Helping Increase Opportunities for Small Businesses
NEW BUSINESS FORMATION HAS EXPLODED OVER THE PAST SEVERAL YEARS, with five million new business applications submitted annually in the United States since 2021, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.
“With the number of new applications increasing more than 45% annually compared to pre-Covid times, it has become more and more difficult for businesses and lenders to know who they are doing business with,” said Sal Hazday, Senior Vice President and General Manager of the Equifax U.S. Information Solutions Commercial Business. “This rapid growth accelerates the need for both lenders and business service providers to have access to more information before they onboard new accounts or vendors – specifically around identifying potential risks like fraud.”
As a trusted leader in data, analytics and technology, Equifax is committed to helping provide actionable insights stakeholders across the commercial ecosystem can use to make smarter decisions, faster. Equifax recently launched a real-time, Know Your Business (KYB) online Business Verification Solution to help provide an easy-to-read, combined report that provides a more complete view of the business applicant and the principal. With it, U.S. lenders and businesses of all sizes can make faster, more informed decisions before onboarding new accounts or vendors.
Equifax also launched OneScore for Commercial, a business credit scoring tool that uses in-depth modeling to more accurately predict delinquencies. OneScore for Commercial links financial data on more than 33 million businesses with credit information, allowing startups and small businesses to better demonstrate creditworthiness. OneScore benefits both lenders and service providers, helping them score as many as 50% more applicants and can help approve 15%-20% more applications while maintaining the same risk profile. This could result in three to four million more small businesses with access to credit and services.
Both the Business Verification Solution and OneScore for Commercial are risk solutions that can be used during the account origination stage to help lenders and service providers assess the legitimacy of a business and the businesses’ creditworthiness, respectively.
“We believe that more data drives better decisions,” added Hazday. “In a rapidly evolving economic environment, we are focused on delivering businesses the insights they need to make decisions with confidence."
Additionally, Equifax distributes a Small Business Indices monthly report, which helps lenders and businesses track changes in the small business marketplace by providing insights into lending, default, and delinquency trends. To learn more and view the latest reports, check out our Small Business Indices page.