Latest / Market Pulse / Credit File Contradiction: Why is Each Different?
Transcript
- 0:02Welcome to a special edition of Market Pulse from Equifax,
- 0:05where we break down what's shaping the mortgage industry today and what happens
- 0:09next.
- 0:15Hi, I am Clayton Collins, CEO at HousingWire,
- 0:17and we are here MBA Annual 2025 for a pretty legendary
- 0:21conversation. Mm-Hmm . This may be the first time,
- 0:24at least my first time,
- 0:26bringing together leaders from the three nationwide consumer reporting agencies
- 0:30to talk about what's changing in data in the mortgage process. Joel, Michelle,
- 0:35Satyan, thank you so much for joining us today. So, Joel,
- 0:38I want to kick off with you with your view on why data
- 0:43is so important in today's mortgage ecosystem and and how you're thinking about
- 0:47the landscape that is just the talk of the town here at NBA Annual in 2025.
- 0:52Well,
- 0:52first I want to say very much thank you so much Satyan and Michelle for joining
- 0:57us. I think it's important for everybody to know we are vicious competitors.
- 1:02, I mean, outside of this time right here,
- 1:04we're gonna fight to earn our business with each and every customer.
- 1:07And we all come to the table with our unique offerings and our unique
- 1:11differentiators. So that's, that's the first thing I want people to realize.
- 1:15But more important, all of us are here today because we actually stand united,
- 1:20that more data is, is better for the consumer.
- 1:23And that starts with all three credit reports. Yep.
- 1:25And then that expands out on all the differentiated things that all three of our
- 1:29organizations are doing to bring to the industry with the single objective of
- 1:34how do we help more people qualify for the loan? That's what it's really about,
- 1:37where there's so much conversation about how do we reduce data?
- 1:40That's how you eliminate people.
- 1:42We're looking at an inclusive approach of how do we get more people qualified
- 1:46today. So I think we all share that.
- 1:48And the fact that we're all sitting here together is representative of that
- 1:51united goal.
- 1:52Michelle, do you feel the same way? Vicious competitors?
- 1:55Well, yeah, I can agree more , I mean all day, every day.
- 2:00And I totally agree. Also, our mission is financial inclusion for all.
- 2:04And so we spend all day, every day not just competing with these guys,
- 2:08but also working really hard to make sure that we can fairly represent all
- 2:12consumers and give everybody the chance to home ownership if that's what they
- 2:15want.
- 2:16Alright. Sati, on the topic of vicious competition,
- 2:18it's been disclosed by each of you that there are major differences between
- 2:21your, your credit files and the data you report.
- 2:24Can you jump in and give us a view on the,
- 2:26the differences that you see between the data and, you know,
- 2:28start with your organization TransUnion? Sure.
- 2:30Yeah. Thanks. you know, I think one, one important fact when it comes to the,
- 2:35the three national bureaus is we, we don't see each other's file,
- 2:39which make that, which makes that an even harder competitive landscape, right?
- 2:43I cannot inspect Michelle's file or Joel's file.
- 2:47So I really have to work with my teams to,
- 2:49to do what we think is the best thing to add to our, our our bureau data. And,
- 2:54and it's something that, you know, for those that aren't aware, we have,
- 2:58you know, I, I, I can speak to myself, you know,
- 3:00me and my team are the face of the mortgage business and also the auto business,
- 3:03but we have large amounts of people whose job in is every day,
- 3:07day in and day out to guide source more information, more data on the file.
- 3:12And one thing I want to add here is
- 3:15the file is just becoming more and more diverse.
- 3:18Like we can talk about this a little bit more, but there are so many new,
- 3:21different unique financial lending products that I think the world right now is
- 3:26as, as differentiated as a file as we've ever seen.
- 3:29What's an example of like these, the,
- 3:31the new data capabilities or features of the file?
- 3:34Sure. So for one example would be the buy now pay later lending product.
- 3:39Okay. So the affirms of the world,
- 3:41we work through CDI and and industry organizations to, to talk about how,
- 3:45how to get something standard on that on the file.
