Today, we announced Spinwheel is now operating as a consumer reporting agency (CRA). This marks an important milestone in our evolution as a company — and in how we support lenders, fintech platforms, and the consumers they serve.

From the beginning, Spinwheel’s mission has centered on helping financial providers make better decisions while improving financial outcomes for consumers. As our solutions support increasingly critical credit and decisioning workflows, we recognized that delivering data was no longer enough. Our clients need solutions they can rely on inside regulated financial decisions.

Becoming a CRA was a deliberate decision — not a regulatory obligation. It allows us to operate under the highest standards of compliance, security, and data governance while strengthening protections for consumers.

“As we looked at the needs of lenders, financial institutions, and fintechs — the clients we serve, we identified a gap between Spinwheel’s modern liability data platform and traditional credit reporting,” said Spinwheel’s Chief Operating Officer Sean Anderson. “Operating as a CRA allows us to bridge that gap by delivering more comprehensive liability intelligence while supporting financial institutions across the full consumer lifecycle. This step reinforces our consumer-centric mission while strengthening regulatory alignment and trust across the financial ecosystem.”

What is a Consumer Reporting Agency? 

A consumer reporting agency is an organization that assembles or evaluates consumer information for use in eligibility decisions such as credit, lending, or account management under the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA). 

Under the FCRA, there are multiple types of CRAs — depending on what data they collect and how it’s used:

1. Nationwide Credit Bureaus: These are the companies most people associate with CRA status, including Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion. They maintain broad consumer credit files used across the lending ecosystem.

2. Specialty Consumer Reporting Agencies: Specialty CRAs focus on specific categories of consumer financial data, such as payment behavior, banking activity, employment or income verification, etc. Instead of maintaining a full credit file, these CRAs provide decision-relevant datasets tied to particular financial use cases.

3. Resellers or Data Aggregators Operating as CRAs: Other organizations assemble data from multiple sources and prepare it for permissible decisioning use under FCRA requirements. 

Spinwheel now operates within this third category as a consumer debt and liability data aggregator. Operating as a CRA establishes clear standards for how consumer financial data is collected, validated, and used. These responsibilities include:

• Maintaining rigorous data accuracy standards

• Ensuring information is used only for permissible purposes

• Providing visibility into how data is used in financial decisions

• Supporting dispute and investigation processes for consumers

In short, CRA status ensures that data used in financial decisions meets standards designed to protect both institutions and individuals. In practice, this means the data that financial providers access through Spinwheel can be incorporated into regulated decision processes with greater confidence, while ensuring consumers retain important protections over how their financial information is handled.

For Spinwheel, CRA designation also formalizes principles we have long believed:

• Consumers control their financial data and should be able to seamlessly enable financial providers to access it — without needing to navigate unnecessary friction.

• Data that influences consumer financial outcomes must be handled with accountability and the highest levels of security. 

• Companies that leverage consumer-permissioned data must be trusted to only use it for permissible purposes. 

• What’s best for consumers and businesses can go hand-in-hand — creating a true win-win scenario for all.

• Compliance and innovation should work together in concert to protect consumers and give companies the confidence they need to operate effectively in highly-regulated markets. Our founders and COO have more than 20 years of experience each in building compliant platforms and software in financial markets. Our team understands the importance of innovation within regulatory environments.

Why Did Spinwheel Choose to Become a CRA? 

Spinwheel was built to help financial providers access and understand consumer credit and liability data that has historically been fragmented across institutions, servicers, and systems. 

Becoming a CRA demonstrates Spinwheel’s adherence to FCRA requirements designed to promote accuracy, transparency, and consumer protections. This reinforces our commitment to the standards of accountability expected across the broader financial ecosystem.

As fintech innovation accelerates, financial providers increasingly depend on external data and infrastructure partners to power lending, servicing, and account management experiences. At the same time, regulatory expectations around data usage and consumer protection continue to rise. 

Trust, accuracy, and consumer protections are not optional design considerations. They must be foundational. 

As financial institutions increasingly rely on third-party platforms to bring together disparate consumer financial data, the distinction between data provider and decisioning infrastructure continues to narrow. We believe organizations operating at this layer must not only enable access to data, but also assume responsibility for how that data is governed and used. Becoming a CRA reflects our commitment to meeting that responsibility directly.

We chose to become a CRA for a few primary reasons: 

1. Aligning with how our clients operate

Our clients operate in highly regulated environments where every data input used in a financial decision must be explainable, auditable, and compliant. Operating under the same framework reduces friction, simplifies compliance reviews, and enables our clients to confidently integrate Spinwheel into core decisioning workflows.

2. Standing behind the data powering financial decisions

Enabling our clients to see a clear picture of consumer debt and liability information creates powerful visibility — but it also introduces accountability. As a CRA, Spinwheel assumes defined obligations around data accuracy, permissible use, and consumer transparency. This ensures the information we assemble is not simply accessible, but suitable for responsible financial decision-making.

3. Reinforcing our consumer-first mission

Consumers increasingly interact with financial services powered by interconnected data ecosystems they may never directly see. As a CRA, we can ensure consumers can leverage more accurate data, powered by Spinwheel, with the financial providers they use to drive better financial outcomes — like better rates on loans and better product offers that align to their needs. And, operating as a CRA strengthens consumer protections and ensures individuals have clear mechanisms to understand and dispute information when necessary. 

This step reflects our belief that innovation and consumer protection should advance together — not in opposition.

Benefits of a CRA for Financial Providers and Consumers 

Operating as a CRA creates meaningful advantages for the clients Spinwheel works with and their end consumers.

Benefits for Financial Providers

CRA designation enables institutions to integrate Spinwheel data confidently within regulated workflows such as underwriting and servicing decisions. This includes:

• Greater regulatory alignment with existing compliance frameworks

• Reduced vendor and model risk exposure

• Expanded eligibility for underwriting and account review use cases

• Increased auditability and documentation standards

Ultimately, this allows financial providers to move faster while maintaining confidence in compliance and governance.

Benefits for Consumers

CRA status also strengthens protections for individuals whose data powers financial decisions. Consumers benefit from:

• Increased transparency into how their information is used

• Formal dispute and correction processes

• Stronger accuracy and data handling requirements

• Greater accountability across the lending ecosystem

By operating within the FCRA framework, Spinwheel helps ensure that better data leads to fairer and more responsible financial outcomes.

The Future of Fintech is Trust

We believe the future of fintech will be defined not just by innovation, but by trust.

As financial services become increasingly data-driven, we must meet the same standards of accountability as the financial institutions and fintechs we support. Becoming a CRA reflects Spinwheel’s long-term commitment to building technology that financial providers can depend on — and consumers can trust.