Alternative Data and Fair Lending Face Off: The Relationship Is Complicated

Thinking of getting into a relationship with alternative data? You're not alone. Use of "alternate data," a term broadly used to describe consumer information gathered from non-conventional sources, is becoming increasingly attractive to mortgage lenders, their service providers, and even consumers who lack traditional evidence of creditworthiness.

In recent years, there has been a dramatic increase in access to large volumes of consumer data, much of which is being mined from digital sources. On a parallel track, technological advances have enabled companies to rely on machine learning to interpret and then use data in sophisticated models, providing a path for more efficiently using such information in business analytics.