How trade level fields help lenders deliver and personalize consumer offers

by Denise McKendall 2 min read August 30, 2016

blog-post-image-cc-930x420

Consumers want to pay less. This is true in retail and in lending. No big surprise, right?

So in order for lenders to capitalize and identify the right consumers for their respective portfolios, they need insights. Lenders want to better understand what rates consumers have. They want to know how much interest their customers pay. They want to know if consumers within their portfolio are at risk of leaving, and they want visibility into new prospects they can market to in an effort to grow.

Luckily, lenders can look to trade level fields to be in the know. These inferred data fields, powered by Trended Data,  allow lenders to offer products and terms that serve two purposes:

  • First, their use in response models and offer alignment strategies drive better performance, ROI and life-time value. As noted earlier, consumers want to pay less, so if they are offered a better rate or money-saving offer, they’re more likely to respond.
  • Second, they ultimately save consumers money in a way that benefits each consumer’s unique financial situation- overall savings on interest paid over the life of the loan, or consolidation of other debt often combined for a lower monthly payment.

These trade level fields allow lenders to dig into various trends and insights surrounding consumers. For example, Experian data can identiftrade-fieldsy big spenders and transactors (those who pay off their purchases every month). Research reveals these individuals love to be rewarded for how they use credit, demanding rewards, airline miles or other goodies for the spending they do. They also really like to be rewarded with higher credit lines, whether they use the increased line or not. Fail to serve these transactors in the right way and lenders could be faced with lackluster performance in the form poor response rates, booking rates, activation rates and early attrition. Thus, a little trade level insight can go a long way in helping lenders personalize products, offers and anticipate future financial needs.

Knowing the profitability of a customer across all of their accounts is important, and accessing this intelligence in a seamless way is ideal. The data exists. For lenders, it’s just a matter of unlocking it, making those small, but meaningful changes and keeping a pulse on the portfolio. Together, these strategies can help lenders keep their best customers and acquire new ones that stick around longer.

Related Posts

Customer Spotlight: How Matrix Rental Solutions Strengthens Trust in Affordable Housing

Learn how Matrix continues to deliver a secure, trusted rental experience as fraud tactics evolve. Read more!

July 31, 2026 by Laura Burrows
What Is AI Decisioning?

Every business makes decisions about people and transactions all day long. Should we approve this loan? Is this purchase fraud? Which customer should get this offer, and what should it be? For a long time, those decisions were made in one of two ways: a person reviewed each case by hand, or the company wrote fixed rules, like "approve anyone with a credit score above 700." Both work. Both also leave value on the table. The manual review is slow and hard to scale. The fixed rule can turn away good applicants and is slow to adapt when the market shifts. AI decisioning is a third way. What makes AI decisioning work Instead of relying on a single reviewer or a rigid rule, automated decisioning uses models that learn from data — studying how thousands of past cases turned out, finding the patterns that predict an outcome, and applying them to each new decision, often in real time. The result is faster, more consistent decisions. But a model on its own isn't the whole story. Getting real value from AI decisioning takes good data to learn from, AI analytics to generate insights, the tools to act on it and the governance to keep it compliant. What we've found is that the pieces only pay off when they work together, and that is where we're built differently. A model is only as good as what it learns from, and we pair your data with one of the deepest views of consumer and commercial credit: decades of full-file history and vetted attributes. Then we give you the tools to act on it. Use cases across your business Whether you're trying to grow your customer base, reduce fraud, manage lending risk, or improve collections, automated decisioning brings all the pieces together to make more accurate, consistent and explainable decisions at scale. Fraud and Identity A fraudulent transaction that slips through costs money and erodes trust. Rules are static, and fraudsters move fast. They'll probe boundaries, find the blind spots and move to the next scheme. By the time the rules are updated, they're already three steps ahead. How AI decisioning changes this: AI fraud detection with real-time risk scoring and decisioning across transactions and customer interactions Intelligence that continuously learns from results to help adapt fraud strategies as threats evolve Reduced false positives and less friction for customers at account opening and checkout Identity verification tools that confirm someone is who they say they are without slowing down the experience Credit and Lending Loan approval is where the relationship begins. Credit risk decisioning helps lenders find that delicate balance between approving enough people to grow, but carefully enough to manage risk. Missing that balance means turning away good customers or taking on losses that are difficult to absorb. How AI decisioning changes this: Increased approval opportunities for creditworthy applicants without increasing overall risk Models you can update and deploy quickly as market conditions change, rather than waiting months Ability to run "what-if" scenarios to test how a new strategy would have performed on your historical data before putting it live Collections Which customer should your team reach out to today? Through which channel? What kind of message? If you reach out too aggressively, you push someone who might have recovered into default. If you wait too long, you lose them. If you call someone at work, they resent you; if you text, they might ignore it. If you offer a payment plan, they might accept it, but only if the terms make sense to their financial situation. How AI decisioning changes this: Optimized next-best-action and contact-channel strategies for each individual customer Improved recovery potential through better targeting Less time spent on accounts with a lower propensity to pay, freeing your team for higher-impact cases Ability to segment and test new strategies before rollout Customer Acqusition Finding the right customers is about reaching the right people with the right offer at the right time. To stay competitive, it’s now a requirement to balance growth with risk while creating a seamless experience converting prospects into customers. How AI decisioning changes this: More precise prospect targeting using credit, behavioral, and alternative data, where permitted, to identify consumers most likely to respond Personalized offers delivered in real time Dynamic decision strategies that can be updated quickly as market conditions and customer behavior change Ongoing testing and optimization of acquisition strategies to improve campaign performance and support customer lifetime value Driving results with AI decisioning Every customer interaction is a decision. Businesses that can adapt quickly will be better positioned to grow, manage risk, and deliver the experiences customers expect. The technology will continue to evolve, but the goal remains the same: making informed decisions that balance business objectives, risk, and customer experience. Learn more about our decisioning software

July 27, 2026 by Zohreen Ismail
Why Innovation Matters for Members First Credit Union

Learn how Members First Credit Union uses innovation and data-driven insights to better serve members and expand financial opportunity.

July 24, 2026 by Scarlet Nickel

Subscribe to our Newsletter

Enter your name and email for the latest updates.

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Subscribe to our Newsletter

Don't miss out on the latest industry trends and insights!
Subscribe