On Tuesday, Fiserv finalized a partnership with TransUnion to improve price, decision accuracy and expand the customer base within the automotive finance space.

Officials highlighted integrating the automotive loan origination system from Fiserv with CreditVision Link from TransUnion will help increase precision of scoring and risk modeling.

By including additional data points to evaluate credit applications, Fiserv explained that finance companies can better identify high-risk and high-opportunity consumers, including emerging credit populations often overlooked or denied by lenders due to insufficient data in traditional credit files.

“Understanding the customer is critical not only to making informed business decisions, but to also build and nurture customer relationships and loyalty over time,” said Steve Chaouki, executive vice president and head of TransUnion’s financial services business unit. “Our integration of CreditVision Link trended and alternative data sources into Automotive Loan Origination System enables lenders to score approximately 95 percent of the U.S. adult population.”

CreditVision Link leverages new alternative data sources to its risk scoring analysis, including address stability, checking account history, microloans/ alternative lending and property ownership. Fiserv has implemented a select number of trended and alternative data scores, which include up to 30 months of historical information on each contract with actual payment history and amount borrowed over time.

The companies pointed out that there are currently 60 million underserved consumers who potentially can now be scored, as well as expanding the super prime customer base by 23 million.

“The most successful auto lenders prioritize the needs of their customers while managing risk exposure,” said Shaimaa Elk, chief information officer for lending solutions at Fiserv. “The partnership between Fiserv and TransUnion enables lenders to provide borrower-focused customer service and better optimize profitability, cost reductions and efficiencies.”

More details can be found at fiserv.com.