ATLANTA—FactorTrust®, The Alternative Credit Bureau™, today released the most recent research findings in its series of underbanked indices—the Underbanked Index – Auto version, providing insights into the earning and living trends of credit-challenged consumers seeking a vehicle.

“This Index, specific to the auto industry, analyzes the proprietary performance and behavioral data we have on non-prime consumers that auto financing companies can’t get from the Big 3 bureaus,” said FactorTrust CEO Greg Rable. “By pairing this data with traditional data, these companies can see the complete credit profile and creditworthiness of consumers.”

Such insights assist auto financing companies to better know their customers and make better informed decisions on extending credit.

The Underbanked Index – Auto version identifies at least five key insights of credit-challenged consumers buying and financing a car, including:

  1. Age & Gender:
  • Average age – applicant: 38
  • Average age – borrower: 39
  • Average loan amount trends up to age 46 ($2,260)
  • Males and Females o 50/50 (applicants) o 55/45 (borrowers)
  1. Income:
  • Applicant: $2,926/month ($35,112 annualized)
  • Borrowers: $3,000/month ($36,000 annualized)
  • National average comparison: 50 percent of American workers make less than $30,000/year (source: Social Security Administration)
  1. Employment:
  • Nearly 60 percent are employed in two primary areas: o retail (41 percent) o quick serve restaurants (16 percent)
  • The retail employment sector has historically been the largest employer in both the non-prime auto and consumer loan segments.
  1. Education:
  • 44 percent who graduated high school went on to earn a bachelor’s degree or higher
  • 55 percent hold only a high school diploma
  • One percent has attended a vocational or technical school or program
  • National average comparison: 40 percent of the U.S. population holds a high school diploma (source: 2016 U.S. Census Bureau)
  1. Housing:
  • Length of residence: 2 years
  • National average comparison: The average American lives in one residence for 11-13 years (source: National Association of Home Builders)

Data is based on expert analysis from FactorTrust’s proprietary database of 250M records related to underbanked consumers collected by the company each quarter. The findings of the Index assist financial institutions, associations, analysts and media interested in tracking, benchmarking or understanding the needs of underbanked consumers.

About FactorTrust

FactorTrust, The Alternative Credit Bureau, is relentlessly dedicated to proven analytics and clean credit information that provide lenders and financial service providers opportunities to grow more revenue, meet compliance regulations and serve more consumers with more credit options. At the core of FactorTrust is alternative credit data analytics and risk scoring solutions not available from the Big 3 bureaus. FactorTrust alternative credit data and analytics accurately predicts risk and the ability to repay near and non-prime consumer loans in real-time. The company’s solutions enable financial service companies an opportunity to uncover creditworthy prospects that are not surfacing via traditional credit sources. Headquartered in Atlanta, the experienced FactorTrust team has delivered unique data and valuable insight to U.S. lenders for more than 10 years. For more information on the quarterly FactorTrust Underbanked Index or the company itself, visit www.factortrust.com.