Credit Builders:
Beyond the Score
How Synchrony PRISM Uses Alternate Data to Redefine Credit
Three digits.
That's all it takes to open doors or slam them shut. A three-digit credit score can feel like the velvet rope outside your financial life: from renting an apartment or getting a fair rate on a mortgage or car loan, to making utilities and phone plans more affordable. Trying to judge a person's creditworthiness on those three digits alone is like guessing the full plot of a book after the first page. You miss the characters, the plot twists and the full story that ties it all together.
According to TransUnion, around 45 million American adults are deemed “credit unserved or underserved” regarding a credit score - either with no credit or not enough activity to create a meaningful score. But there's hope thanks to groundbreaking innovation from Synchrony in the form of a unique credit decisioning system that sees a person's full story beyond the three-digit credit score alone.
Synchrony PRISM was built to see that fuller picture and make the right call at checkout in about six seconds. Take this scenario: You are offered 15% off at checkout if you apply for financing. You want the discount and the flexibility to pay later. The store wants to close the sale and create a satisfied, loyal customer. We want to help you build healthy credit for a lifetime of flexibility.
“Prior to PRISM, we did what most other consumer financing companies do - rely primarily on the credit score to make the decision on approvals,” says our Chief Credit Officer, Max Axler. “We knew that more and better data delivered in real time would allow us to better assess creditworthiness and help Americans access what they need. But that meant we had to build a system that can access thousands of data points beyond the credit score alone, and it needed to be accurate, secure and lightning fast.”
A prism refracts a beam of white light into its component colors. Synchrony's PRISM does the same with applicants, breaking big, homogenous groups into smaller, meaningful segments. Instead of lumping everyone with a similar score into the same bucket, we look for the shades and hues: payment consistency, stability and other patterns that suggest creditworthiness.
Building PRISM was no small undertaking. Enter David Chau, the Chief Architect of the PRISM program from its beginnings in 2018.
“We decided to go through radical change,” says Chau, our SVP of credit technology strategy. “We asked ourselves: 'If we had built this from scratch with modern technology, what would we create?' With an incredible team with experience across credit, data, technology, machine learning, fraud, risk and more, we imagined what could be - and then built it.”
Out went the linear, one-size-fits-all approach. In came a cloud-based platform that can access thousands of potential signals, more than 9,000 data points, and use dynamic decisioning to choose the next piece of information to pull based on what it's seeing, doing it in milliseconds so it doesn't waste time. After all, people don't want to stand at checkout holding up a line. And data shows that any delay in the checkout process online could lead to abandoned shopping carts.
A Decision in Less Than Six Seconds
Today, Synchrony PRISM makes its decision in ~5.98 seconds. Here's how it works:
The PRISM platform processes huge amounts of data—everything from credit scores and payment trends to fraud indicators—all working together to keep services running seamlessly. When it comes to making credit decisions, PRISM prioritizes the most relevant signals—pulled from a library of 9,000 options—that truly impact the decision based on the specific credit strategy for that partner program. These signals blend traditional variables that most lenders use, like credit bureau data, with Synchrony's unique data and insights.
PRISM works fast, but the true marvel is the massive amount of analysis it can do in such a short time. When a customer applies for credit at checkout (whether in store or online), a six second timer begins. The system confirms their identity first, then uses the remaining time to gather the most valuable data points in order of importance to make the best decision.
Some checks run in parallel; others happen in sequence.
The data pipeline is broad by design. Data verification fires first, which is akin to a hygiene check, ensuring we have the right information we need to process the application and that the applicant is eligible (of age, has a valid U.S. address, is not flagged for prior fraud, etc.).
If that clears quickly, the system typically fans out to pull multiple credit scores from the major credit bureaus at the same time (this hedges our bets, in case one lags or times out). It simultaneously brings in external identity information and less traditional credit sources, which it blends with Synchrony's own history from more than 100 million customer accounts (i.e., tradelines). That internal view is powerful: more than half of applicants are already known to Synchrony through another card relationship, and being “known” tends to cut default and fraud risk dramatically.
The system also runs a real-time duplicate check (for people that hit the apply button more than once) and screens for fraud patterns using a graph technology that spots suspicious clusters (for instance, a single phone number tied to many unrelated applications).
As it progresses through each round, the orchestrator manages the clock: do we still have runway? If so, it fetches the next best signal. If not, it locks in the best decision it can with the data on hand. The orchestrator can weigh cost as well as time: some third-party calls are expensive, so if early signals indicate an obvious decline or a clear approval, it won't waste milliseconds — or dollars — fetching the rest.
“When we started building PRISM, people thought we were crazy - nothing like this had ever been done before,” said Chau. “But now we're able to see the whole person, not just the credit score. We're able to make better decisions, faster.”
Synchrony's Cash Flow Underwriting Is Opening Financial Doors
Once those six seconds are over, some applicants are not approved. If an application falls into a gray area, PRISM can shift into a “refer” path rather than a hard decline and seek more information and context - turning a hard “no” into a “maybe, but we need some more information”.
For example, with a customer's permission, our system can use cash-flow underwriting by securely linking to a bank account. That enables us to assess the stability of their cash flows and reconsider the application. It's a way to surface responsible customers who don't have any credit score or who have thin files, all within our risk guardrails. In our early pilots, it's allowing us to say yes much more often for those creditworthy Americans who would otherwise be turned away, and we will continue to expand this capability across our portfolio.
For customers who still don't qualify with us, we have other options too. We recently acquired Versatile Credit, which routes applications that fall outside of our risk profiles—and our partners' risk profiles—to a network of lenders who may be more suited to approve them. This extends financing options for customers who might not qualify through traditional models and gives them a chance to build their credit.
Synchrony PRISM's smarts don't end after the application. We monitor accounts on an ongoing basis to avoid overextending people, adjusting credit lines when warranted (either up or down) and recognizing responsible behavior. Take customers who may be getting their first line of credit with a store card. We promote strong performers to broader utility dual cards that work both in-store and anywhere credit cards are accepted. That's good for customers as it gives them more flexibility, helps build their credit, and supports our partners' growth and loyalty goals.
Our goal with all of this: say yes more often to creditworthy Americans to help them access what they want and need, and to help them build stronger credit to make life more affordable.
Innovation Never Sleeps: Ensuring Synchrony PRISM is the Most Advanced
In any given year, Synchrony reviews tens of millions of credit applications.
To be able to say yes to more people who deserve that credit, Synchrony PRISM is getting smarter all the time. It is built on a flexible network of mesh services that work together in real time. This makes it scalable and reliable all at once: Adding a new data source is plug-and-play—like plugging in a USB device without disruption—so we can pull in better data and information without slowing things down.
By getting smarter and better at credit decisioning beyond the credit score alone and even improving on our advanced approach, we can continue to expand access to more Americans who deserve it, responsibly manage those credit lines in real time and help support our partners who are so vital to the economy.
All of this isn't just a technology flex; it's our business model. We're a consumer financing partner supporting iconic brands and more than 400,000 small and medium businesses that Americans rely on to access what they want, every day. Our partners sell couches, tires and dental work to millions of people across the country, including many who are early in their credit journey. We have to be a consistent underwriter for our partners through economic cycles, innovate underwriting decisions to drive partner growth prudently, while allowing more Americans to access credit to build healthier financial futures.
Three digits still matter. They're just no longer the whole story.
By refracting that number into thousands of data points and making a decision in about the time it takes to take a deep breath, Synchrony PRISM helps us see customers in full color. We're here to unlock opportunities for Americans, support responsible growth for our partners both large and small, and make sure a credit decisioning system isn't a barrier to building a financial future.