- 3:48But at the same time it's really up to the furnishers to decide when,
- 3:53how much and to whom they furnish. And so again,
- 3:55we compete very ferociously about getting those difference getting as much data
- 4:00as we can on our reports.
- 4:02Yeah, Michelle?
- 4:03Yeah, no, absolutely.
- 4:04The goal is to give as much representation to consumers as we can.
- 4:07And so whether that's through rental payment history,
- 4:10whether it's through how consumers manage their cash flow,
- 4:14whether it's through alternative financial services,
- 4:16whether they be short term loans or things like buy now, pay later,
- 4:21like Satya was just talking about. It's, I agree.
- 4:25Like the files are more diverse now probably than they've ever been.
- 4:29I I think about it from overall contributors. If you think about five,
- 4:3210 years ago,
- 4:33the number of people contributing data to a credit file today has gone up three
- 4:37x. Yeah. And it's all of the things that, that my peers here are talking about.
- 4:42It's different type of contributors. And so you have the,
- 4:45not only the difference in financial contributors,
- 4:47but then you also have the additional data around are they paying rent,
- 4:51like Michelle said,
- 4:52or do they have utility information that we can add because the new scores will
- 4:56take that into account and help improve that look of the customer.
- 4:59These may be differentiators that,
- 5:01that you understand and that mortgage lenders may understand,
- 5:04but consumers likely not.
- 5:06They consumers probably have a very little or or no recognition of what the
- 5:11difference between Experian, Equifax, and TransUnion is.
- 5:13And that probably goes for a lot of loan originators and,
- 5:16and real estate agents and other people who advise consumers.
- 5:19How do we take a step forward in consumer education for them to understand why
- 5:23three consumer reporting agencies exist and,
- 5:26and how they aid in in credit. Joel, if you want to kick us off there, well.
- 5:30Sure. It, it all comes down to education. And I think if, you know,
- 5:33one of the things you hear about in the mortgage industry today is the shopping
- 5:36behavior Yep. And how conversions have dropped.
- 5:38Part of that is because of a lot more applications for folks that are just
- 5:42looking to see whether they app they can apply or qualify and or if they could
- 5:46save a few bucks on a refi, part of that could be addressed through education.
- 5:51The other part is that getting those people that get denied the first time
- 5:54enough education on how to improve their score and their trade lines and those
- 5:58type of things to be able to qualify. And it all comes down to the data.
- 6:02You know, without the data, you don't have a score and without a score,
- 6:06you don't go anywhere in the process.
- 6:08We talked a little bit yesterday on one of our sessions about one of my children
- 6:12that, you know, would love to buy a house and,
- 6:14and now his dad needs to help him get better about having credit history so he
- 6:19can do, so.
- 6:19If your, if your children need education, then what, what the rest of.
- 6:22Us to get, my goal is by the end of this session,
- 6:23we're gonna get him alone . But anyway,
- 6:28it's that education to help him understand what he needed to do Yeah.
- 6:31To get those additional trade lunch so that he had a score.
- 6:34So he would be considered.
- 6:35Yeah. You know, I'd jump in and say yeah, I can speak for TransUnion.
- 6:39I think this exists with all the bureaus is, is it's,
- 6:42it's Michelle's comment earlier.
- 6:43It's about getting access to credit access to homes. You know,
- 6:48TransUnion works a lot on, on that. Consumer education, free credit scores,
- 6:53download our app, right? To be able to,
- 6:55to really understand what a consumer can do to change and what changes they can
- 7:00make to to make themselves mortgage eligible. Right.
- 7:03And so there's a lot of education there that consumers do need to continue to
- 7:08build on. And again,
- 7:10with this proliferation of different products,
- 7:13you think about a younger generation and maybe their first experience with
- 7:16credit is, you know, an a firm loan, right? To understand what does that mean?
- 7:21What does that mean to go apply for a credit card? There's a,
- 7:24there's a lot of education that consumers need, but at the end of the day,
- 7:27this was a comment that was made in a session earlier yesterday.
- 7:31The credit score and mortgage is, is,
- 7:33I just think of that as like the doorknob to get in. It's just the front door.
- 7:36It's actually the data that we've been talking about that is used for the
- 7:39underwriting. The GSEs don't actually use a score in their underwriting.
