Bureau report on remittance histories and credit scoring

The CFPB has released a report on its study into the feasibility of using remittance information—records of certain electronic transfers by U.S. consumers to overseas recipients—as a supplement to traditional credit history data in credit scoring. The study was mandated under section 1073(e) of the Dodd-Frank Act. The report suggests there are multiple impediments to successful use of remittance information in credit scoring, concluding that "remittance transfers offer little potential to either allow scores to be generated for consumers with unscorable credit records or to improve the scores of consumers with scorable credit records."