I still remember my times at CGAP when the Technology Team was working with PERC, a research center and advocacy group working on:

reducing credit invisibility, ie., “credit invisibles” without credit data are most often rejected by mainstream lenders using automated underwriting systems;

abolishing the “credit catch 22″, i.e., mainstream lenders rely on credit reports to assess credit risk and to extend a loan, plus credit bureaus only have data on the already banked population. In this dynamic to qualify for a loan, you will already have to have credit.

pointing fingers at alternative data which presents a wealth of data that could be used to drive financial inclusion. If it can be accessed, it could dramatically increase access to financial services for low income persons worldwide.