Driving Growth: A Trusted Leader in Alternative Data Solutions

For lenders, using alternative data is becoming increasingly crucial to stay ahead and drive growth in this rapidly changing market. 

Over 76 million consumers in the U.S. are considered thin files, having minimal credit history, or credit invisible, not having credit files altogether, when using traditional credit data.¹ Being thin file or credit invisible does not mean that these consumers are not worthy of financing, but rather, that they exist in the blind spot that traditional credit files alone cannot uncover. That’s millions of new customers that lenders could be missing out on. 

Alternative data provides a broader, more comprehensive view of consumers to help lenders better assess risk and approve more customers. It includes information like utility payments, rent history, and payroll data, giving lenders a broader, more accurate picture of an applicant’s financial health. It can be broken down into two categories: data repositories and consumer-permissioned data sources. 

• Data repositories are databases that contain employment data, specialty finance data, and utility data that give insights into an applicant’s financial background.

• Consumer-permissioned data sources include both bank transaction data and utility data that can give better understanding into the spending patterns and behavior of an applicant. 

When lenders combine alternative data sources with traditional credit data, the benefits are powerful. Businesses have the opportunity to increase super prime and prime customers by 8% and reduce unscorables by 32% all without increasing risk.²

The Leader in Alternative Data According to CB Insights

That’s why Equifax is proud to be a trusted leader in the alternative credit space. Recently, Equifax was recognized as the leader in Alternative Credit Scoring, outperforming competitors, in an independent study conducted by CB Insights. Through its innovative alternative data-driven solutions, Equifax helps businesses leverage advanced analytics and differentiated data to assess creditworthiness beyond traditional scoring methods and provides a broad spectrum of services, from credit monitoring to data privacy, catering to diverse industry needs.

Trusted Leader in the Industry: Forbes Most Trusted Company in 2025

With the broad array of data available from Equifax, both alternative and otherwise, Equifax is dedicated to producing and delivering innovative data solutions and superior customer experience. And customers agree. Equifax has been named one of the most trustworthy public companies in the U.S. in 2025 by Forbes. The independent study, which examined over 2,000 publicly traded companies with 1,000 employees or more, identified the top 300 U.S.-based companies, including Equifax. 

Keep Your Business Goals Within Sight

Reach out to the Equifax Advisory team at RiskAdvisors@Equifax.com for full access to the standard charts and graphs referenced in this report.  

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Source: 

1. Equifax, Infographic: Expanding Access to Credit With Alternative Data, 2024

2. Equifax Internal Study

(c) Equifax Inc. 2025. All Rights Reserved. The statistics provided herein are for informational and illustrative purposes only and shall not be used for any other purpose.