TransUnion and ISO A-PLUS Introduce Credit Loss History Scores for Auto and Property Underwriting

January 1, 2011 / 3 min read

CHICAGO AND JERSEY CITY, N.J., Aug. 8, 2006 — Two industry leaders, ISO’s A-PLUS™ (Automobile-Property Loss Underwriting Service) unit and TransUnion, have created a comprehensive risk score that will bring greater efficiency to property and auto insurance underwriting and policy renewals. The new Credit Loss History Score (CLHS) provides one of the most powerful predictive tools for insurance carriers to better assess the risk of new applicants and renewals.

CLHS was developed using TransUnion’s superior analytics and extensive consumer credit history database and the A-PLUS industrywide claims loss history database, allowing insurers to leverage the power of two data-rich sources in a single risk score. For example, the A-PLUS database commands nearly a 95 percent market share in direct written premium for property insurance and more than 91 percent market share in direct written premium for auto insurance. Compared with credit-only insurance risk scores, CLHS provides as much as a 95 percent improvement in identifying the amount of risk for a property policy applicant and as much as a 34 percent improvement for an auto policy applicant.

“Together, ISO and TransUnion have created one of the most powerful risk evaluation and analytic solutions in the market for property and auto insurers,” said Steven C. Craig, A-PLUS general manager. “Insurers can now use TransUnion credit data along with A-PLUS claims loss history data for improved risk analysis and risk selection, which, in turn, will enable carriers to improve their underwriting ratios.”

Both companies will market and distribute CLHS, with A-PLUS expanding its secure ISO PassportSM delivery platform for underwriting information services to include the new combined multiproduct score. “Allowing underwriters to have easy access to the new score through A-PLUS further solidifies TransUnion’s commitment of not only providing powerful solutions to our customers, but ones that can easily be integrated into current business processes,” said Michael Gaughan, vice president, TransUnion insurance division. “And while CLHS is a powerful predictive tool insurers can use to evaluate new risks and policy renewals, it also is very consumer-friendly.”

The CLHS score is transparent to insurance agents and consumers, providing a clear understanding of all the elements that impact a score. Insurance applicants will receive a numerical insurance score and four specific and detailed scoring factors. Each factor describes for the applicant how the score was affected and the optimum value for each factor. CLHS continues TransUnion’s commitment of providing transparent and open scoring models as well as its development of best practices for using credit scoring to assess risk in the underwriting process.
For more information on Credit Loss History Score, contact Dorothy Ziegelbauer at A-PLUS (201-469-3601 or dziegelbauer@iso.com) or TransUnion’s Michael Gaughan (mgaugha@transunion.com).

About ISO
ISO is a leading provider of products and services that help measure, manage and reduce risk. ISO provides data, analytics and decision-support solutions to professionals in many fields, including insurance, finance, real estate, health services, government and human resources. Clients use ISO’s databases and services to classify and evaluate a variety of risks and detect potential fraud. In the U.S. and around the world, ISO’s services help customers protect people, property and financial assets.

About TransUnion
TransUnion is a leading global information solutions company that customers trust as a business intelligence partner and commerce facilitator. TransUnion offers a broad range of financial services that enable customers to manage risk and capitalize on market opportunities. The company uses advanced technology coupled with extensive analytical capabilities to combat fraud and facilitate credit transactions between businesses and consumers across multiple markets. Founded in 1968, Chicago-based TransUnion employs 4,100 associates that support clients in more than 30 countries. Visit us at www.TransUnion.com/business.

Release: Immediate

Contacts:
Giuseppe Barone / Erica Helton
MWW Group (for ISO)
201-507-9500
gbarone@mww.com / ehelton@mww.com

Robert Lynch (TransUnion)
312-985-3059
ralynch@transunion.com