During 2022, a total of 1.5 million Colombians were linked, for the first time, to credit.
This is clear from a study by the TransUnion risk center and can give certain security to entities in developed and developing credit markets, to offer additional credit products to these consumers without incurring a materially higher delinquency.
(Bogotá launches a microcredit platform for entrepreneurs).
In the study called Expanding Access to Credit: A Deeper Perspective Around New Credit Consumers, TransUnion defined a new credit consumer (NTC) as one without a traditional credit history at the central bureaus. credit information that opens your first traditional credit product such as a vehicle loan, a credit card or another type of credit.
In Colombia, TransUnion mentions, 1.3 million consumers opened their first credit product and became NTC during 2021 and another 1.5 million became NTC in 2022.
Based on the most recent 2021 consumer generation, gender and location data available, Generation Z (born in 1995 or later) represented 49% of those who accessed traditional credit for the first time, followed by Millennials (born between 1980 and 1994) represented 30%Generation X (born between 1965 and 1979) were 14% and Baby Boomers (born between 1946 and 1964) represented 7%.
(Demand for credit slowed down: these are the reasons, according to Banrep).
TransUnion says NTC consumers in Colombia are also slightly more concentrated in rural areas, with a higher proportion being women and low-income consumers relative to more established credit consumers.
NTC consumers in Colombia and around the world generally perform well against more established credit consumers with the same risk profile. The study revealed that credit cards are usually the first credit product opened by the majority of NTC consumers in Colombia and in many countries studied.
“Our study data shows that consumers new to credit are often good risks with increasing credit needs and will show loyalty to financial institutions that offer them their first credit products,” said Charlie Wise, TransUnion’s chief research officer.
In Colombia, the majority (96%) of NTC consumers already had non-traditional information in their credit histories at the time of their first traditional credit origination. Most of them had a savings account, followed by telecommunications obligations and direct financing accounts for businesses, and electronic deposits have proliferated in recent years.
(Interest boosted bank income, as of November 2022).
This gives banks the opportunity to take advantage of alternative data to better understand the risk profiles of these consumers prior to their entry into the traditional credit ecosystem.
“This reality highlights the importance of incorporating alternative data into the financial ecosystem, so that more consumers can be visible to credit. Once these consumers can be assessed by financial institutions, institutions can better determine where there might be new growth opportunities and how they can expand credit inclusion.” said Virginia Olivella, director of research and consulting for TransUnion Latam.
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