Fair Isaac has announced that its FICO Expansion credit risk score "has proven in a major lending-industry study to be the first strong and reliable credit score for assessing the risk of millions of Americans who have little or no credit information on file at Equifax, Experian and TransUnion. The study also demonstrated that FICO Expansion score aligns with the company’s industry-standard Classic FICO score for quicker adoption by lenders and combined coverage of as many as 50 million more American consumers than can be addressed by any competing credit risk model." According to an FAQ, the "FICO Expansion score analyzes non-traditional credit data. Examples of such data include deposit account records, pay day loan cashing, and purchase payment plan performance."   » Continue Reading

Shanghai Daily reports that First Data Corp. "is planning to launch its first ATMs in China in the coming months in a major expansion of its services in the country. We will launch our ATM service within the next 6 to 12 months," said Nigel Lee, president of First Data International China and North Asia.