In an op-ed in American Banker, the CEO of MeasureOne, Elan Amir, noted that traditional credit models are not well suited for taking into account a black swan event like we are experiencing today; lenders have had an expected response to the crisis: increase interest rates and tighten lending standards; this has resulted in limited availability of credit to consumers just when they need it most; lenders should be adding alternative data, such as utility data, banking data, social media information and academic data, into their underwriting model; there are regulatory concerns that can be allayed by obtaining the customer’s consent to use such data; Amir said that sourcing alternative data today is possible through innovative technology platforms and lenders should be doing everything they can to gain access to data on their prospective borrowers. American Banker.
