Credit FAQs

Off-us data has transformed how lenders think about risk, growth, and competition. But like any powerful tool, it’s easy to misuse. In our work with clients, we’ve seen three common pitfalls — and the practices that can help avoid them. Pitfall 1: Misinterpreting Benchmarks Looking at competitor performance is incredibly valuable — but dangerous if not translated correctly. One lender assumed higher rates would automatically mean worse performance. Instead, benchmarking revea

Lenders know their own portfolios inside and out. But when it comes to growth, risk management, and product strategy, the smartest players don’t just look inward — they look outward. “Off-us” data — information about customer behavior and lending performance outside a company’s own book — is becoming a critical lever for success. Here are a few ways we’ve seen lenders use off-us data to sharpen decisions: Benchmarking Performance One lender in Asia used bureau data to compare

For many financial services companies, lending is the next big step. Payments, deposits, and other services create a strong base, but credit creates a large, profitable business. The challenge? Well, it’s credit. Not just another product feature, a mismanaged credit product can sink a business. One solution is to move very slowly, but that has its own costs: wasted runway, time, and opportunity. At Ensemblex, we know that credit and fast growth are compatible under discipline

We get the question almost every week—from Series A founders, Heads of Lending at established fintechs, even board members. They’re...

Years ago, while running at a subprime lending operation, we used to offer customers the option to receive their credit card via standard...

Over the past decade, easy capital, VC expectations, and aggressive customer acquisition targets led many fintechs to pursue scale with a...

Many early-stage lenders hesitate to test new product ideas because of the perceived expense. That's a shame, because great testing...

We recently worked with a fintech trying to increase the profitability of their loan product. The obvious lever: price. Lower the...

Running tests has technically never been easier. With highly configurable back-end tech and sophisticated data analysis tools widely...

We see so many lenders get stuck in the same paradoxical situation: they're trying to expand their reach to the millions of underbanked...