WHITEPAPER

Improving fair lending with Zest AI's race predictor algorithm

Improving just one algorithm can help tens of millions of Americans get access to affordable credit.

That algorithm is called BISG, and it’s used to guess someone’s race or ethnicity based on their last name and ZIP code. BISG is used across the industry to guess the race of borrowers and test whether models and lending practices are fair. It worked well for years, but it’s accuracy is declining. Zest AI’s data scientists have developed a better way to estimate race in fair lending analysis and we think it can do a lot to boost the Black and Hispanic homeownership rate and close the wealth gap. Here’s how.