- 7:43All they use is the data and the trend data that was pioneered about a decade
- 7:47ago. Right? Which is much more data that's used in the traditional score today.
- 7:51So it's all about that data that's in the score. And again,
- 7:54the data is different across the bureaus.
- 7:56If consumers have never had more access to,
- 7:59to content and information about the mortgage process or the lending process or
- 8:02their own credit data, why are conversion rate's low?
- 8:07So like, if consumers can go, like, seek information about their,
- 8:10their credit score and and financial profile,
- 8:12why are they going to lenders to to test the waters if they could potentially
- 8:17get that knowledge on their own?
- 8:19Well, I think that consumers are shopping, right? Yeah. Like they do for any,
- 8:22which is a good thing. Product, it's a great thing.
- 8:23But it's tough for lenders.
- 8:24It, it is, it,
- 8:26it means that the lenders have to have processes in place to be able to do that
- 8:29evaluation fairly quickly.
- 8:31And there's been a lot of tools that have emerged over the last several years
- 8:35that help pre-qualify a consumer without posting a hard inquiry to their report
- 8:38that allow the lender to have kind of like a quick look into whether somebody's
- 8:43probably gonna qualify or not. And that goes beyond credit data, by the way.
- 8:47There's income and employment and other solutions that go into deciding whether
- 8:52you're gonna be able to underwrite a mortgage loan for somebody that you can
- 8:55look at kind of before you go through the full process. I,
- 8:58I totally agree with you. In fact, Bob, yesterday in the opening session,
- 9:02I wrote down a quote, he said,
- 9:04the supreme irony is that Fannie and Freddie do not use the credit scores.
- 9:08They get data, and then desktop underwriter and loan processor do their thing.
- 9:12The credit score is used for price.
- 9:14And I think one of the things we're not talking about enough is, well,
- 9:18first of all, I couldn't agree with him more on that. Second of all,
- 9:21it's not just the underlying data. It's the innovation in the technology,
- 9:25in the security, in the consumer support,
- 9:27and how we answer questions for consumers, how we educate consumers,
- 9:31the tools that we give them,
- 9:33the places that we go to be able to communicate with them in a way that's
- 9:36meaningful. For example, Experian has a, a partnership I'm super,
- 9:40super involved in and proud of with home free USA that helps with black and
- 9:44brown communities.
- 9:45And getting the word out through means that really resonate with folks.
- 9:49It's about a lot more than data or a score.
- 9:54It's about how you manage it, how you educate about it,
- 9:57how you get it out there into the world.
- 9:59You mentioned innovation innovation is, is clearly something that's happening.
- 10:03But in the same sentence here at MBA annual people are talking about regulation.
- 10:07Yeah. Do you see regulation as something that's pushing forward innovation or,
- 10:11or holding it back?
- 10:12Like what is this relationship between those two really important topics?
- 10:15I mean, the three of us have lived in a world where you have to innovate.
- 10:18I mean, financial services is one of the most highly regulated industries. Yeah,
- 10:21absolutely. Out there. Absolutely. And rightfully so, right? Rightfully so.
- 10:24So the three,
- 10:25our three companies have had to innovate within that infrastructure since we
- 10:29started. I do think that sometimes regulation and or,
- 10:34you know, some of the folks who oversee the industry can help that along,
- 10:39for instance, the FHFA's Yep.
- 10:42Adoption of an enablement of scores like Vantage 4.0 or more modern
- 10:47scores just in general that take into account the data and the processes and
- 10:51everything else that we've been talking about here today. That's gonna help.
- 10:54Because the GSEs needed to be able to accept scores that they weren't
- 10:59accepting before. And so there are times when regulation prompts it.
- 11:03You've seen all three of us put some of that innovation,
- 11:06some of that value add back into the industry very publicly and committing to do
- 11:10that on our investment to help the industry move forward.
- 11:14Can you share what's the most important innovation that Equifax is bringing
- 11:17forward right.
- 11:17Now? Yeah. So from our perspective,
- 11:19we have a couple of data repositories that are unique,
- 11:22telco and utility and,
- 11:24and that type of pay service history.
