a new lens. The company advocates that the 113 million U.S. consumers with FICO credit scores under 700 today should be recognized as CreditClimbers - consumers determined to improve credit scores in order to advance their situation and access more credit options.

“Lenders must adjust their perception about the underbanked and no-score consumers. There are 26 million U.S. adults who have no credit history with the Big 3 bureaus. This is a massively underserved population that, when taking alternative credit data into account, deserve credit options. FactorTrust’s data demonstrates these Americans indeed are striving for a better financial standing,” says FactorTrust’s CEO Greg Rable. “Using alternative credit data, lenders can grow their business by strategically evaluating and marketing to CreditClimbers.”

While the percentage of unbanked consumers has decreased over the past five years, the number of underbanked consumers has remained relatively stable, according to the FDIC. The historical perception that the underbanked are all risky customers has harmed both consumers and lenders, says Rable, impeding industry and economic growth. “Every time a CreditClimber does something positive, they deserve to improve their credit score. The problem is that the vast majority of these customers and their credit performance are simply unrecognized and untracked by the Big 3 bureaus. We’ve seen people improve their credit scores – at every scoring level -- by having alternative credit data factored in during the underwriting process. More data is better for both the consumer and the lender.”

FactorTrust has more than a decade of insight and intelligence regarding the underbanked. The company is the industry pioneer, collecting the most current alternative credit data available in real-time and making it easily accessible to all its lender customers. For more information on FactorTrust, please visit www.FactorTrust.com or contact FactorTrust at 1-866-910-8497.

About FactorTrust

FactorTrust, The Alternative Credit Bureau, is relentlessly dedicated to proven analytics and clean credit information that provide lenders opportunities to grow more revenue, meet compliance regulations and serve more consumers with more credit options. At the core of FactorTrust is alternative credit data not available from the Big 3 bureaus (Experian, TransUnion and Equifax) and analytics and risk scoring information lenders need to make informed decisions about the consumers they want. FactorTrust Alternative Credit Data and Analytics accurately predicts risk and the ability to repay of near and non-prime consumer loans in real-time. The company’s solutions enable financial service companies an opportunity to uncover creditworthy prospects that are not surfacing via traditional credit sources. Headquartered in Atlanta, the experienced FactorTrust team of predictive analytics specialists, statisticians and financial industry experts has delivered unique data and valuable insight to lenders throughout the U.S. for more than 10 years. For more information on the quarterly FactorTrust Underbanked Index or the company itself, visit www.FactorTrust.com.

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