The newest white paper from Equifax highlighted five reasons why credit scores might not be most accurate or comprehensive way to access a borrower’s qualifications — especially in subprime.

Those reasons included:

— Credit scores reflect only a portion of the full picture that affects applicants’ credit worthiness.

— Insufficient detail can result in the wrong terms or risk level being placed on deals, denying qualified applicants or inadvertently approving excessively high-risk borrowers.

— Applications frequently contain inflated or misrepresented information, proving a misleading view of the associated risk.

— Verifiable insights into historical job tenure and disruptions which can be highly predictive of ability to pay, are typically not included or inaccurate.

— Because underwriters and funders try to close deals quickly, manually verifying income and employment is inefficient and often fails to identify inaccurate data.

With those elements in mind, Equifax senior director of product marketing Jennifer Reid pointed out that some of the top reasons for contracts being returned to dealers are still:

— A lack of verification of stated income.

— Missing or inaccurate documentation to meet stipulations.

— A failure to meet approval terms and out-of-policy contracts.

In its latest white paper from Equifax titled, “Trust, But Verify: What Research Reveals about Subprime Vehicle Loan Performance When The Work Number Data is Used,” Reid discusses how database-supported verifications can provide finance companies and dealers greater accuracy, accountability, transparency and detailed insight into borrowers' qualifications while also providing operational improvements.

In addition, the white paper includes research illustrating the significance of verifications by analyzing the impact of income, employment tenure, pay frequency and employment disruptions on borrowers' credit-worthiness.

That white paper can be downloaded here.

Reid and other members of the Equifax team will be on hand during Used Car Week, which begins on Nov. 10 at the Red Rock Casino, Resort and Spa in Las Vegas.

Where discussions about underwriting, trends and more will be a focal point will be during the SubPrime Forum, an event orchestrated in partnership with the National Automotive Finance Association.

This three-day conference will provide data, knowledge, insight and powerful business networking opportunities to spur innovation and drive growth in the growing subprime auto finance marketplace. Presented by SubPrime Auto Finance News and SubPrimeNews.com, and in affiliation with the NAF Association, the event will offer a best-in-class forum for executives and thought-leaders in the auto finance vertical.

The SubPrime Forum is set for Nov. 10 through Nov. 12 at the Red Rock Casino, Resort and Spa in Las Vegas. It’s a part of Used Car Week, which includes the CPO Forum, the Re3 Conference and the National Remarketing Conference.

All member-company staff of the NAF Association are $100 eligible for a discount of off the standard registration fee for the SubPrime Forum. Use discount code NAF2014 when registering.

Click here for additional information regarding the SubPrime Forum, including the agenda, scheduled speakers and exhibitors.