Press Release


FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
June 2, 2004 

Chicago, Illinois - Pay Rent, Build Credit, Inc. (PRBC), the first credit bureau to enable Consumers to establish and build a credit history with rental payments, as homeowners do with mortgage payments, today introduced the PRBC Bill Payment Scoresm (BPSsm) Release 1.0 and the PRBC Achieverssm 100+ scale.

Speaking at the Local Capital Markets Investment Fund Institute hosted by the Corporation for Enterprise Development at the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago, PRBC founder and CEO, Michael Nathans introduced the BPSsm and PRBC Achieverssm 100+ scale as important developments that are necessary to fairly consider "non-traditional credit" data in automated underwriting, application acceptance, and credit pricing decisions. 

"It is common wisdom that to establish and build a good credit history, it is important to own a bank or credit union account and to pay all of your bills on time," observed Mr. Nathans. "Consumers who own a bank or credit union account, pay bills electronically, and who also successfully complete approved courses in financial literacy, home maintenance, and insurance receive "points" on PRBC's Achieverssm 100+ scale that lenders and insurers can use to assess risk and reward fiscal responsibility." 

Using a weighted scorecard approach, BPS allocates numerical points based on the timeliness of recurring payments made over the past 36 months. More points are allocated to larger payments such as housing (lease and mortgage), and fewer points to smaller payments such as utilities, phone, and cable service. Payments such as auto loans, credit cards, and child support score more than utilities and phone, but not as much as housing payments.

BPS and the PRBC Achieverssm 100+ scale represent an intuitive starting point for incorporating financial education, rental, bill payment, and regular remittance data into automated credit and insurance risk assessment. The average consumer can easily understand its simplicity and BPS reflects the achievement of a proven history of timely and consecutive bill payments using a weighted point system. 

While BPS does not represent a statistically predictive score today by itself, a BPS can be incorporated into FICO and other statistically predictive credit scoring models, or used in the absence of a FICO score, to construct application acceptance and pricing policies. It is planned that credit and insurance premium policies constructed around the use of a BPS will be studied, and adjusted for actual default and claim rates and loss severity over time. Inclusion in application acceptance and pricing decisions is expected to lead both PRBC data and the BPS to becoming statistically predictive, as "traditional credit" data, FICO and other credit scores have become today.

Nathans pointed out that a BPS, or a composite BPS and FICO score could provide millions of Americans who have no-or-low FICO scores, with equal access to affordable credit and insurance, employment, and asset-based wealth through homeownership. 

PRBC's BPS and the Achievers 100+ scale can be viewed at: www.prbc.com


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About The Corporation for Enterprise Development (CFED)

The Corporation for Enterprise Development (CFED), a national non-profit, promotes asset-building and economic opportunity strategies, primarily in low-income and distressed communities, that bring together community practice, public policy, and private markets in new and effective ways. The Local Capital Markets Investment Fund (LCMIF), a CFED initiative, expands access to financial products and services that fit the specific needs of low-income communities. Through this initiative, CFED partners with nonprofit organizations and financial institutions that serve these customers to design and test products and services, evaluate their impact on customers, and make them available in low-income communities nationwide. CFED can be accessed at www.cfed.org.

About PRBC 

Pay Rent, Build Credit, Inc. (PRBC) is a socially responsible credit bureau with a secure and innovative data collection, scoring, and reporting system that is headquartered in Annapolis, Maryland. PRBC makes it possible for consumers to demonstrate their creditworthiness without conventional debt, and does not sell mailing lists or charge consumers to view their own data. The PRBC service is qualified as a "community development service" under the Community Reinvestment Act by the Federal Reserve Board and by the State of New York Banking Department. In cooperation with community-based partners, PRBC leaves no Consumer behind. PRBC collects, scores, and reports rental, mortgage, and all other recurring bill and remittance payments for "permissible purposes" under the Fair Credit Reporting Act. The PRBC Data Network is secured and hosted by IBM, and can be accessed at www.PayRentBuildCredit.com.

Email

info@prbc.com

Address

PRBC
One Annapolis Street, Suite 101
Annapolis, MD 21401

Phone

(877) PRBC-123