Callcredit and Fair Isaac Team Up on Credit Risk Scoring in UK

Credit reference agency Callcredit and Fair Isaac Corporation (NYSE: FIC), the leading provider of analytics and decision management technology, announce the launch of CallScore 2.0, a powerful suite of credit risk scores for lenders in the UK market.

CallScore 2.0 has been developed exclusively for Callcredit by Fair Isaac and takes full advantage of analytical techniques in Fair Isaac’s industry-proven FICO scoring technology. Utilising the availability of new data sets, it delivers significantly more predictive power than its predecessor, CallScore, which is already matching or exceeding the performance of rival scoring models.

Graham Lund, Deputy Managing Director of Callcredit, said: “We are extremely confident in the performance of CallScore 2.0 and, to demonstrate this, we would be delighted to arrange ‘retro’ tests for any potential user. All they have to do is supply us with a suitable historical sample of credit applicants’ details along with a measure of their performance. We can then retrospectively score the sample and provide results that will demonstrate the benefits that CallScore can provide.”

CallScore 2.0 combines Fair Isaac’s proven, market-leading analytical capabilities with the diversity and richness of Callcredit’s data. In particular, it harnesses the predictive power of Callcredit’s unique time series data on credit balances, limits and monthly repayments, as well as innovative geo-demographic data from its Cameo and GeoRisk suites.

CallScore 2.0 features separate scorecard suites to support account opening and account management decisions. Using Fair Isaac’s multiple scorecard technology to maximise risk prediction accuracy across a wide range of market areas, CallScore 2.0 also segments the market according to the quantity and quality of data returned on individuals, for example ‘thin’, ‘clean’ and ‘adverse’. As a result, CallScore 2.0 comprises many empirically derived scoring models. Variants of each model are available which take into account the data access rights of the user – full SHARE, partial SHARE and public data only.

Brian Cooper, Scoring Solutions Director for Fair Isaac, said: “CallScore 2.0 is the only credit risk score in the UK market that is powered by Fair Isaac’s FICO scoring technology. The enhancements we have built into CallScore 2.0 provide lenders with unprecedented predictive power for highly accurate and consistent credit decisions. For lenders, the outcome is better control of risk, enabling them to profitably grow their markets without introducing new risk. We look forward to collaborating with Callcredit in future to bring additional analytic and decision-enhancing solutions to market.”

Unlike other UK systems, CallScore 2.0 is available online as an on-demand service – available 24/7. Also, CallScore 2.0 calculates scores in real time and delivers a score for each applicant/customer. In the case of joint credit applications, two scores are delivered, giving users the flexibility to base their lending decision on just one of the scores or a combination of the two – depending on their risk strategy.

CallScore 2.0 also scrutinises the consumer’s existing debt levels more thoroughly, which enables lenders to support responsible lending practices.

CallScore 2.0 is designed to maximise the use of eligible data under the revised Third Party Data Protection rules, enabling lenders to easily make use of Alert Decision and Household Override scores, when appropriate.