Simulators For Equifax's Credit Scoring Service?
Q: A company testing a financial application has asked me if I know of any simulators for Equifax's credit scoring service. They have access to Equifax's test system but the act of making a credit scoring request can change subsequent credit scores which is messing up their test plan. So they've been looking for something which will mimic an Equifax transaction and return a static score from a database or similar. The only candidate so far is vSIM/MITS.comm which is a more generic programmable (and learning) simulator for network communications. This would probably do the job but seems a bit overcomplex for what's required. So I was wondering if anybody knew of a simpler tool that might do the job or could advise how this kind of issue is normally dealt with.
A: -In my experience of working with this CRA and the other big one I would like to offer one of the following options: One option could be to ask Equifax to supply you with a known set of test data that equates to one of your scenarios. This requires some work on your part - but at least you have a recourse if the testing returns an unexpected result! Another possible alternative is to partition the test data - at the Equifax end - and ask them to "rollback" the data after a certain number of tests or length of time has been completed. Another alternative (one which I recently carried out) was to use "live applications" that had been recently scored and then apply them to the test database. I understand all about the implication of the D.P.
A: and PCI regulations but if the testing is carried out in a strictly controlled environment - then the risks can be managed. I certainly don't advocate this approach but it was really