Teletrack Acquisition Supports Expanded Access to Credit
EQUIFAX ANNOUNCED it has closed the acquisition of Teletrack®. Teletrack, formerly a part of CoreLogic®, has been a leader in the alternative credit data market for more than 30 years, and together with Equifax’s DataX business, will maintain information on more than 80 million thin-file, unbanked, under-banked, and credit-rebuilding consumers.
Equifax will integrate Teletrack data into the DataX infrastructure to enable lenders and service providers to access more alternative data sources in credit decisioning that can help open new consumer financial opportunities. DataX is a Fair Credit Reporting Act-regulated specialty finance credit reporting agency (CRA) and alternative data provider offering financial management solutions to businesses.
“Teletrack is one of eight acquisitions totalling approximately $3 billion that Equifax has announced or completed in 2021. We are significantly reinvesting Equifax outperformance and leveraging the Equifax Cloud™ toward accretive, strategic, bolt-on M&A,” said Mark W. Begor, CEO of Equifax. “The addition of Teletrack expands the breadth of differentiated data assets that ‘Only Equifax’ can provide. This powerful source of information will enable lenders and service providers to access more alternative data sources in credit decisioning that can help open new consumer financial opportunities.”
Approximately 63 million U.S. adults are either unbanked or underbanked, according to the Federal Reserve. These individuals potentially face higher costs for borrowing money and barriers to housing and employment. Helping more of these consumers obtain access to mainstream financial services and products requires new insights into individual financial history.
Alternative credit data is typically not included in traditional credit reports, but has the potential to help expand consumer access to credit opportunity and support a more inclusive economy. Equifax research shows that alternative data and technology can enable an additional 21 percent of thin/invisible consumers to become scorable.
“Helping more consumers obtain access to mainstream financial services and products requires new insights into individual financial history. Teletrack and DataX have a shared commitment to making non-traditional credit information more accessible to U.S. financial institutions and service providers,” said Sid Singh, president of Equifax USIS. “Bringing the combined DataX and Teletrack data assets to our unique data fabric powered by the Equifax Cloud will enable us to create new solutions that can be used in conjunction with alternative data assets like consumer-permissioned bank transaction data and telco and utility payment history to create more products that drive greater access to credit and promote financial inclusion.”
Teletrack is now part of the USIS business unit at Equifax. For more information on the use of Equifax differentiated data assets in credit decisioning, please visit Equifax.com.