STAMFORD, Conn. — (EON: Enhanced Online News) — VantageScore Solutions announced today that the latest version of its credit scoring model, VantageScore® 2.0, is now available to financial institutions in a production environment from each of the three credit reporting companies (CRCs) – Equifax, Experian and TransUnion.

VantageScore 2.0 was launched in October 2010 and has been available for testing since that time. This new version is now fully implemented at each CRC, according to VantageScore Solutions officials.
One of the driving forces behind the creation of VantageScore 2.0 was a significant change in consumer credit repayment behavior, according to Sarah Davies, senior vice president of product management, analytics and research. Davies said all credit models should be updated regularly to ensure they remain as accurate and predictive as possible, adding that VantageScore 2.0 shows an improved performance over the original version across the main industries where credit scores are used.

“VantageScore 2.0 is built on a blend of consumer credit behaviors from 2006-2009, which creates a highly predictive score,” said Barrett Burns, VantageScore Solutions President and Chief Executive Officer. “We’ve recently experienced a variety of economic scenarios, which have impacted consumer behavior of the past several years. This includes an increase in foreclosures in the housing market and changing payment priorities among consumers.”

The newest installment of VantageScore was built using a development sample compiled from two performance timeframes, 2006 – 2008 and 2007 – 2009, with each timeframe contributing 50 percent of the sample, reflecting more recent credit conditions.

By using a development sample from this extended window, VantageScore 2.0 captures both a broad and recent set of consumer behaviors across the full spectrum of economic events, reducing algorithm sensitivity to highly volatile behavior that can be found in a single timeframe and extending performance stability over time.

Burns also said since VantageScore’s release in 2006, ongoing research and analytic efforts are conducted on the algorithm to maintain the predictive performance of VantageScore and that effort will continue.
The VantageScore credit risk model was first introduced in March 2006 in direct response to a demand for a generic credit score model that would be more predictive, score more people and offer more consistent consumer scores across all three CRCs.

About VantageScore Solutions

VantageScore is used by numerous lenders making billions of decisions annually, including all of the top five credit card issuers, four of the top five financial institutions and two of the top five auto lenders.
Stamford, Conn.-based VantageScore Solutions, LLC (www.vantagescore.com) is an independently managed company that holds the intellectual property rights to VantageScore. Created by America’s three major credit reporting companies (CRCs) — Equifax, Experian and TransUnion — VantageScore’s highly predictive model uses an innovative and patented scoring methodology to provide lenders with a more consistent interpretation of consumer credit files across all three major credit reporting companies and the ability to score more people.