Experian has released its findings on credit card trends, which provide insight into U.S. card usage. The results show that "New Yorkers lead the way with the highest number of open cards, and Phoenix residents have the fewest. A closer look at New York reveals that while its residents have more open cards, the data shows they aren't using those cards as much as some of the other cities, such as Atlanta, where the highest average monthly balance is $6,753 on revolving accounts. San Francisco and Houston have the lowest average monthly balance, with $5,323 and $5,328, respectively."

TransUnion and ID Analytics have introduced a new credit risk score – ID Analytics Credit Optics Plus – that the two companies say "examines conventional measures of creditworthiness, willingness and ability to pay, in combination with a new dimension, stability, in a single solution. This powerful combination provides a 360-degree view of consumer behavior and enhances the predictiveness of credit decisions, often resulting in a performance lift for lenders." READ MORE »

A new study by TransUnion confirms that the "new" payment hierarchy -- where consumers pay their credit cards prior to their mortgages -- is continuing, with the trend occurring more readily than ever before. READ MORE »

Moneta has announced an agreement with Equifax "to utilize the Equifax credit decisioning system for a new instant credit feature for Moneta’s online payment wallet. Merchants accepting Moneta payments may now offer a range of bank-sponsored funding options to their customers including checking, savings, money market and now instant transactional credit lines underwritten by the sponsoring bank." READ MORE »

Consumer delinquency rates for bankcards, first mortgages and home equity lines of credit again rose month-to-month in November, according to Equifax's monthly Credit Trend Report.

Bankcard issuers continued a year-long trend of closing accounts and reducing credit lines. Card risk management programs have accelerated since July of 2008, reducing card credit lines by $803 billion and the number of accounts by 93 million. Delinquency rates for bankcards picked up notably since the end of 2008 in tandem with rising unemployment. The November 2009 60-days-past-due rate of 4.62 percent is almost a full percent higher than the November 2008 rate of 3.76 percent. However, the rate still remains below the peak of 4.79 percent in May 2009. READ MORE »

Consumers continue to fight the recession by saving more and paying off debt, banks are responding with more careful lending, and stressed homeowners increasingly are falling behind on mortgages on their primary residence, according to the latest Equifax Credit Trends Report for September 2009. READ MORE »

TransUnion and ID Analytics have announced that TransUnion will include ID Analytics' collections, credit, and identity risk solutions in TransUnion's portfolio of service offerings. According to the two firms, "ID Analytics' scores provide TransUnion customers with unique, real-time insight into consumers' fraud risk and creditworthiness across the entire lifecycle including origination, portfolio management and collections. The two companies are jointly delivering a suite of solutions that reduce credit losses, improve collection efforts, and reduce costs associated with fraudulent transactions." READ MORE »

Equifax and FICO have introduced the Credit Capacity Index to give lenders and credit grantors easy access to a unique analytic tool to better assess consumer credit risk. The Index is "the first forward-looking risk management tool that rank-orders consumers based on their ability to take on future debt. Available through Equifax, Credit Capacity Index enables lenders to strengthen their account acquisition and account management strategies while minimizing exposure to potential losses while not burdening consumers with too much debt." READ MORE »

TransUnion has announced that it TransUnion Credit Risk Index, a statistic developed to measure the changes in average consumer credit risk within various geographies, increased 1.98 percent from 124.79 in the fourth quarter of 2008 to 127.26 in the first quarter of 2009. On a year-over-year basis, the Credit Risk Index increased 7.10 percent (from 118.83 in the first quarter of 2008), the largest increase for that time period in this decade. The Credit Risk Index is defined as the weighted average probability of 90-day delinquency or worse among consumers in a given region relative to the nation as a whole. READ MORE »

Equifax has launched Debt Wise, a new product that uses information from the Equifax Credit Report to consumers to free themselves from debt--faster. According to Equifax, "Debt Wise effectively eliminates one of the biggest hurdles for many debt laden consumers -- getting started. Subscribers can create their personal debt payment plan online in as little as 10 minutes, in the privacy and comfort of their own home." READ MORE »

In an article titled "Credit Score Shell Game", Nancy Trejos writes in Sunday's Washington Post about consumer frustrations with credit scores - how their credit scores are falling as a result of arbitrary credit line reductions or account closures by issuers. And, to add frustration, Trejos finds that "people who try to take matters in hand and pay to find out their credit scores discover that it can be difficult to learn the score that lenders actually use to evaluate them."

FICO has announced the release of its newest FICO scores targeted specifically to the automobile lending and bankcard industries. TransUnion is making the scores available to lenders and issuers under the names FICO® Risk Score, Classic Auto 08 and FICO® Risk Score, Classic Bankcard 08. READ MORE »

Seeking Alpha has a good article this morning about the potential impact of credit card issuer credit line reductions on consumer FICO credit scores - creating a whole new segment of consumers who will migrate down to subprime status as a result of issuer actions, not actions taken by the consumers.

