DATE: October 23, 2007                       

FiSCA and PRBC Launch Partnership to Help Low and Moderate Income Consumers Build Credit

Hackensack, NJ -- The Financial Service Centers of America (FiSCA) and PRBC (Payment Reporting Builds Credit) today announced a groundbreaking partnership through which FiSCA members can offer the Payment Reporting Builds Credit^â service to their customers. PRBC is a consumer reporting agency and repository that enables consumers and small businesses to build a credit file and score, based on their history of making rent, utility, phone, and other recurring bill payments that can be used to demonstrate creditworthiness. Through the “FiSCA/PRBC Credit File Building Program,” FiSCA’s members can enable their customers to build their credit history by voluntarily reporting the financial transactions they’ve been making on a regular basis. This will enable users of credit reports and scores to have a more complete picture of an applicant’s creditworthiness. FiSCA members operate more than 6,500 stores nationwide offering check cashing, money orders, money transfer, bill payment, and other services. The partnership with PRBC means that millions of Americans who pay their monthly utility and phone bills at these locations will soon have access to this credit building opportunity.

Currently, there are more than 50 million Americans who either do not have credit files at Equifax, Experian, or TransUnion—the three major credit bureaus—or whose files contain insufficient credit history to generate a credit score. Lenders tend to treat these “thin-file” or “unscorable” individuals similarly to those who have had past credit problems or delinquencies and hence, low credit scores.

The three major credit bureaus do not track most payments of commonly recurring bills such as rent, private mortgages, utilities, telephone, cable TV, or child care.  As a result, many fiscally-responsible consumers without established traditional credit histories are effectively precluded from obtaining affordable home loans, auto loans and insurance. This situation can also make obtaining an apartment, employment, utility hook-ups, and telephone service difficult and costly. FiSCA and PRBC came together to enable financial service center customers to use their bill payment histories to gain access to more traditional financial services and asset-building opportunities.

“FiSCA members who offer the PRBC service help their customers demonstrate their ability and willingness to meet their financial obligations, and they enable lenders and other service providers to more accurately and fairly assess these consumers’ creditworthiness,” said Corey Stone, PRBC’s CEO. “We are pleased that FiSCA members want to help their customers demonstrate their creditworthiness when they apply for housing, credit, insurance, and employment.”

FiSCA, whose members represent the country’s leading multi-line financial service center companies with more than 6,500 storefront locations, views the PRBC partnership as yet another step in its ongoing efforts to offer a complete line of basic financial services to the millions of low to moderate income Americans who do not use traditional financial institutions.

“Multi-line financial service centers have long served as a convenient resource for those meeting their monthly financial obligations outside of a banking relationship,” said Hank Shyne, Executive Director of FiSCA. “Through the PRBC partnership, we can now offer our customers a valuable opportunity to establish and build, or to supplement their existing credit file when they are conducting their regular transactions with us. This, in turn, will make it easier for them to obtain more, and lower cost, credit.”

Participation in the PRBC service, in which consumers’ monthly bill payments are tracked and documented in a personal credit file, is voluntary.  PRBC produces a PRBC Report^sm and a Bill Payment Score^sm (BPS^â) which can be used in the absence of a traditional credit report and score, or to gain a more complete risk assessment of an applicant who has a traditional credit file. PRBC does not charge consumers a fee to enroll in the PRBC service or to view their own credit file in PRBC’s database.  More information about FiSCA and PRBC can be found online at www.fisca.org and www.prbc.com.

About FiSCA
FiSCA, founded in 1987, is the national trade association for more than 6,500 individual financial service centers across the United States. FiSCA members provide a wide variety of financial services and products to their communities, including check cashing, money orders, money transfers, and electronic bill payment services, automatic teller machine access, government benefit and payroll payments, small dollar short-term loans, electronic tax preparation, prepaid debit cards, deposit acceptance services, public transportation fare and token sales, motor vehicle license plate and title distribution, postage stamp sales and numerous other services. For more information, please visit www.fisca.org.

About PRBC
PRBC collects, stores, scores, and reports bill payment data such as rent, utilities, phone, insurance and other recurring payments, as a consumer reporting agency as defined under the Fair Credit Reporting Act.  PRBC enables consumers to demonstrate their ability and willingness to pay all of their bills on time, providing an indicator of creditworthiness even if the consumer has not used “traditional” debt.  A PRBC Report may be used as a "non-traditional mortgage credit report" (NTMCR) that meets Fannie Mae's, Freddie Mac's, and the FHA's standards for documenting creditworthiness in the absence of a traditional credit history.

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