Equifax is adding telco, pay TV and utility data to US mortgage credit reports in a move designed to support the home ownership opportunities of more Americans.
Equifax says the change will give mortgage industry fuller picture of consumers' financial profiles - potentially enabling more than 191 million American consumers to have greater opportunities for homeownership.
Anonymised Equifax research into the potential benefits of telco, pay TV and utilities attributes found that among 255 million Americans, 30% could potentially increase their traditional credit score.
Millions of subprime consumers could also see an average increase of approximately 30 points from use of the additional data, moving them into the near-prime score band and potentially enabling them to receive more favourable offers or rates.
Mark Begor, CEO, Equifax, says: "More data drives better decisions, and we have invested billions into cloud-based technology solutions and powerful differentiated data sources that give new visibility to underserved individuals, empowering our customers to bring greater access to financial opportunity to more people."