Credit reference agency Equifax UK has launched a first-of-its-kind solution for lenders, combining bureau insights with real-time transaction data accessed via Open Banking and statistical estimates to boost affordability assessments and customer outcomes.

Traditionally lenders have relied on a mixture of customer affordability assessment models. Industry research from Equifax found nearly a quarter (24%) of organisations relied on a customer’s self-declaration to assess expenditure, while 19% rely primarily on credit bureau insights and 16% rely on Office for National Statistics (ONS) data1. For improved accuracy, it’s important to rely on a number of data sources.

In a first-of-its-kind solution, Affordability 360 therefore combines Equifax bureau insights, granular Open Banking transaction data and statistical estimates from ONS and Minimum Income Standards in one streamline package for a more complete picture of customer income and expenditure.

Affordability 360 is built on robust algorithms to ensure clients are automatically able to choose the best possible source of data on an individual basis, helping to meet Consumer Duty standards while also providing an efficient and accurate assessment of affordability. Equifax estimates that using the data combination is likely to be more predictive of customers defaulting than using declared income and ONS calculations alone, while the solution could result in a 29% uplift in lender

approvals for low affordability customers

The launch follows the first anniversary of the new Consumer Duty standards, for which over a fifth of financial services businesses have identified affordability assessments as their number one compliance challenge1. As cost-of-living pressures continue, lenders need to simultaneously ensure they are supporting financial inclusion and helping to protect customers from taking on unaffordable credit streams to ensure good consumer outcomes.

Craig Tebbutt, Chief Strategy and Innovation Officer at Equifax UK, said: “The rising cost of living as well as the new Consumer Duty standards are making more robust and accurate affordability assessments a top priority for lenders. Currently, lenders choose to rely on a range of different data sources to help understand consumer income and expenditure levels, which can include current account turnover data, self-declarations or government statistics. Each of these models has different strengths but a combination is likely to provide the most transparent view of financial health. Affordability 360 brings together the power of granular Open Banking data with both bureau insights and statistical data to provide lenders with a deeper view of customer affordability, helping to boost financial inclusion and responsible lending decisions.”