Brief Overall Description of the Dataset:
This is NOT a housing website, but it instead deals with consumer credit. According to a representative, we could get data from https://www.creditforecast.com/, and we could get data about aggregate credit scores for zip codes (according to him, this would be the smallest unit we would be able to obtain.). He also said the company does not measure in Census measurements. However, if you go to CreditForecast’s FAQs (https://www.creditforecast.com/solution.aspx), you will see that the site actually says you cannot get zip codes, and that there is some Census “collections levels.” More research would have to be done to find out the actual level of aggregate data we could obtain.
Also, it is important to note that the aggregate scores would be from their calculations (The representative made a distinction between the company’s calculations and other calculations.). Lenders are the only people (according to this representative) who can obtain individual people’s credit scores (and thus the only people who could obtain this data from Equifax.). But, for completeness, here is the link for buying “consumer reports”: http://www.equifax.com/business/consumer-reports.
Link: http://www.equifax.com/
To the place we could get data: https://www.creditforecast.com/
Date Inventory Completed: 6/3/2015
Screening
- Is the data collected opinion-based?
- Is the data collection recurring (must be collected at least annually)?
- Is there data available for 2013?
- Is the data collected at the property or housing unit level?
- Can we access the data by August 15th?
Purpose
What is the purpose of the organization collecting the data?
“Equifax creates and delivers unparalleled customized insights that enrich both the performance of businesses and the lives of consumers through the comprehensive and differentiated data it manages, the expertise in advanced analytics it provides, the state-of-the-industry solutions it develops, and the leading-edge proprietary technology through which the solutions are delivered.”
Why is it collected and how does the organization use it?
The organization collects credit scores in order to sell the data to lenders. They aggregate the data to sell it to people besides lenders - such as businesses and maybe researchers. Another one of the reasons they collect credit scores in general is because they “provide credit services to consumers” - such as “controlling and monitoring your credit.”
Who else uses the data?
Lenders, businesses, researchers, consumers, and potentially policy-makers
Who do they sell the data to?
Lenders, businesses, researchers (potentially), and policy-makers (potentially)
Method
What is the data collection method?
Online forms (administrative records)
What is the type of data collected?
Administrative data/service data (data generated from people using the website)
If designed, who created the questions?
Not applicable
What is the raw source of the collected data (prior to any aggregation)?
Web entries by consumers and administrative documents
Description
What is the general topic of the data (1-2 words)?
Consumer Credit
What are the earliest and latest dates for which data is available?
July 2005 to June 2015 (present)
Timeliness
Is data collected and available periodically?
Yes.
How soon after a reference period ends can a data source be prepared and provided?
Unknown (we don’t have the data)
Selectivity
What is the universe (e.g., population) that the data represents?
The company is an international company, but the website we have been told we can buy from only has US data.
Accessibility
How is the data accessed?
Unknown
Is it open data?
No because you have to pay for it (and you have to pay more than just an administrative fee)
Any legal, regulatory, or administrative restrictions on accessing the data source?
Unknown
Cost? - One time or annual or project based payment?
There is a cost, but we would need to talk more about what “products” we would want before we computed this.
Does this dataset appear to meet our needs for the Census study? No
Explanation:
Cannot obtain credit scores at the property level or housing unit level.