Equifax Inc. has introduced a new data solution that statistically matches more than 90 percent of an investor's mortgage loan data to anonymous borrower credit information. Equifax ABS Credit Risk Insight Direct was developed with First American CoreLogic, a member of The First American Corporation family of companies. With this latest Equifax solution, investors can gain access to the most up-to-date borrower credit scores and credit data for non-agency mortgage-backed securities (MBS), as well as First American CoreLogic's LoanPerformance loan-level securities data.
By providing a high confidence match rate, ABS Credit Risk Insight Direct allows investors to improve model accuracy, differentiate between healthy and unhealthy deals and enhance deal surveillance. The solution provides leading indicators of loan performance, such as updated credit scores, performance on past mortgages, second lien balances, delinquencies, monthly payments and credit inquiries across all borrower accounts. With access to up-to-date credit scores and extensive borrower credit data for nearly every mortgage-backed security, investors can better predict loan delinquency, default and prepayment.
"The prevalence of hidden risks, such as unreported second lien balances and loans mis-reported as owner-occupied at origination, underscore the need for solutions to help investors accurately value non-agency mortgage-backed securities," said Steve Albert, vice president of Equifax Capital Markets. "Through our relationship with First American CoreLogic, we have developed a transformative solution that gives mortgage investors greater visibility into borrower credit health."
"This valuable partnership with Equifax provides the kind of critical transparency that is vitally needed in today's risk management environment," said George Livermore, president of First American CoreLogic's data and analytics segment. "Investors now have the option to enrich their due diligence process at a much deeper level by incorporating loan-level insights into borrower credit behaviors."
This relationship represents the next step in the evolution of Equifax's ABS Credit Risk product line. ABS Credit Risk Insight was the industry's first solution to enable investors to link mortgage loan-level data on the entire universe of non-agency mortgage securities to up-to-date borrower credit data. Recently, Equifax added several data variables such as owner-occupancy and bankruptcy indicators as well as the FICO credit score and the FICO Mortgage Industry Option known as the BEACON Mortgage Score. Investors can select the FICO score or VantageScore, a consumer credit scoring model developed by Equifax and the other major credit reporting companies. With these enhancements and data updates occurring twice a month, the new solution provides greater transparency into borrower credit information on mortgage loans.
ABS Credit Risk Insight Direct is part of Equifax's suite of Capital Markets solutions that empowers lenders and investors to make buy/sell decisions with the most up-to-date borrower and property-value information available.
For more information, visit www.equifax.com/capitalmarkets, www.equifax.com or www.facorelogic.com.