Experian and PredictiveMetrics have announced the launch of PriorityScore for Collections - "a suite of collection scoring models blending Experian's credit reporting agency data with client-supplied data that produces an accurate ranking and predictive forecast of consumer repayment amounts." READ MORE »

LifeLock has announced that it has entered into "an agreement that will leverage TransUnion's secure, automated processes to expedite and enhance the delivery of identity theft services that LifeLock currently provides to its members." READ MORE »

TransUnion.com has released the results of its analysis of trends in the credit card lending industry for the third quarter of 2008. The report is part of an ongoing series of quarterly consumer lending sector analyses focusing on credit card, auto loan and mortgage data that may be found on TransUnion's Web site. READ MORE »

TransUnion has announced the launch of Payment Behaviour Score - described as "a new score to improve the effectiveness of acquisition and portfolio reviews for credit card businesses. This scoring solution is designed to strengthen relationships with cardholders and enhance the portfolio management strategy for the credit card providers." READ MORE »

MicroBilt and PRBC have announced are that they are "teaming to help small-to-medium (SME) enterprises and financial institutions conduct more business with an estimated 50-70 million American consumers with “thin” or no established credit histories. The two companies will merge payment data collected by MicroBilt and PRBC in PRBC’s data repository to help more consumers qualify for FICO® Expansion® scores used by lenders and financial institutions in underwriting new loans. As part of the agreement, MicroBilt will make an equity investment in PRBC." READ MORE »

Equifax and Fair Isaac have announced a partnership "to develop and sell advanced analytics and scoring solutions for businesses and consumers. Under the agreement, the two companies will leverage Equifax's consumer credit data and Fair Isaac's scoring technology, and will jointly market and sell new FICO analytic products." READ MORE »

PRBC, a bill payment credit bureau, has announced that its credit verification, reporting and scoring procedures meet or exceed new guidance provided by the Federal Housing Administration (FHA) for verifying "bill payment" histories and establishing credit scores for borrowers with little or no traditional credit files or FICO scores. READ MORE »

Experian and Credit Builders Alliance (CBA) have announced the launch of a data-reporting partnership that enables CBA's members to report microloan repayment data to Experian to help thousands of small business entrepreneurs build a credit history. READ MORE »

In an article titled The Credit Rating in Your Shoe Box, Ben Levisohn and Brian Burnsed write for Business Week about Pay Rent, Build Credit (PRBC). "They've captured the attention of lenders right now who want growth in new markets [like the unbanked]," says Michael Turner of Political & Economic Research Council (PERC), a public policy group.

Equifax has announced that it has agreed to acquire a 28 percent equity stake in Global Payments Credit Services LLC (GPCS), a credit information company in Russia, from Global Payments Europe, s.r.o., a subsidiary of Global Payments Inc., and Home Credit and Finance Bank of Russia (Home Credit). READ MORE »

TransUnion has published its analysis of trends in the credit card lending industry during the 4th quarter of 2007 - making it available on TransUnion.com. The company says this report is the first in a planned series of quarterly consumer lending sector analyses that TransUnion will publish on the site.

Experian has announced the launch of Emerging Credit Score, a new credit scoring tool developed with eBureau designed to assist lenders in evaluating the creditworthiness of unbanked and underbanked consumers.

Billeo and Payment Reporting Builds Credit (PRBC), an alternative credit bureau that collects, reports and scores rental and bill payment data, have announced that they are working together to enable consumers to build credit by doing what they do each month – pay their recurring bills on time.

The Payment Cards Center of the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia has released a new discussion paper titled "Alternative Data and Its Use in Credit Scoring Thin- and No-File Consumers" .

Experian( has announced it has filed a lawsuit against LifeLock, Inc. "for allegedly placing fraud alerts illegally on credit files maintained by Experian."

TransUnion and Edgar, Dunn & Company have announced the Revolver Model, "the second scoring model to identify predictive credit behavior characteristics using survey-based data from the PaymentDynamics 2007 Preferred Payments Study. The Revolver Model helps financial institutions determine how consumers prefer to manage their credit card balances and enables banks to develop custom marketing offers accordingly."

Fair Isaac and Associacao Comercial de Sao Paulo (ACSP), one of the largest credit bureaus in Brazil, have announced ACSP’s launch of Global FICO Score for Brazilian businesses - saying that "the launch of this innovative consumer credit-risk score makes Brazil the first South American nation to access Fair Isaac’s global-standard FICO credit risk scoring technology."