All posts by Guest Contributor
When developing a risk model, validation is an essential step in evaluating and verifying a model’s predictive performance. There are two types of data samples that can be used to validate a model. In-time validation or holdout sample: Random partitioning of the development sample is used to separate the data into a sample set for development and another set aside for validation. Out-of-time validation sample: Data from an entirely different period or customer campaign is used to determine the model’s performance. We live in a complicated world. Models can help reduce that complexity. Understanding a model’s predictive ability prior to implementation is critical to reducing risk and growing your bottom line. Learn more
There’s no question today’s consumers have high expectations. As financial services companies wrestle with the laws and consumer demands, here are a few points to consider: While digital delivery channels may be new, the underlying credit product remains the same. With digital delivery, adhere to credit regulations, but build in enhanced policies and technological protocols. Consult your legal, risk and compliance teams regularly. Embrace the multitude of delivery methods, including email, text, digital display and beyond. When using the latest technology, you need to work with the right partners. They can help you respect the data and consumer privacy laws, which is the foundation on which strategies should be built. Learn more
Data can be a powerful tool. But the key to data isn’t just accessing it. It’s interpreting it — and using it to make better decisions that benefit your business and your customers. Here are four key areas where business leaders can use data in more meaningful ways to impact decisions: Grow your business — Reveal patterns, trends and associations to better evaluate business opportunities and respond to market fluctuations. Improve efficiency — Optimize operations and improve use of time to acquire more customers for less. Manage fraud and credit risk — The better you know your customers, the less risk you’ll have. Validate manually entered information — Determine the best actions to deliver the most effective outcomes for both existing and future customers. According to Forbes, by the year 2020 about 1.7 megabytes of new information will be created every second for every human being.1 Get the most out of our data-driven economy to remain competitive. Learn more> 1Bernard Marr, “Your enterprise competes to win. Does your digital infrastructure?,” Forbes, September 2015.
The early stages of establishing a startup are some of the most difficult. In fact, it is said 90 percent of startups fail. Challenges include forming the right team, raising capital, and constructing a business model. But no one will deny that one of the most important parts of a startup’s business strategy is the data and technology that underpin its solution. On the one hand, new startups don’t benefit from a wealth of historic data on their clients, prospects, and partners like their more established competitors. While this isn’t the end of the world, it does emphasize the importance of finding a trusted data partner to build those data insights into the design for their application or platform. By using a trusted third-party data provider, companies can ensure they receive reliable and accurate data to utilize in their products and services. On the other hand, startups have the luxury of not being bogged down and burdened by legacy systems and older tech. While building a solution from the ground up is never an easy feat, startups can generally move faster. They can benefit from the latest technology to build new apps and products, making them nimbler than the incumbents in the space. Cloud technology enables organizations to quickly get their business up and running. In addition, companies are exposing many of their data assets and services through application programming interfaces (APIs), allowing others to more easily create their own solutions. Rather than reinventing the wheel, companies can leverage existing services to build more complex solutions and launch faster. “We’ve talked to countless startups and businesses and know they want easy, fast, and secure access to our data assets and services,” said Alpa Jain, vice president of Experian’s API Center of Excellence. “That’s why we’ve launched our API Developer Portal.” The list of APIs available through Experian’s Developer Portal includes solutions like consumer credit data, commercial credit data, commercial public record information, data quality, vehicle history information, and more. Companies can browse the list of available APIs, create an account, and start utilizing the APIs for building out a product within minutes. “Our goal is to help companies unlock untapped market opportunities and grow,” said Jain. “Success with APIs requires a successful developer program and portal to accelerate developer productivity – we believe we’ve created both with our new portal experience.\"
Although it’s hard to imagine, some synthetic identities are being used for purposes other than fraud. Here are 3 types of common synthetic identities and why they’re created: Bad — To circumvent lag times and delays in establishing a legitimate identity and data footprint. Worse — To “repair” credit, hoping to start again with a higher credit rating under a new, assumed identity. Worst — To commit fraud by opening various accounts with no intention of paying those debts or service fees. While all these synthetic identity types are detrimental to the ecosystem shared by consumers, institutions and service providers, they should be separated by type — guiding appropriate treatment. Learn more in our new white paper produced with Whitepages Pro, Fighting synthetic identity theft: getting beyond Social Security numbers. Download now>
The business case for identity verification and risk assessment tools is most compelling when it includes a broad range of both direct and indirect factors. Here are 3 indirect measures we suggest you consider: Customer experience improvement — With 72% of businesses focused on service, according to Forrester Research,* the value of reduced friction can’t be overstated Reputation and brand protection — The monetary cost of fraud losses can be high, but the impact on customer relationships and brand integrity can be even higher. Compliance — Noncompliance costs an average of 2.65 times more than investing in a technology-based compliance solution. Justifying investment in fraud prevention technology can be challenging. A business case built on the right data can pave the way to upgrading your identity verification and risk assessment technology. Learn more in our buyer\'s guide>
