Frequently Asked Questions

One Score will be available for brokers and loan providers as part of their existing products. Switching to One Score is easy. You can access One Score through IQ Connect or an API. Talk to an Equifax Account Manager.

Moving to One Score will allow you to make better business decisions across the whole credit lifecycle from prequalifying the right applicant, to building risk-based pricing, making underwriting decisions and managing a loan.

Predictiveness: One Score is our most predictive score to date. The new score uses more Comprehensive Credit Reporting data and a new methodology to produce a more predictive score.

NeuroDecision™ Technology: One Score uses NeuroDecision™ Technology, which is a patented modelling methodology, to produce more predictive credit scoring models.

Explainability: One Score will have more granular Key Contributing Factors to explain the main drivers of a credit score. This allows lenders to make better underwriting decisions on applications and drive financial literacy with their customers.

New data sources: with more complete and up to date Comprehensive Credit Reporting data.

Removal of any unintended bias: Equifax has carefully reviewed all incoming characteristics to make sure that they do not pose any unintended bias to the score model allowing you to make fair and accurate underwriting decisions.

One Score is available to all business customers who want consumer credit reports.

One Score is the first solution in the Australia and New Zealand market to utilise the new analytics-to-production deployment model, which significantly improves flexibility and agility while ensuring stability, performance, and automation.

By applying artificial intelligence, One Score improves the customer experience by offering greater transparency and explainability.

One Score fosters trust in the validity and fairness of credit scoring by identifying the specific credit behaviours that influence the score outcome. This enables lenders to readily respond to consumer inquiries and clearly explain how and why a decision was reached.

One Score was developed by analysing credit data from enquiries in the period Q4 2017 to Q3 2018. To ensure a stable, predictive model we reviewed 12 and 18 month outcome windows as part of the development process. Similarly, we then tested how the model performed using a stability sample data set from Q4 2018 to Q3 2019.

With One Score Lenders and credit providers will be able to:

• Make better credit decisions with a complete view of an individual's credit history.

• Improve 'new to market' credit application decisions.

• Use credit score across the entire lifecycle from prequalification, to building risk-based pricing and underwriting.

• Educate and engage their customers (Consumers) using a transparent and explainable score.

No. Moving to Equifax One Score is optional. However, we recommend you move as soon as your business is able so that you're accessing our most predictive score available.

Yes, the existing scores will remain available.

Most consumers will see some degree of change between Apply and One Score. While both scores are based primarily on the same underlying data, the impact of different factors will vary. This may lead to either upward or downward changes to what consumers would have received previously.

The increased power of Equifax One Score compared to previous generation Equifax scores means that it is more accurate in its prediction of arrears and defaults.

In the context of credit scores, a Gini or Gini coefficient is a standard metric for evaluating credit score model performance. It measures the relationship between the model's forecast and the outcome or the dispersion between two values. The Gini is a value between 0 and 100%. The larger the Gini, the more effective the model is at its prediction.

Equifax One Score is built using NeuroDecision™ Technology.

NeuroDecision™ Technology is a machine learning engine developed and patented by Equifax, enabling us to develop scoring models that are more predictive and stable.

NeuroDecision™ Technology enables One Score to produce reason codes (i.e., explanations) that are personalised to the individual consumer from exactly the same process that generates the score. This ensures a high level of explainability and removes the "black box" concerns that are often associated with machine learning.

The result is a unique credit risk model that helps lenders understand how credit scoring decisions are determined, so they can stay compliant and make informed decisions when assessing credit.

For a detailed explanation of NeuroDecision™ Technology at Equifax watch our video.

Geodemographic data refers to location-based data that categorises individuals based on where they live and their demographic profile. Geodemographic attributes are derived from New Zealand Census data to provide an aggregate view of credit risk indicators based on where the individual lives.

Geodemographic data is only used in circumstances where there is very limited credit information available on the credit file.

The most common instance where geodemographic information may be used is when a credit file is created for the first time or if an individual’s credit file has been inactive for a number of years.

Of all applications for credit received by Equifax, approximately 15% have no or only limited credit information.

For these Kiwis, the lack of credit information creates barriers for access to credit. People with no or limited credit information may find themselves: denied access to credit, asked to find a guarantor, or be required to provide a greater amount of documentation.

Equifax is committed to greater financial inclusion and enabling more people to access credit they can manage. Geodemographic data, when it is correlated to credit risk, provides the opportunity to narrow the information gap impacting people with little or no credit information.

Yes, you do. One Score allows customers to opt into the use of age in the score calculation. Age is only ever used in the new to bureau and inactive segments where it significantly improves predictive performance, enabling credit providers to make more confident and accurate lending decisions. By offering an opt-in approach, we ensure that customers are informed and we provide transparency with our new predictive score. Customers who do not opt into use of age may not get the same level of performance from One Score and need to consider other information to supplement their credit decisions in these segments.