Experian, FICO and Finicity have developed a new credit score—UltraFICO Score, which leverages account aggregation technology and distribution capability from Experian and Finicity to help consumers improve access to credit by tapping into consumer-contributed data, such as checking, savings and money market account data, that reflects responsible financial management activity.

A consumer grants permission to contribute information from banking statements, including the length of time accounts have been open, frequency of activity, and evidence of saving, which can be electronically read by Finicity and combined with consumer credit information from Experian to provide an enhanced view of positive financial behavior.

Experian, FICO and Finicity estimate this new score has the potential to improve credit access for the majority of Americans and is particularly relevant for those who fall in the grey area in terms of credit scores--falling in the upper 500s to lower 600s--or fall just below a lender's score cut-off.  Consumers who are new to credit with limited history or those with previous financial distress that are getting back on their feet stand to benefit the most.

"This changes the whole dynamic of the lender and customer relationship," said Jim Wehmann, executive vice president, Scores, at FICO.  "It empowers consumers to have greater control over the information that is being used in making credit risk decisions.  “It also enables a deeper dialogue between the consumer and lenders to help both parties make better financial decisions.  It's a game changer."

UltraFICO will launch as a pilot program in early 2019. The pilot is designed to validate the score and assess willingness of consumers to share financial data for a potentially higher score. Pilot participants were sourced across various lines of businesses.

The model developed by FICO will be implemented through Experian and integrated into a lender's existing operational workflow. Borrower data will be aggregated through Finicity.

The UltraFICO Score builds off of the framework of the base FICO Score and is designed to reflect the same odds-to-score relationship so that the new score can be easily incorporated into lending strategies and origination, account management systems. The UltraFICO Score is slated to be broadly available to lenders mid-2019.

"As the consumer's bureau, our goal is to help empower consumers and to give better access to credit for more consumers, all while promoting fair lending," said Alex Lintner, president of consumer information services at Experian. "Through this project, we've found a new way to use consumer-permissioned data that allows lenders to make better decisions and helps consumers gain access to credit."

"This approach allows Americans to benefit from positive financial behaviors," said Steve Smith, chief executive officer at Finicity.

SunTrust Banks Inc. has reported net income of $726 million, or $1.56 per average common diluted share. The results include $0.14 per share the result of tax reform as well as the consolidation of SunTrust Mortgage into SunTrust Bank, which was completed in the third quarter.

Diluted earnings per share increased 5%, sequentially, and 47% year-over-year.  For the nine months ended September 30, 2018, earnings per share was $4.34, up 45% on a year-over-year basis.

" Our focus on efficiency continues to drive good results, with the year-to-date tangible efficiency ratio improving by 150 basis points.  Additionally, our commitment to investing in growth to meet more client needs is driving good loan growth which helped offset lower noninterest income," said William H. Rogers,Jr., chairman and CEO of SunTrust Banks, Inc.  "We have revenue momentum going into the fourth quarter of the year, and 2018 is on track to be the seventh consecutive year of growth in earnings per share, improved efficiency, and higher capital returns."

Some highlights from the quarter are as follows:

Mortgage Sector: Mortgage servicing income was $43 million for the current quarter, relatively stable compared to $40 million in the prior quarter, and $46 million in the third quarter of 2017. At September 30, 2018, the servicing portfolio totaled $170.5 billion, relatively stable compared to the prior quarter and a 3% increase compared to the prior year due to MSRs purchased in the first quarter of 2018 which transferred in the second quarter of 2018.

Mortgage production income for the current quarter was $40 million, compared to $43 million for the prior quarter and $61 million for the third quarter of 2017. The $21 million year-over-year decrease was due largely to lower gain on sale margins. Mortgage application volume decreased 9% sequentially and 1% compared to the third quarter of 2017. Closed loan volume decreased 2% sequentially and remained stable year-over-year.

Commercial real estate related income was $24 million for the current quarter, compared to $18 million for the prior quarter and $17 million for the third quarter of 2017. The increase compared to the prior quarter and prior year was driven primarily by higher transaction volume with the Company's agency lending business and higher tax-credit-related income within the Company's affordable housing business.

Loan Performance: Average performing loans held for investment was $145.2 billion for the current quarter, up 1% compared to the prior quarter and prior year driven primarily by increases in commercial real estate, residential mortgages, and consumer direct loans. The sequential increase was also driven by growth in the C&I portfolio. Compared to the prior year, average C&I balances declined by $645 million, driven by the sale of Premium Assignment Corporation on Dec. 1, 2017, which included $1.3 billion of C&I loan balances.

Regulations: Regulatory assessments expense was $39 million in the current quarter, stable relative to the prior quarter and down $8 million compared to the third quarter of 2017. The year-over-year decrease was driven by a reduced FDIC assessment rate resulting primarily from our improved earnings profile and higher levels of unsecured debt.

Income Statement

• Total revenue was down 1% sequentially and stable year-over-year. The sequential decrease was driven by lower noninterest income, which was partially offset by higher net interest income as a result of growth in earning assets.
• Provision for credit losses increased $29 million sequentially and decreased $59 million year-over-year. The sequential increase was driven primarily by a lesser decline in the allowance for loan and lease losses and higher net charge-offs on commercial loans, while the year-over-year decrease was driven by elevated hurricane-related reserves in the third quarter of 2017.

Balance Sheet: Average performing loans held for investment was up 1% compared to the prior quarter, driven by growth in C&I, commercial real estate, residential mortgages, and consumer direct loans.

Asset Quality: Nonperforming loans decreased $60 million from the prior quarter and represented 0.47% of period-end LHFI at September 30, 2018. The decrease was driven primarily by the return to accrual status of certain commercial credits as well as charge-offs of certain commercial loans.

Corelogic is automating some what it considers the most manual, time consuming and expensive underwriting processes—through a single interface—AutomatIQ Borrower. It’s a comprehensive underwriting solution designed to help lenders streamline workflows by digitizing, standardizing and automating borrower analysis and verification.

Corelogics has placed all of the borrower verification tools together into one interface. Clients will be able to order tri-merge credit reports as well as verifications of employment, income and assets. “Automating the underwriting process can save days, and that’s a value to lenders,” said Jay Kingsley, executive for credit solutions at CoreLogic. “The result is a reduced cost to originate, a better consumer experience and a faster time to close.”

The one-stop shopping eliminates the need to employ several borrower verification tools, from different vendors. Also, it provides a streamline way to help lenders improve their underwriting processes, generate efficiency, streamline processing, and help shorten turn times, and improve loan quality.

The AutomatIQ Borrower solution standardizes income analysis with a comprehensive suite of consumer data and verification services. By eliminating time-consuming manual tasks and workflow redundancies while helping to enable lenders to conduct reliable borrower analysis sooner in the process, AutomatIQ Borrower helps increase underwriter productivity and overall loan quality while reducing origination costs and time.

For regulatory purposes, an electronic audit trail is created and easily accessible, if a report is needed for a regulator. For instance, in a paper-based system, where there is a question about a borrower’s income, the underwriter had to trace back his steps and determined there’s a second income. With AutomatIQ, users can annotate a file, and explain that there was a second job, and the borrower’s income was adjusted to reflect that.