“Petal, a new kind of credit card company created to help people build credit and spend responsibly, today announced the launch of its first B2B enterprise product, Prism Data , to make Petal’s next-generation transaction intelligence platform—and unique cash flow based underwriting technology—available to the broader market for the first time, via a simple, lightning-quick API. Prism Data takes in raw, consumer-permissioned bank account transactional data from financial providers and transforms it into useful information those providers can rely on, giving them greater insight into credit risk, identity, financial status, and more.”

“Fair Isaac Corp., creator of FICO scores, will soon start scoring consumers with rising debt levels and those who fall behind on loan payments more harshly. It will also flag certain consumers who sign up for personal loans, a category of unsecured debt that has surged in recent years . The changes will create a bigger gap between consumers deemed to be good and bad credit risks, the company says. Consumers with already-high FICO scores of about 680 or higher who continue to manage loans well will likely get a higher score than under previous FICO versions. Those with already-low scores below 600 who continue to miss payments or accumulate other black marks will experience bigger score declines than under previous models.”

“In a move designed to help credit invisible and thin-file consumers gain access to fair and affordable credit, Experian today announced Experian Lift™ – a new suite of credit score products that combines exclusive traditional credit, alternative credit and trended data assets to create a more holistic picture of consumer creditworthiness. Experian Lift, available for lenders in early 2020, is another step in Experian’s commitment to helping improve the financial health of consumers everywhere.”

“HSBC Bank USA , N.A., (HSBC), part of the HSBC Group, one of the world’s largest banking and financial services organizations, today launched its digital lending platform powered by industry-leading end-to-end technology platform Amount . The new digital lending platform provides U.S. consumers a simple way to apply for personal loans online.”

“Some 8.05% of outstanding credit card debt among Americans between the ages of 18 and 29 was delinquent by at least 90 days, the highest level since early 2011, according to data released this week by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. That’s by far the highest share among age groups and up from 5.37% at the end of 2013. Obviously, the FICO scores for a large chunk of this group didn’t suffer during the downturn.”

“For the biggest U.S. banks, not all consumer debt is created equal.    Credit-card losses are outpacing auto and home loans at a rate not seen in at least a decade. The question is whether banks’ plastic problem is an outlier or an omen.”

‘For Petal founder Jason Gross, launching the company last fall was all about extending credit to people who have previously been locked out of the system.”

“Later this month, all of the three major consumer credit bureaus will be required to offer free credit freezes to all Americans and their dependents. Maybe you’ve been holding off freezing your credit file because your home state currently charges a fee for placing or thawing a credit freeze, or because you believe it’s just not worth the hassle. If that accurately describes your views on the matter, this post may well change your mind.”

“25% of U.S. consumers are considered “thin file” because they have fewer than 5 items in their traditional credit histories. By adding information from alternative data sources, such as on-time rental data, 23% may move from thin file to thick file status. Consider these 3 data types as you work with emerging consumers.”

“Affirm, Inc., the company started by entrepreneur Max Levchin to provide fair and honest financial products, today announced Affirm will partner with merchants to make Affirm financing available in-store. Now shoppers can use Affirm InStore in brick-and-mortar locations, securing credit in just seconds before they even get to the cash register, and can pay for their purchase over time in simple, fixed monthly installments. Additionally, the company announced that consumers will have the ability to instantly add a newly issued Affirm virtual card to Apple Pay, the easy, secure and private way to pay, via the Affirm mobile app.”