Psychometrics as a Tool to Improve Credit Information

This paper studies the use of psychometric tests, designed by the Entrepreneurial Finance Lab (EFL), as a tool to screen out high credit risk and potentially increase access to credit for small business owners in Peru. We compare repayment behavior patterns across entrepreneurs who were offered a loan based on the traditional credit-scoring method versus the EFL tool. We find that the psychometric test can lower the risk of the loan portfolio when used as a secondary screening mechanism for already banked entrepreneurs-that is, those with a credit history. The EFL tool can also allow lenders to offer credit to some unbanked entrepreneurs-that is, those without a credit history-who were rejected based on their traditional credit scores, without increasing the risk of the portfolio.