Equifax has expanded its US open banking offering to include cash flow insights from Mastercard Open Finance.

Lenders and fintechs can use this consumer-permissioned bank data alongside Equifax credit files when making credit decisions.

Open banking allows consumers to share their bank account data with authorised third parties.

According to Equifax, the addition gives its customers more choice of open finance provider.

Three Mastercard Open Finance products are available, all supplied by Finicity Corporation, a Mastercard company.

Cashflow Analytics examines up to 24 months of credits, debits and balances to generate cash flow attributes for underwriting.

Payment Risk Insights provides a score that helps lenders predict repayment risk and identify early signs of repayment stress.

Transaction Report offers at least six months of cleansed, categorised and enhanced bank transaction data for underwriting and decisioning models.

The data could help lenders broaden credit access and streamline approvals for the 76.1 million US consumers who are thin-file or credit invisible, Equifax said. These consumers have limited or no credit history.

The company noted that cash flow requirements vary across personal loans, credit cards and commercial credit lines, as each product has its own repayment structure and risk profile.

“Financial institutions have diverse operational needs, meaning a single cash flow partner does not necessarily fit each organisation’s needs,”

said Jacob Osborne, Senior Vice President and General Manager, Fintech and Payments at Equifax.

“Our collaboration with Equifax will help organisations make faster, more confident decisions while unlocking new opportunities to expand access to credit,”

said Bart Willaert, Executive Vice President, Open Finance, Americas at Mastercard.

Featured image: Edited by Fintech News Switzerland, based on image by mrsiraphol via Magnific.