TransUnion takes on synthetic identity fraud and credit washing

These are the first-ever adverse-actionable solutions of their kind in the market, helping organizations identify and manage risks associated with synthetic identities and credit washing while supporting FCRA-governed, consumer-permissioned decisions. The scores allow lenders to make more informed credit decisions and provide consumers with applicable adverse-action reason codes explaining why they were denied credit—capabilities that were not previously available.

Synthetic identity fraud and credit washing remain among the fastest-growing and most costly forms of financial crime. TransUnion research estimates total lender exposure to synthetic identity fraud at $2.4 billion as of June 2026. By combining real and fabricated identity elements to create seemingly legitimate consumer profiles, fraudsters can evade traditional detection methods, establish accounts and generate substantial losses.

TransUnion analysis shows consumers whose charge-offs were suppressed through credit washing are 3.5 times more likely to charge-off a new account within a year of opening it, with super prime consumers 10x more likely. As schemes become more sophisticated, organizations need effective and explainable tools to identify high-risk applications before losses occur.

TransUnion’s new scores address synthetic fraud, where fabricated identities may appear legitimate, and credit washing, where suppressed negative credit history can obscure an applicant’s true risk. Drawing on TransUnion’s data assets, advanced analytics, and identity intelligence, these scores can help organizations identify these threats earlier, strengthen decision-making and mitigate potential financial losses before they materialize.

“Synthetic identity fraud and credit washing present unique challenges because they can conceal risk behind seemingly legitimate consumer profiles," said James Garvert, executive vice president of global fraud and communications solutions. “By bringing advanced fraud intelligence into explainable, FCRA-governed decisioning, we’re helping organizations uncover threats that might otherwise go undetected, make more confident decisions, and mitigate potential financial losses.”

Oscilar, the Agentic Risk Platform for financial institutions, is the first platform to incorporate TransUnion’s Credit Washing and Synthetic Fraud Scores with adverse action capability. Within Oscilar, the scores and their reason codes run alongside credit decisioning in a single workflow, so lenders can act on synthetic identity and credit washing risk at account opening and cite it in adverse action notices. Oscilar supports end-to-end risk management across onboarding, credit, fraud and anti-money laundering workflows for more than 100 financial institutions.

“A fraud score only pays off if the lender can act on it,” said Neha Narkhede, co-founder and CEO of Oscilar. “TransUnion's adverse-actionable scores give lenders a reason they can cite, and Oscilar puts that reason on the same decision and notice as the credit reasons. Fraud and credit stop being two systems with two answers. Every signal a lender trusts belongs on one view of the customer, so a risk the fraud team sees today shapes the credit decision tomorrow."