TransUnion Credit Risk Index Reaches Record High

The TransUnion Credit Risk Index reached 124.79 in the last quarter of 2008, the highest-level seen since its inception. The index recorded its biggest change? on a quarter-to-quarter basis (up by 5.99% compared to 3Q08). It increased 5.41% compared to the same quarter in 2007. The index is based on?the calculated average forecast of 90-day or worse delinquencies within a region and uses the fourth quarter of 1998 as a baseline comparison. According to Chet Wiermanski, TransUnion Analytics and Decisioning Services' global chief scientist, the index accounts for "the non-linearity of credit scores" to measure changes in regional risk and to compare regional risk levels over time relative to the nation as a whole at the end of 1998. TransUnion, Chicago, considers index readings above 100 to have a "higher level risk."