CU*Answers has begun development of a new reputation-based decision model. CLR Path – an acronym for “Consumer Lending on Reputation” pronounced “clear” – is a new in-house decision model that takes a look at a member’s status and relationship with the credit union to help determine a loan approval decision. With CLR Path, credit unions will be able to create and customize their own decision model programs for any of their loan products using new tools in CU*BASE^®, the CUSO’s core data processing platform.

In addition to credit score, the configuration includes dozens of data points pulled directly from CU*BASE membership data, including member age and membership tenure, history of prior loan performance, current account balances and direct deposits. CLR Path can even look at a member’s overall relationship status using the CU*BASE Tiered Services CRM tools.

Pete Winninger, VP of Professional Services, noted that “the service will be 100% free to use, so the model will be run automatically on every loan application for a member in the CU*BASE LOS.” Introducing the project to credit union CEOs at the November CEO Strategies conference, Randy Karnes, CU*Answers CEO, called CLR Path “a non-FICO decision model for the gray areas.” Said Karnes, “When you approve a loan because you know the person and trust the experience you already had with them, CLR Path will help you validate what you claim to know, and confirm that you checked.”