Forbes | Could Personality Tests One Day Replace Credit Scores?

If someone gave you an unexpected $100, what would you do with it? Give it to charity? Save it? Splurge on something fun?

We see questions like this in personality quizzes online, and sometimes even when applying for jobs. Your answers are supposed to help others predict your behavior using what’s called psychometrics.

And companies looking to avoid hiring potential problem employees aren’t the only institutions interested in psychometrics. The financial industry might get in on it, too.

What if, instead of a lender checking your credit score, they gave you a personality test?

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Spore Magazine | Réduire les risques : Des systèmes innovants d’évaluation du crédit pour aider les agriculteurs

La difficulté d’emprunter, pour de nombreux petits agriculteurs ne disposant ni de garanties ni d’antécédents de crédit, a fait apparaître de nouveaux systèmes pilotes d’évaluation du crédit pour aider les banques à apprécier les risques que présentent réellement les emprunteurs et tirer parti de ce secteur potentiellement lucratif.

L’évaluation psychométrique

Pour augmenter les taux d’acceptation et réduire les délais de traitement des prêts aux agriculteurs, Juhudi Kilimo, prestataire de solutions financières pour les petits agriculteurs d’Afrique de l’Est, teste la méthode d’EFL Global, une entreprise privée qui utilise l’évaluation psychométrique pour créer les profils de risque d’emprunteurs africains, asiatiques, européens et latino-américains. Cette méthode pilote – financée par la Fondation Mastercard – mobilise les représentants de six agences kényanes de Juhudi qui visitent et incitent les demandeurs de prêts à passer des tests psychométriques sur tablette. Ces tests permettent, selon EFL, de définir leur personnalité, y compris leur self-control en matière de dépenses et budgétisation. Sur cette base, une cote de crédit à trois caractères est alors attribuée aux demandeurs. À partir de son évaluation initiale d’environ 6 000 clients réalisée à l’aide de l’outil d’EFL, Juhudi a constaté que 6 % des personnes classées dans le quintile le plus bas avaient au moins une fois des arriérés de remboursement de 60 jours pour un prêt type d’un an, contre 1,5 % dans le quintile le mieux noté.

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Finance Digital Africa | Can big data shape financial services in East Africa?

Psychometric big data—including online quizzes to judge character or personality traits and analysis of Facebook “likes”—is garnering increased attention. Suppliers of psychometric data or psychometric tools, such as EFL, believe not only that their data and analytics are predictive but also that they have a key advantage in their applicability to everyone, even clients with limited credit history (“thin-file” clients), as a starting point. When layered with other big and traditional data sources (e.g., social media, mobile phone, bureau data, bank historical data), proponents expect psychometrics to become even more powerful. Indeed, Equity Bank conducted an experiment with EFL’s psychometric scoring model and found it both predictive and useful; they plan to integrate it into applicable models across their regional subsidiaries.

 Moreover, Juhudi Kilimo decided to partner with EFL in order to evaluate character as part of their risk assessment. This was previously carried out by loan officers, but they believed the EFL approach would be more objective.

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Reaction from Mynt: "this merger will set new standards in the industry"

Thanks to our partners at Mynt for sharing their feedback on the merger.

"In a country where native bureaus only have data on less than 5% of the population, the alternative credit scoring methods and technologies Lenddo and EFL have designed and created have enabled us to work towards financial inclusion in the Philippines, from consumers to MSMEs. With the work we've done with Lenddo for our consumers products and with EFL to assess businesses, we can testify that these two companies have many synergies and complementary competencies. With the combination of their knowledge and models, and the combination of social, telco, and psychometric data, we have no doubt that the company resulting from this merger will set new standards in the industry."
-- Anthony Thomas, CEO, Mynt (Globe Fintech Innovations)
 

"With 70% of Filipinos remaining unbanked and with less than 5% in credit card penetration, credit data about the majority is virtually non-existent. This creates a cycle where most Filipinos remain financially underserved. However, with the emergence of technology for alternative credit scoring methods, we are enabled to work towards financial inclusion in the Philippines. With the work we've done with Lenddo to credit score consumers and with EFL to evaluate businesses, it comes as no surprise that a merger between these two innovators is happening. With the experiences and learnings both have acquired separately, we are excited to see the birth of even better and richer data with the marriage of these companies."
-- Jean-Francois Darré, Chief Analytics and Risk Officer, Mynt (Globe Fintech Innovations)