Comparison
Provide broad-market credit risk scores based primarily on reported credit-file information.
They are standardized inputs that lenders can use within existing policies and workflows.
UltraFICO combines FICO credit information with customer-permissioned cash flow data from Plaid and uses the FICO score range. FICO made the updated product generally available in May 2026.
Standardized cash flow scores convert transaction data into a consistent risk measure. Carrington Labs offers Cashflow Score as this lighter-weight option.
Carrington Labs can build a model around the lender's own product, population and observed outcomes, using bureau, transaction, application and internal data in an appropriate combination.
Dimension
Traditional score
Standardized cash flow score
Lender-specific model
Primary data
Reported credit history
Account and transaction data
Any relevant combination
Development population
Broad market
Broad or consortium population
Lender's own portfolio
Current financial behavior
Limited
Stronger visibility
Can be incorporated
Product specificity
Limited
Limited
High
Implementation speed
Fast
Usually fast
Requires development
Calibration to lender
Policy overlays
Score testing
Built, calibrated and retrained for lender
Offer optimization
No
No
Can connect to Credit Offer Engine
The advantage of Carrington Labs is not cash flow data alone. It is the ability to test, engineer and combine cash flow, bureau, application and internal performance data against the lender's own repayment outcomes.
For lenders with sufficient performance data, the strongest approach is often a lender-specific model that tests and weights each signal against the product's actual repayment outcomes.
Bureau data remains useful, but it is only one source of risk information.
Bureau data captures reported credit history. Cash flow data adds information about current liquidity, income patterns, obligations, volatility and resilience.
Carrington Labs can combine bureau data with cash flow, application, product and internal repayment data, then test which engineered features add predictive value for the lender's own portfolio.
You do not have to pick a side. A combined model can be benchmarked directly against your current bureau-only approach on your own outcomes — keep whichever wins.
UltraFICO combines FICO credit information with Plaid cash flow data in a standardized score.
Carrington Labs differs by offering:
Carrington Labs is built for lenders that want portfolio-specific feature engineering and calibration, the ability to combine cash flow with traditional data, included retraining, client-specific custom-model data boundaries and a broader offer-optimization strategy.
A broad-market score may provide weaker separation in the decision areas that matter most to an individual lender, including:
A custom model can be tested specifically within those decision areas.
Compare bureau-only, cash flow and combined approaches against your own portfolio outcomes before changing policy.
Leave your details below and our team will schedule a call to discuss your business and how Carrington Labs can help.