The economy remains steady, maintaining a positive outlook even though the GDP growth slowed in the first quarter. Real estate is holding ground even as rates rise. We’ve reached a 7-year high in 30-year fixed-rate mortgages, which could have a longer-term effect on this market. Bankcard may be reaching its limit — outstanding balances hit $764 billion and delinquency rates continue to rise. While auto originations were flat in Q1, performance is improving as focus moves away from subprime lending. The economy remains steady as we transition from 2017. Keep an eye on inflation and interest rates in regard to their possible short-term economic impact. Learn more about these and other economic trends with the on-demand recording of the webinar. Watch now
According to our recent research for the State of Alternative Credit Data, more lenders are using alternative credit data to determine if a consumer is a good or bad credit risk. In fact, when it comes to making decisions: More than 50% of lenders verify income, employment and assets as well as check public records before making a credit decision. 78% of lenders believe factoring in alternative data allows them to extend credit to consumers who otherwise would be declined. 70% of consumers are willing to provide additional financial information to a lender if it increases their chance for approval or improves their interest rate. The alternative financial services space continues to grow with products like payday loans, rent-to-own products, short-term loans and more. By including alternative financial data, all types of lenders can explore both universe expansion and risk mitigation. State of Alternative Credit Data
There is a delicate balance in delivering a digital experience that instills confidence while providing easy and convenient account access. When it comes to a frictionless, secure customer experience, our 2018 Global Fraud and Identity Report research showed: 52% of businesses have chosen to prioritize the user experience over detecting the mitigating fraud. 78% of consumers will create an account to complete ecommerce purchased because it is a trusted brand/website. 60% of consumers will follow through with a transaction even if they have forgotten their user name or password. Consumers believe that having simple, instant and easy-to-access verification methods are important to their experience when shopping online. Are your providing this? 2018 Global Fraud and Identity Report
On May 11, 2018, financial institutions will be required to perform Customer Due Diligence routines for their legal entity customers, such as a corporation or limited liability company. Here are 3 facts that you should know about this upcoming rule: When validating ownership, financial institutions can accept what customers have provided unless they have a reason to believe otherwise. Some possible trigger events requiring review of beneficial ownership information for existing accounts include: change in ownership and law enforcement warrants or subpoenas. When collecting and updating beneficial ownership information, the financial institution must retain the original and updated information. While financial institutions are required to collect the same basic customer identification program information from business owners that is required from consumer customers, your current policies may not satisfy this new rule. Learn more
Optimizing your collections With a maximized approach to collections, you can see an uplift in performance of 5% to 30% in Key Performance Indicators against traditional techniques. Here are some suggestions for optimizing your strategies: Consider every combination of actions. Understand the tradeoffs between the different actions, which are forced by constraints. Choose the best set of actions to fit within the constraints. Maximize your collections efforts by knowing your customers better, segmenting and targeting your approach more effectively, and automating as much as possible. Learn more in our white paper Collections Optimization. Download now
Identify your customers to spot fraud. It’s a simple concept, but it’s not so simple to do. In our 2018 Global Fraud and Identity Report, we found that consumers expect to be recognized and welcomed wherever and whenever they do business. Here are some other interesting findings regarding recognition and fraud: 66% of consumers surveyed appreciate seeing visible security when doing business online because it makes them feel protected. 75% of businesses want security measures that have little impact on consumers. More than half of businesses still rely on passwords as their top form of authentication. Even though you can’t see your customers face-to-face, the importance of being recognized can’t be overemphasized. How well are you recognizing your customers? Can you recognize your customers?
From malware and phishing to expansive distributed denial-of-service attacks, the sophistication, scale and impact of cyberattacks have evolved significantly in recent years. Mitigate risk by employing these best practices: Manage third-party risks. Regularly review response plans. Opt in to software updates. Educate, educate, educate. Organizations must adopt stronger, more advanced technical solutions to protect sensitive data. While enhanced technology is necessary for defending against data breaches, it can’t work independently. Learn more
While it’s important to recognize synthetic identities when they knock on your door, it’s just as important to conduct regular portfolio checkups. Every circumstance has unique parameters, but the overarching steps necessary to mitigate fraud from synthetic IDs remain the same: Identify current and near-term exposure using targeted segmentation analysis. Apply technology that alerts you when identity data doesn’t add up. Differentiate fraudulent identities from those simply based on bad data. Review front- and back-end screening procedures until they satisfy best practices. Achieve a “single customer view” for all account holders across access channels — online, mobile, call center and face-to-face. With the right set of analytics and decisioning tools, you can reduce exposure to fraud and losses stemming from synthetic identity attacks at the beginning and across the Customer Life Cycle. Learn more
Trended attributes and consumer lending Digging deeper into consumer credit data can help provide new insights into trending behavior, providing more than just point-in-time credit evaluation. The information derived through trended attributes can help you understand your customers’: Payment rates and account migration behavior. Slope of balance changes. Delinquency patterns over time. Today’s consumer lending environment is more dynamic and competitive than ever. Trended attributes can give additional lift in your segmentation strategies and custom models and provides a high-definition lens that opens a world of opportunity. Learn more
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