Articles by V. McIntyre
-
Guest Articles
Saturday
December 24
2016The Surprising Reason Why Savings Boosts Income: New Research Reveals an Unexpected Benefit of Financial Inclusion
Make it easier to save, and people will save more. This seems straightforward and holds true for customers in rich and poor countries alike. Make it easier to save, and people will save more and earn more. This sounds a little less intuitive, especially if you posit that this increase in income will happen almost immediately. Yet this is exactly what researchers have found - and the reason why is surprising.
- Categories
- Uncategorized
-
Wednesday
February 24
2016The Hard Facts on ‘Soft Data’: Determining risk for loan applicants without credit scores is more than a numbers game
Research has shown that judging creditworthiness based on a single number can shortchange lenders as well as borrowers, and that a more comprehensive picture based on “soft information” as well as numbers can serve as a firmer basis for judging risk of default. This is good news for small borrowers – and it represents a promising new direction for those seeking to lend to them.
- Categories
- Uncategorized
-
Monday
March 9
2015NexThought Monday – The (Financial) Wisdom of the Crowd: How a group of non-experts outperformed traditional credit ratings at identifying good and bad borrowers
Determining risk has always been a hurdle for lenders, and a barrier for small businesses looking to expand. Non-traditional credit scoring could help - but is it dependable? A new Harvard study on a crowdsourced credit scoring approach found it predicted defaults with 45 percent greater accuracy than standard credit scores.
- Categories
- Technology
- Tags
- credit scoring, lending