- 11:28The other is our work number.
- 11:29And so we've taken elements from both of those product sets thanks to some of
- 11:33the, the work we've done on transformation.
- 11:35And we're making that available with the credit for the exact thing that
- 11:38Michelle was referring to.
- 11:39Allow people to make better decisions right at application before they spend all
- 11:43of the money to get somebody to a close.
- 11:45In the spirit of fierce competition.
- 11:47I'll let Michelle and Satya absolutely share their innovation as well.
- 11:51Absolutely. You want to jump in? Yeah.
- 11:52Sure. So, you know, we,
- 11:53we announced that we're gonna continue to add more of that alternative data into
- 11:58the mortgage credit file rental. I mean, I,
- 12:00I want to just build on what Michelle mentioned. You know,
- 12:03the leadership from Director Pulte and the FHFA to advance the adoption of
- 12:07scores, like Vantage score. One of the big,
- 12:09I think one of his follow up messages on X was about now using rental trade
- 12:13lines and that being part of, part of what homeowners can, can rely on. So,
- 12:18you know, we want to double down on that,
- 12:20add more of those rental trade lines to, to, to the file as well.
- 12:23And then you know, short,
- 12:25short term lending is another data set that we invested in a few years ago.
- 12:30You know, we have research that shows that,
- 12:32especially for that marginal consumer,
- 12:34maybe the FHA or the first time home buyer,
- 12:36those consumers that are under a six 20 or or six 50 a short term
- 12:41lending tray line actually is positive for them. It's not a negative signal,
- 12:45it's a positive signal. 'cause Again, it could be the first time they have,
- 12:48they're interacting with credit. So again,
- 12:51we want to help achieve that mission of getting people into homes safely.
- 12:55And then in an expanded way.
- 12:57Yeah. And in some, I'm sorry, go ahead. Yeah.
- 12:59Michelle's turn.
- 13:00Transition.
- 13:01Keeps coming out.
- 13:02Back guys.
- 13:04I totally agree.
- 13:06Experian invested in one of the largest rental databases in the country 10 or 15
- 13:11years ago called Rent Bureau.
- 13:12But we had to go beyond that because so many folks rent from individual
- 13:16landlords or, you know, not a property management company. Right.
- 13:20And so we innovated with things like Boost,
- 13:22which allows consumers to work with their bank account to be able to show
- 13:27they're paying their rent on time every month and permission it themselves into
- 13:31the file. We've got relationships with 80 million people in the United States.
- 13:35And to get them to opt into reporting that,
- 13:37or utility information or how they pay their Netflix account and everything can
- 13:41really, really create a file where one didn't exist before.
- 13:45Our most recent innovation that we just launched fairly recently is cashflow
- 13:49attributes and scores so that lenders can augment traditional credit
- 13:54debt repayment with how somebody's actually managing their money on a month to
- 13:59month basis.
- 13:59And that augments and adds a tremendous amount of value to who you might want to
- 14:03lend to and how responsibly they're gonna pay you back. Okay.
- 14:07And one of the things I was gonna build on,
- 14:08what Satyan said I think is important is and what Michelle said,
- 14:12we've competed really hard in the consumer finance space that loves more data.
- 14:16They want all these things we've been talking about. The, you know,
- 14:20the announcement by Director Pulte about Vantage kind of opened the door to a
- 14:25lot of people in the industry learning maybe for the first time, wait,
- 14:28there's more data that could be here versus what we've been using for a number
- 14:32of years. Yeah. So that door has been open now,
- 14:34and I think that's really valuable to the mortgage industry to start realizing
- 14:39what else is out there.
- 14:40I think that's important, what you just said.
- 14:42That door has been opened in the mortgage industry mm-hmm .
- 14:45It's been open in almost another credit categories,
- 14:48other lending category for decades.
- 14:50Yep. That's right.
- 14:51And I think that's the point of we've had to compete the market enables us to
- 14:54compete. It forces us to compete. And we have been competing. And you know,
- 14:58I think all of us have stories of, you know, what acquisitions have we made,
- 15:02which angle do we want to compete on? And, and it's, it's, again,
- 15:05it's every day that we go to work and think about how do we differentiate it.
