There is an interesting piece on LA Times about Bank of America. According to this article Bank of America are now using SageStream as part of their approval process.
Contents
Who/What Is SageStream?
You may be familiar with SageStream as they are one of the two credit bureaus that we suggest freezing before applying for a U.S. Bank credit card. Previously they used the name of ID Analytics. They are basically one of the smaller credit reporting agencies (TransUnion, Equifax & Experian are the big three). According to the LA Times article, they are focused on millennials with thin credit files.
What Is The Credit Optics Score & How Is It Calculated?
The Credit Optics score is a scored that is developed and calculated by SageStream based on the data found in your SageStream credit report. It has a range of 1 to 999, there are multiple variations of the score and sometimes a high score is better and other times a lower score is preferred (I have no idea why they would do this). Bank of America considers the Credit Optics a supplemental score.
Our Thoughts
Bank of America (like U.S. Bank) are extremely unlikely to deny you for having your SageStream report frozen (unless you have an incredibly thin traditional credit report), that being said they are likely to deny you for a loan/credit card if they find information in your SageStream report that is negative or doesn’t meet their lending requirements.
Because of that, I’d recommend just freezing your SageStream report so that it can’t be used as part of the lending decision by Bank of America or anybody else. You can read how to freeze your SageStream report here.
