Partner: Credicenter coop Industry: Credit Union / Cooperative Finance Solution: Inclusion Score — Alternative Data Backtesting
The Challenge
Millions of creditworthy people, invisible to traditional scoring
For decades, credit unions like Credicenter have built their mission around serving members who are underserved by traditional financial institutions. But a persistent problem stands in the way: the very members they most want to help often have little to no conventional credit history.
Traditional credit scores were never built for this population. They rely on a paper trail that millions of people simply don't have; Not because they're bad borrowers, but because the system was never designed to see them. The result? Qualified members are turned away, and credit unions are forced to leave their mission unfulfilled.
The Opportunity
Alternative data changes everything
Credicenter recognized that the problem wasn't their members' creditworthiness — it was the lens they were being evaluated through. They came to Quash with a clear goal: find a better way to assess risk for thin-file borrowers, one that reflects the reality of their members' financial lives.
Together, we designed a pilot program using Quash's Inclusion Score — a proprietary credit model built from alternative data sources. Rather than relying solely on traditional bureau data, the Inclusion Score draws on behavioral and alternative signals to build a more complete, more accurate picture of creditworthiness.
The members who need credit the most are often the hardest to see. The Inclusion Score changes that — it's built to find signals where traditional models find silence.
What We're Doing Together
A rigorous proof of concept
The engagement begins with a backtesting exercise on a representative sample of Credicenter's member base, specifically members who completed a credit term, giving us real behavioral outcomes to validate against. It's a disciplined, data-driven test designed to show exactly how the Inclusion Score would have performed on Credicenter's own book of business.
The process is fully secure, using encrypted file transfer protocols. Deliverables include a full results presentation, scored behavior base, and an unscored validation set so Credicenter can independently verify model performance before making any commitment.
- 8,600+ anonymized member records in backtesting sample
- 4-week pilot timeline from data to results
- 100% of pilot cost credited toward setup
Why It Matters
This isn't just about one credit union
The financial industry is consolidating rapidly. Larger institutions are acquiring smaller ones, and mid-size credit unions are under pressure to compete with institutions that have far greater technological resources. The ones that will thrive are those that modernize their lending operations now, specifically to deepen their community impact.
Credicenter's decision to pilot the Inclusion Score is a signal of that forward-thinking posture. Serving thin-file members well isn't charity; it's good lending, backed by better data. And it's exactly what a mission-driven credit union should be doing.
We're proud to be part of that journey.
Is your credit union ready to see the full picture?
Run your own Inclusion Score pilot. We'll backtest against your own data so you can see exactly how it performs before committing to anything.
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