- 15:09It.
- 15:09Feels like more data is always something that, that people want.
- 15:12But one of the trends and the talking points I've hear,
- 15:15heard here at MBA annual is the potential move from tri merge to a,
- 15:19a buy merge or even situations where a single report could be the solution for
- 15:23lenders. That's kind of a move away, the move to, to less data. I,
- 15:28I have a feeling that's something lenders are, are pretty curious about. Like,
- 15:31is this, is this coming up the pipe? What, what are,
- 15:33what are the hurdles toward moving toward a buy merge and what might some of the
- 15:36risks be?
- 15:38You're looking at me. Yeah. I, I'll be happy to jump in.
- 15:40So there has been a lot of talk about that this week. And you know,
- 15:44in some cases that's exciting.
- 15:46In some cases I'd love to see the dialogue maybe shift a little more to how do
- 15:49we help more,
- 15:50more people actually get into homes versus a little bit of the economics on the
- 15:55credit side. But happy to have that dialogue.
- 15:58I think it's a very slippery slope. And so I'll actually start in non-mortgage.
- 16:02There's a lot of big lenders in today's world that pull three credit files
- 16:07or two credit files in the auto space,
- 16:09or even the credit card space because they believe that there's differences and
- 16:13they want to see those differences because they believe it gives them a
- 16:16competitive edge in making better decisions and pricing their products more
- 16:20aggressively. So that is someone that has total choice.
- 16:24They could go with no credit score, no credit file,
- 16:26and they're choosing to buy three.
- 16:27And we're seeing that more and more in the industry when it comes to mortgage.
- 16:32It really comes to the lost applications. The,
- 16:35the whole drive is an economic drive. Yeah.
- 16:38If we're talking about what is the best way to get consumers into homes and to
- 16:42qualify more consumers, it is more data.
- 16:44And I haven't heard anybody really give a solid argument as why that's not true.
- 16:49All of the arguments I've heard have been very much financially based,
- 16:52which I respect.
- 16:53And I think that all of us are working together with the different options to
- 16:56say, how do we help upfront on the shopping behavior Yeah.
- 17:02To, to control cost a little bit more. But we,
- 17:04we maintain that very proven safety and soundness on the back end
- 17:09so that the consumer gets the best price possible and that the American taxpayer
- 17:14is backing good quality loans.
- 17:16And it's all ties back to, for a score that scores more people, that,
- 17:20that takes account for all of this data that we just talked about. Yep.
- 17:24And so we, I think all of us understand that,
- 17:26that kind of financial conversation. One of the things, and again,
- 17:31this came up as well yesterday from Stan, from from Freedom Mortgage,
- 17:34thought he made a great point of the US housing system is truly the envy
- 17:39of the world, right? It's, it's a,
- 17:41it's kind of a remarkable way to match capital with people looking to buy a home
- 17:45and getting to a home in a very efficient and a very safe way. Right?
- 17:49And a safe way to get people. Now what is, you know,
- 17:52the average mortgage is well over $400,000.
- 17:54You're getting up to a million dollar mortgages, you know, to, to pay maybe 10,
- 17:59$15 more for credit data to keep that system going seems like,
- 18:03like it's worth it.
- 18:05Yeah. I think that, you know, well, yeah, go ahead. You were about to.
- 18:10No, I wasn't. I was, I was I mumbled? Well set . Oh.
- 18:13. Yeah. Okay. I think that,
- 18:17I think that it's an interesting time to contemplate reducing the amount of data
- 18:21that you use to make decisions.
- 18:23'cause There was so much change going on in this industry right now in mortgage
- 18:28in general, but certainly with regard to how you evaluate risk,
- 18:32you've got everything from technology changes and AI factoring into decisions
- 18:36and everything else to introduce reducing the amount of data that you take in to
- 18:41how you've known decisions have been made for the last 20 years or so.
- 18:46I think that timing is really interesting.
- 18:49I mean,
- 18:49I think the timing is tied around coming out of a pretty challenging time period
- 18:53for the industry, and people are, are hunting for margin.
