TransUnion Partners with Nova Credit to Improve Financial Access for New Canadians
April 25 2018 - 6:00AM
TransUnion (NYSE:TRU) announced today a partnership with Nova
Credit that will help new Canadians transfer their credit scores
from other countries. The partnership will serve creditworthy
newcomers to Canada who may otherwise miss out on credit
opportunities due to a lack of Canadian credit history.
The new product—TransUnion Global Credit Connect powered by Nova
Credit—provides newcomers to Canada with a platform to import their
historical credit information and have their international credit
reports delivered to end-users such as banks, in a streamlined,
standardized format. The foreign credit score is mapped to a
Canadian equivalent score so that it can be consistently
applied.
“As hundreds of thousands of new immigrants come to Canada each
year to begin their next life chapter, TransUnion has partnered
with Nova Credit to ensure newcomers to Canada are given the
opportunities they deserve to open new credit accounts,” said Todd
Skinner, president of TransUnion Canada. “Many newcomers have
amassed a robust credit history in their country of origin, but
this history previously hasn’t followed them to Canada, making them
essentially credit-invisible. With this partnership, many
immigrants will benefit immediately with new opportunities to
access credit.”
The new partnership is especially beneficial for Canada, which
has the highest percentage of immigrants in the G8, at over 20
percent. Cities like Toronto and Vancouver are now nearly 50
percent foreign-born. While the absolute number of immigrants is
increasing, the composition is also increasingly tilted towards
skilled workers and entrepreneurs, with larger allocations granted
to these segments.
Further confirming the economic impact of new Canadians, recent
TransUnion research has shown that, generally, new to Canada
consumers exhibit good credit performance with almost half with a
starting credit rating of Prime or better. In addition, new
to Canada consumers have lower delinquency rates on their credit
cards than even consumers with established Canadian credit. “Our
study shows that new to Canada consumers have fairly steady credit
behaviour over time; almost 70% maintain or improve their risk
scores as they build their credit,” said Matt Fabian, director of
research and industry analysis for TransUnion Canada.
Canadian lenders have long been in need of a mechanism to
underwrite new-to-Canada arrivals. With immigration now accounting
for two-thirds of population growth, Canada is increasingly relying
on immigration to drive economic growth. “For lenders, this means
that gaining market share entails developing a strategy to be
first-in-wallet when someone moves to the country. Traditionally,
lack of credit history has constrained acquisition and underwriting
efforts when it came to newly arrived immigrants,” added
Fabian.
“Canada is a beacon of hope for immigrants around the world, and
we are thrilled to bring this global partnership to life,” says
Misha Esipov, co-founder & CEO of Nova Credit. “Immigration is
an incredibly challenging endeavor, but through the combination of
new technology and superior data, we can make the process easier.
Access to international credit data is an exciting win-win
innovation: Canadian institutions to serve an attractive and
growing customer demographic, and immigrants can land on their feet
without having to build credit history from scratch.”
For more information, please visit
https://www.transunion.ca/product/global-credit-connect-nova.
About TransUnion (NYSE:TRU)Information is a
powerful thing. At TransUnion, we realize that. We are dedicated to
finding innovative ways information can be used to help individuals
make better and smarter decisions. We help uncover unique stories,
trends and insights behind each data point, using historical
information as well as alternative data sources. This allows a
variety of markets and businesses to better manage risk and
consumers to better manage their credit, personal information and
identity. Today, TransUnion reaches consumers and businesses in
more than 30 countries around the world on five continents. Based
in Burlington, Ontario, TransUnion provides local service and
support throughout Canada. Through the power of information,
TransUnion is working to build stronger economies and families and
safer communities worldwide. We call this Information for Good.
Visit www.transunion.ca to learn more.
About Nova Credit Lack of a domestic credit
history keeps millions of immigrants from realizing their dreams.
Nova Credit, the global leader in cross-border credit data,
provides a solution that enables immigrants to share their credit
history from their home country with financial service providers
and others, unlocking new consumers for lenders, and new futures
for immigrants. Nova Credit is an award-winning fintech company,
based in San Francisco. Visit www.neednova.com to learn
more.
Contact Dave
Blumberg
TransUnion
E-mail
dblumbe@transunion.com
Telephone
312-972-6646
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