Header data, the Equifax Cloud, and COVID-19’s impact on the economy and credit card debt, were hot article topics in 2021. If you missed any of our articles that featured tips, best practices, or case studies designed to help you grow and protect your business, we’ve compiled a list of the top 10 insights from our 2021 blogs. 

Here’s a look back at our top 10 blog insights from 2021. Happy New Year!

1. Header data can help confirm an identity or raise a red flag with minimal consumer friction. 

Whether consumers want to buy a new insurance policy or make a transaction from a new location, insurers need to confirm an identity or raise a red flag with minimal consumer friction. Thanks to header data, insurers can do just that. Header Data is used to verify, authenticate, and resolve an identity. We sat down with our expert and Identity Data Solution Consultant at Equifax, Megan Strub, who answered critical questions about header data, how it is used, and who collects it. To learn more about header data and the benefits of using personally identifiable information, you can read our blog “What is Header Data?”

2.  More data drives better solutions.

Innovate faster, create effective insights, and deliver better outcomes at scale with the Equifax Cloud. The Equifax Cloud provides:

• Real Time Insights & Decisions
• Multi-data Assets at Scale
• Faster and More Efficient Products to Market
• Improved Speed and Performance
• Always on Stability
• Built-in Security

Our article, “What is the Equifax Cloud and How Does it Benefit Customers?” goes in-depth on how your business can leverage the Equifax Cloud. 

3.  Foster a more robust, streamlined process for UI claims and help states protect program integrity with the UI Eligibility suite. 

The Equifax UI Eligibility suite of services includes The Work Number Social Service Income and Employment Verification, The Work Number Portfolio Review, Digital Authentication, Account Verification, and Incarceration Verification.

To learn how states can use the UI Eligibility Suite, read our blog, “New DOL Requirements Help States Fight Unemployment Fraud.” You can also request a UI Eligibility Sample Analysis to help with eligibility decisions and understand the risk level of overpayments within your state. 

4.  It is important to explore smarter ways of remediating model bias, predicting default probability, delivering inclusive, explainable scores, and more.

The Equifax Data & Analytics team participated in the 2021 Credit Scoring & Credit Control Conference presenting 14 papers. In our article, “Equifax to Present 14 Papers at Global Credit Conference,” financial inclusion is the common theme. Read our article to learn more on how our team has been hard at work researching new data sources, AI-fueled technologies, modeling techniques, and analytic approaches to help financially power your business. 

5. Any combination of economic uncertainty, loss of employment, reduced consumer spending, and loan accommodations could have caused the recent credit card balance decrease.

Many states implemented shelter-in-place orders during COVID-19, and we examine the effects these orders had on consumer credit card balances. Our article, “How COVID-19 Lockdowns Have Impacted Credit Card Debt,” goes in-depth on the effects that have impacted consumers, and more.

6. Integrate undisclosed debt monitoring for clear visibility into borrow credit files throughout the loan closing process. 

Don’t get blindsided at closing. In our article, "Undisclosed Debt: The Mortgage Blind Spot” we go in depth on why undisclosed debt is a big industry issue. We then offer best practices for addressing undisclosed debt within a tech-forward, digital origination strategy.

7. The U.S. economy entered into a deep recession in 2021, but it’s important to note that impacts have been experienced disproportionately by the population, seen by the K-shaped recovery. 

A year after COVID-19 began, economists predicted how vaccines were going to impact the future economy. In our article, “How will Vaccines Impact the 2021 U.S. Economy?” experts from our Market Pulse webinar, go into detail on how manufacturing, labor markets, and consumer spending will dictate the economic growth. 

8. Stimulus bills provide relief.

In a recap of one of our Market Pulse webinars guest speakers presented consumer credit and income trends, the k-shaped recovery, and the new stimulus bill passing. On December 27, 2020 Congress rolled out the additional $900 billion stimulus bill, which for many struggling, helped them find relief. Read our article, “What Does a K-Shaped Recovery Mean for the Economy?” to learn more about our recent economy and what the future holds for our economy. 

9. For vehicle sales, the forecasts are predicting a continued robust rebound back to the levels we saw in 2019.

Experts were optimistic about the auto market in 2021. Here are six positive key trends from 2020 and 2021 that demonstrate the industry’s resilience as we go into 2022. Read article, "6 Positive Trends in the Auto Market."

10.  It is important to use the right machine learning technique to deliver the right reason codes to individual consumers.   

Our customers wanted to visualize explainable AI (XAI) in action, so we developed a visualization tool for one of our explainable AI solutions, NeuroDecision®. Our article, “Visualizing XAI in Credit Risk,” goes into detail about:

• how the model works 
• what goes into the model
• what drives the model’s prediction 
• what trends in the data are captured 
• what reason codes are returned