- 18:56And I think Director Ty's commentary on,
- 18:58on x and bringing competition to the market, he, he's very price focused. I,
- 19:03I think with the lens of benefiting the consumer and and how,
- 19:06and some of these costs do flow to the consumer. Yeah.
- 19:09I, I would like to comment though, building on this. In today's world,
- 19:13the lender has the ability,
- 19:15the choice to have one credit bureau to bring that in and to start the
- 19:18underwriting process.
- 19:19They're not required to have all three until later in the process. Yeah.
- 19:23But what we see from many lenders is they've had that bad experience for a
- 19:28borrower that they got closer to close, got the other credit scores,
- 19:31and they had to go back to that borrower and change the rate.
- 19:34And that's a bad experience for the borrower.
- 19:36It's a bad experience for the lender. And that sometimes results in a lost loan.
- 19:40So we see people voluntarily saying,
- 19:43as soon as I know somebody qualifies and they show me any sign,
- 19:45I'm gonna move forward.
- 19:46They want to make sure they have all three credit bureaus.
- 19:49And that is because the loss of a loan is so much detrimental
- 19:54to, compared to the cost of getting data to do the loan. Right.
- 19:57And it also reiterates that they know there's enough variation between our
- 20:01different credit bureaus that it's going,
- 20:04it has a high potential of changing when it goes to that final pricing sheet.
- 20:08And so there's a choice today, there's options today,
- 20:12and we see people choosing with their pocketbook to buy more data sooner to make
- 20:16sure that the experience for their customer is that that lender closes that
- 20:21model.
- 20:21Yeah. Are there any,
- 20:23are there certain lenders or like whether we're talking about wholesale and
- 20:27broker channel or the independent bank or depositories that might choose one
- 20:31path over the other or pulling all three out the,
- 20:33the gate versus a single report? Or is that kind of a, a,
- 20:37a lender by lender decision? Yeah, I could take a trends.
- 20:40Yeah. I mean, I,
- 20:41I would say one thing maybe adding onto what Joel said is that the consumer
- 20:46experience is real, really important on the consumer having that certainty and,
- 20:49and again,
- 20:50getting credit for all of what they've done in their credit file or in their
- 20:55relationship to credit. There's been conversations about other,
- 20:58other lending lines. Again, Joel said very rightfully so,
- 21:01that in other lending lines, multiple reports are used also.
- 21:03Those are those lending lines that consume this alternative data way more than
- 21:08mortgage does. So it's good to see mortgage moving in that direction.
- 21:11But my point here is that typically a,
- 21:14a borrower and even their broker or their loan officer may not know exactly
- 21:18right up front which loan product is best for them. It could be a GSE loan,
- 21:23it could be a non QM loan. It could be a VA loan. Right. And I, I think again,
- 21:29the, to be able to cast the net as widely as possible to get the consumer in the
- 21:32right product, taking a look at all three bureaus and,
- 21:35and really using a trended score like vantage score is probably,
- 21:38is the best answer to get the best option from the consumer. That's right.
- 21:41The, the other piece I would put on that, around the three bureaus and,
- 21:45and that is if we go to one eventually,
- 21:49like in any area, the models are gonna change a little bit.
- 21:53So if you know that the broker is picking the highest score or you believe that
- 21:58yeah. And you're seeing a seven 30,
- 22:00you probably eventually will see some of the pricing price that more like a
- 22:05seven 10 or a 7 0 5 because they have to take into account what they're not
- 22:10seeing. So the absence of data punishes the consumer from a pricing perspective.
- 22:15And I, I think that's one of the risks that we really haven't contemplated.
- 22:19But I will tell you, if you listen to enough of the panels,
- 22:22and there's been a lot of them in the last six months on this topic,
- 22:25a lot of our leading lenders are out there sharing that information.
- 22:28They truly want to get the best loan for the customer.
- 22:31And so there's a decent chance they're still gonna buy all three bureaus.
- 22:34It's just they're gonna put the best one forward.
- 22:36So then the overall ecosystem will have to adapt somewhat to that approach.
- 22:41That's right. Alright, so let's bring this back to MBA annual 2025.
