Equifax Joins Forces with Lewtan™ to Give Mortgage Investors Greater Transparency into Borrower Credit Health

ATLANTA, Nov. 17, 2010 /PRNewswire/ -- Equifax Inc. (NYSE: EFX) announced today that its breakthrough solution for the secondary market is now available to investors who use one of the industry's largest sources of loan-level data backing non-agency MBS securities. Equifax ABS Credit Risk Insight Direct™ now links up-to-date borrower credit information to Lewtan's ABSNet Loan comprehensive database of residential deal and mortgage performance data. The solution's expanded capability brings another dimension of transparency into the analysis of mortgage-backed securities – enabling investors to better predict loan delinquency, default and prepayment and make more informed trading decisions.

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This latest enhancement to the ABS Credit Risk Insight product line is the result of Equifax's relationship with Lewtan, a leading provider of asset-backed securities performance data and analytics for the global securitization industry. ABS Credit Risk Insight provides leading indicators of loan performance such as updated credit scores and detail on all mortgage and home equity payments, owner-occupancy and performance on past mortgages. By statistically matching anonymous borrower credit information to Lewtan's ABSNet performance database, Equifax's solution gives investors deeper insight to improve model accuracy, identify current healthy deals and strengthen deal surveillance.    

"Understanding the needs of the secondary market has enabled us to bring a number of innovations to today's investors looking for greater transparency into securitized mortgage loan performance," said Steve Albert, Vice President of Equifax Capital Markets. "Through our relationship with Lewtan, we are connecting investors with an industry-leading source of information to help them accurately value the underlying collateral health of deals and ultimately make more strategic purchase and sale decisions."

With deal coverage spanning all structured finance asset classes, Lewtan's ABSNet database tracks more than 100 performance variables per deal. Its built-in surveillance tools allow investors to quickly compare a deal against other deals in the market and effectively monitor multiple securities without wasting resources manipulating remittance reports. To improve model and valuation accuracy, investors now have the option of appending Equifax data solutions to Lewtan securities data.    

"Working with Equifax, we are providing the industry with tools that are powerful enough to facilitate the flow of critical information in the secondary market so that there is greater visibility into the actual, up-to-date financial condition of borrowers," said Ned Myers, Chief Marketing Officer, Lewtan. "Leveraging unique and extensive data assets, ABS Credit Risk Insight gives investors greater confidence than ever before in their analytics and predictors of loan performance."  

Equifax's relationship with Lewtan underscores the company's continued commitment to offer the secondary market a portfolio of solutions that are aligned with emerging industry needs. Over the past year, Equifax has invested in a number of enhancements to its ABS Credit Risk product line, including the addition of the FICO® credit score and the FICO Mortgage Industry Option known as the BEACON® Mortgage Score. Investors have the option of selecting the FICO score or VantageScore, a consumer credit scoring model developed by Equifax and the other major credit reporting companies.    

ABS Credit Risk Insight is part of Equifax's suite of Capital Markets solutions that empowers lenders and investors to make buy/sell decisions with the most up-to-date borrower and property value information available. For more information about Equifax Capital Markets, visit www.equifax.com/capitalmarkets.          

About Equifax (www.equifax.com)

Equifax empowers businesses and consumers with information they can trust. A global leader in information solutions, we leverage one of the largest sources of consumer and commercial data, along with advanced analytics and proprietary technology, to create customized insights that enrich both the performance of businesses and the lives of consumers.

With a strong heritage of innovation and leadership, Equifax continuously delivers innovative solutions with the highest integrity and reliability. Businesses – large and small – rely on us for consumer and business credit intelligence, portfolio management, fraud detection, decisioning technology, marketing tools, and much more. We empower individual consumers to manage their personal information, protect their identity, and maximize their financial well-being.

Headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, Equifax Inc. operates in the U.S. and 14 other countries throughout North America, Latin America and Europe. Equifax is a member of Standard & Poor's (S&P) 500® Index. Our common stock is traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol EFX.

About Lewtan

Founded in 1986 and with offices in North America and Europe, Lewtan is the leading provider of a wide range of content- and technology-based solutions to members of the global asset-securitization industry. These include issuers, investors, underwriters, servicers, credit enhancers, and rating agencies representing more than 300 institutions worldwide that rely on Lewtan's intelligence and surveillance solutions.

Lewtan is part of DMGI, a division of the Daily Mail and General Trust, plc, one of the UK's leading International media groups. For more information on the full range of Lewtan solutions, please visit www.lewtan.com.

SOURCE Equifax Inc.