Online reputation start-up, Traity, has just announced the release of its open-source blockchain project “The Reputation Network.” – an initiative which is part of the growing number of fintechs disrupting the monopoly of credit scoring through the use of social data and machine learning.
These new technologies patch the lack of history in the data available to traditional credit scoring. Particularly where there is little other information about a person (young people who have yet to build up a credit history; international students/employees, immigrants and refugees).
Founder, Juan Cartagena, shared:
“A single score is never going to be enough to judge people, because reputation is contextual. No single company or team can fully understand the reputation of humanity. Context is so important that creating a marketplace of personal scoring was the best answer we could give, so that people can create increasingly accurate scores based on traditional and alternative data for different demographics and use cases.”
The Reputation Network aims to be the blockchain infrastructure that pulls together all of these emerging scores. Users can prove that they are trustworthy quickly and more effectively, accessing the most relevant data and scores whilst controlling their personal data and protecting against privacy breaches. New scores can be also established for many other use cases outside of credit like home rentals, uber driving and selling.
Much has changed in the availability and understanding of credit data since the 1990s, leaving classic FICO in many ways outdated. For many consumers, credit scores are going up, in some cases by more than 40 points, according to a report released by the New York Federal Reserve. This is because credit companies are moving away from just focusing on negative information. But this could just be the starting point. “New scoring technologies go even further to consider ways of living and demographics have changed. It is a fairer, more holistic view, based on behaviors, not just previous debt. They can use predictive metrics to look at everything from social media to shopping history. But always with the permission of the consumer, helping them build, leverage and contribute to their own reputations,” added Juan.
Higher credit scores can save consumers thousands in interest payments over their lifetimes, when they get better rates on loans. Someone with a fair credit score that falls between 580 and 669 will pay about $45,000 more in interest over their lifetime on loans and credit cards versus a consumer with very good credit score of 740 or higher, according to recent research from LendingTree. Therefore, blockchain platforms like the Reputation Network may be well worth it for those who think they are most Trustworthy than their credit score suggests.
The reputation network will not use a native coin (or token) and will use Ether ethereum to reward participants who share data and provide scoring, Juan explained. “We are not buying into the hype which has constantly manifested as endless ICOs, speculation and forks. We truly believe in our purpose and what is needed is an ideal payment method which is recognized by everybody.”
For more info, check out https://reputation.network.
Traity measures trustworthiness using online data including networks, ratings and reviews from Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Airbnb, eBay and Uber to determine a person’s financial TrustScore. The inspiration for Traity came from Traity CEO Juan Cartagena own experience as a new resident of the United States with no local credit rental or employment history, he was a ghost in the system. Traity has since raised over $5 million in funding and worked with some of the biggest insurers and banks in the world.