- 22:46Credit reporting has been a hot topic.
- 22:47One of the breakout sessions yesterday was a complete,
- 22:50like overflow standing room only.
- 22:51So it's clearly something people are talking about here in Las Vegas this week.
- 22:56Michelle,
- 22:56can you kick us off with one of the biggest misperceptions that you're,
- 23:00you're hearing here at MBA annual or you hear from clients and interactions that
- 23:03you'd like to set the record straight on or bring clarity to?
- 23:08I mean, I think TU has started off this session with the biggest one,
- 23:10which is that the bureaus don't compete or that there's not innovation happening
- 23:15within data or the credit bureau industry.
- 23:19Because like we said,
- 23:21mortgage is the only space that requires three bureaus to be pulled.
- 23:26We've been competing on that underlying data for decades,
- 23:30innovating building on top of it,
- 23:32trying to represent the consumer as completely as we can. And so for me,
- 23:36that's the biggest misperception I keep hearing over and over again at this
- 23:40conference.
- 23:41You only, I I think you hit, you guys hit the main ones on the point.
- 23:44I did hear,
- 23:45hear an individual stated that three credit bureaus is not good for the
- 23:49consumer. And I, I don't believe that in any way.
- 23:52I think that is a misconception,
- 23:53and I think that's the spirit of the conversation, that more data is better.
- 23:57What do you think that that person's perception was? Why I.
- 24:01I think it was fi purely financial financial pricing.
- 24:03Maybe we can save 30 or $40 on that closed loan,
- 24:06which all of us know is such a small drop. I mean, it, it's less than you know,
- 24:11a percent, percent and a half Yeah. Of the total closing cost.
- 24:14To secure a loan in the most sound housing market in the world seems a little
- 24:18ludicrous at times that we're spending this much energy talking about it.
- 24:22But I'm glad we are. I think you know,
- 24:24you started this conversation talking a little bit about education and how are
- 24:28we doing that?
- 24:29It's what's become really obvious in the last couple of months is the vast need
- 24:33for education, not only for the consumer, but even our, our customers.
- 24:37Yeah. So on the customers, and this, this is gonna be the,
- 24:40the actual last question . But as we approach a a period with,
- 24:43with lender choice and, and vantage score,
- 24:46what do lenders need to do to get prepared and what moves they need to be making
- 24:50today to prepare for 2026? That seems to be like the head scratcher.
- 24:54I I do hear pretty often, Michelle, please kick us off and close out. Yeah,
- 24:58I mean, close.
- 24:59Out, I think separately, all three of us have come to the table and said,
- 25:02please, we will give you vantage for right now so that you can evaluate it
- 25:08in actual underwriting decisions and know how it will play out in your portfolio
- 25:12and in the real decisions you're making over time.
- 25:15The GSCs are gonna come out with their guidelines for it here soon, you know,
- 25:20possibly within the next month.
- 25:21And then you'll know how you could make decisions using it. Take, take,
- 25:25take the score. Yep.
- 25:27Okay.
- 25:28Yeah. I would say eyes on the score, like in,
- 25:30in every aspect of the mortgage process, as Michelle said,
- 25:35we've all made it available. I know that Fannie is starting to,
- 25:39to add it on the backend and the MBS pretty soon here.
- 25:42So I just think eyes on the score start to develop that Rosetta Stone with it,
- 25:46an alternative to the score that's been in market for 30 years. Okay.
- 25:50And I would just wrap up. I, I think they've hit it on the nose. So I,
- 25:54I want to wrap up by saying thank you, Clayton, for helping make this happen.
- 25:57I'm just proud we had a civilized conversation with pretty fierce competitors.
- 26:01Joel, Michelle , thank you so much. Thank you. Thank.
- 26:04You. Yeah.
- 26:06The information and opinions provided in this podcast are intended as general
- 26:10guidance only, and are subject to change without notice.
- 26:13The views presented during the podcast are those of the presenter as of the date
- 26:17this podcast has recorded and do not necessarily reflect official positions of
- 26:21Equifax.
- 26:24Investor analysts should direct inquiries using the contact desk box on the
- 26:27investor relations section@equifax.com.