Explanation of TransUnion Resident Score

TransUnion gives a Resident Score that is designed specifically for Property Management Companies to help give you the most accurate score and report (for guidance of applicants being less likely to be evicted). -See below for TransUnion's explanation of Resident Score

 

Explanation of TransUnion Resident Score:


TransUnion provides a Resident Score, not a FICO score. Please see attached to explain their process of credit reports with Residential Scores.

TransUnion Credit Retriever is a different division at TransUnion. (TransUnion has quite a few.) A FICO score is typically given as a financial lending decision. Our division of TransUnion is the only division to use the ResidentScore.

We have a scorecard model that we use that evaluates an applicant’s credit history.There were several different factors that went into the CreditRetriever score along with the bureau score, including Income to Rent, # of inquiries, average age of tradelines, % of revenue to debt, percentage of bank tradelines to total tradelines, percentage of tradelines never delinquent of total tradelines, months since most recent delinquency and number of major derogatory ratings.

 

CreditRetriever’s scoring model works different than FICO. While it does analyze an applicant’s credit report, it does not rely on the standard bank/bureau score. By definition, the standard bureau score analyzes a consumer’s risk on defaulting on a line of credit in the next 90 days. However, since the multi-family industry generally considers a tenant late after 3 to 5 days, we need a tighter model for the rental industry. Therefore, we took a look at 5 years’ worth of data from multiple providers all across the country, and developed 4 new models. These models do not include the normal definition of a bureau score, but used the analytics used to design those models to develop our industry specific model.

 

In fact, there are actually four models that we use. The first step is to determine 1) the size of the credit file (thick vs. thin), and 2) the overall health of the file (“clean” vs. “dirty”). Based on which category an applicant fails into will determine which model is used to score an applicant. The categories are:

Thick and Clean

  • Some important indicators of future performance include:
    • Ratio card balance vs. line of credit
    • Months since most recent delinquency
    • # of accounts at greater than 50% of credit limit
  • Total of 13 variables factored into the applicant’s Rental score (CreditRetriever score)

Thick and Dirty

  • Some important indicators of future performance include:
    • Percent of accounts opened in the last 24 months
    • Months since most recent delinquency
    • # of accounts at greater than 50% of credit limit
  • Total of 13 variables factored into the applicant’s Rental score (CreditRetriever score)

Thin and Clean

  • Some important indicators of future performance include:
    • Percent of accounts opened in the last 24 months
    • Months since most recent delinquency
    • # of accounts at greater than 50% of credit limit
  • Total of 13 variables factored into the applicant’s Rental score (CreditRetriever score)

Thin and Dirty

  • Some important indicators of future performance include:
    • Number of collection accounts (not including medical-related collections)
    • Percent of accounts opened in the last 24 months
    • Ratio of accounts with high balance
  • Total of 12 variables factored into the applicant’s Rental score (CreditRetriever score)

 

Similar to FICO or Vantage, the new CreditRetriever score is in a range of 350 to 850. While the new CreditRetriever score will not completely align with the more common FICO or Vantage score, there will naturally be some correlation.