Mastercard and Equifax have entered a partnership aiming to improve access to credit for the 2.5 million Australians who have limited or no credit history.
The collaboration brings together Equifax’s data and analytics capabilities with Mastercard’s open finance solutions, focusing on introducing new products to the Australian market that enhance financial inclusion. The first major development from this partnership is the launch of Equifax Open Score, a bank transaction-based scoring tool that utilises open banking data.
Open Score details
Open Score is designed particularly for young people, new migrants, and others often overlooked by traditional credit assessment models due to their thin credit files. The tool enables consumers to share their banking data, including transaction history, account balances, and payments, with accredited third parties under the Consumer Data Right (CDR) regime, provided they give consent.
The Open Score system analyses consumer-permissioned banking data such as income, expenses, and spending patterns in real time. The outcome is a score between 0 and 10, supplemented by indicators of the key contributing factors. This information aims to help consumers better comprehend their financial status and identify which aspects influence their score.
In addition to the score, Open Score presents transaction alerts that notify users of key behaviours in their data, enabling them to monitor their expenses and identify unusual or potentially fraudulent activity. There is also a Confidence Metric, reflecting how reliably the score represents a consumer’s financial wellbeing based on the data provided.
Supporting credit inclusion
By expanding the consumer’s financial profile beyond conventional credit data, Open Score helps make credit invisible individuals visible to lenders and service providers. The information can also be used by consumers to make informed financial decisions in the future and prepare for credit applications.
Melanie Cochrane, Chief Executive Officer of Equifax Australia and New Zealand, commented on the initiative’s potential to address gaps in current credit assessment systems.
“By tapping into alternative data like income, expenses or rental payments, Open Score can uncover insights into consumers that aren’t available with traditional credit reporting information. These insights will assist all Australians, but will be especially powerful for consumers who have traditionally been credit invisible. Equifax is proud to have developed Open Score, and to be working with Mastercard to launch an offering that will assist with increasing financial inclusion for this cohort and support more Australians to live their financial best,” said Cochrane.
Data security and consent
The Open Score platform operates through Mastercard’s accredited open banking network. This system is structured around the principle of consent by design, ensuring that consumers have full control over the sharing of their banking data. Data is only shared with explicit consumer permission, in a secure and real-time manner.
Brenton Charnley, Vice President, Open Banking for Australasia at Mastercard, commented on the motives for empowering Australians with their data rights.
“Open Score empowers Australians to use their own data more easily and securely to help improve financial literacy, manage budgets, and make more informed borrowing decisions,” said Brenton Charnley, Vice President, Open Banking, Australasia at Mastercard.
Consumer Data Right context
The implementation of Open Score is underpinned by the Consumer Data Right, legislation designed to give consumers greater rights to control their data and facilitate access to products and services that best suit their needs. Leveraging such frameworks, the Equifax and Mastercard partnership introduces a data-driven approach to credit assessment that broadens opportunities for those with previously limited visibility in the financial system.
By utilising secure, consumer-consented banking data, Open Score is positioned to provide both consumers and lenders with a more comprehensive view of financial wellbeing, aiming to assist individuals who, until now, have found it difficult to obtain credit due to insufficient records in traditional credit reporting systems.