Nava has announced its appointment of Equifax Limited, the consumer and business insight expert, to support the underwriting of unsecured personal loans for its UK borrowers.

Nava has integrated Equifax solutions with its existing underwriting and risk management software, to support its credit analytics, credit scoring and applicant ratings. The real-time data which Equifax provides supports Nava in making specific lending decisions, while managing risk.

Nava is a next generation consumer lending platform due to launch later this quarter after two years in development and testing. Nava takes a sophisticated approach to credit and will apply deep-dive analytics to offer more attractively priced loans to an underserved mainstream consumer market. Nava found this group to be largely misled in a new report, The Perfect Borrower? It shows that around 14 million people in the underserved market are deemed ‘imperfect’ by big name banks and lenders.

Joseph Dlutowski, co-founder and CFO of Nava, said: "The data and customer insight which Equifax provides will strengthen our commitment to lending responsibly to a broad range of UK borrowers. Nava has been built on deep customer analytics and a desire to lend in a fair and flexible manner, a stark contrast to some banks. Equifax will support this capability, improve the customer experience and minimise risk."

Karl-Magnus Wadsack, Principal Consultant - Alternative Lending at Equifax, said: "This appointment by Nava demonstrates that Equifax is well positioned to provide solutions to a wide range of lenders, including new, innovative and forward-thinking organisations. Nava is taking a unique approach to credit analytics and we welcome that new entrants are focused on improving the underwriting process to benefit the consumer."