Patent ID: 8036979

Claim:
A computer implemented method for generating an attribute from raw tradeline data from a plurality of credit bureaus, the method comprising: retrieving raw tradeline data from each of the plurality of credit bureaus; retrieving classification code data related to each of the plurality of credit bureaus, the classification code data being used to identify a source type of the raw tradeline data and being in a unique format for each of the credit bureaus; determining one or more selected tradeline leveling characteristics, the selected tradeline leveling characteristics being used to select a portion of the raw tradeline data from each of the credit bureaus, the determining further comprising: designating a set of classification code data from the classification code data related to each of the plurality of credit bureaus as the selected tradeline leveling characteristics used to select a portion of the raw tradeline data, the set including a minimum overlap in the classification code data for each of the plurality of credit bureaus; applying the selected tradeline leveling characteristics to a sample set of the raw tradeline data to select a subset of the sample set of the raw tradeline data to generate respective leveled tradeline data indicating quantities of persons who meet a condition indicated by the respective leveled tradeline data; determining if the respective leveled tradeline data for the plurality of credit bureaus meets a pre-defined correlation threshold, the determining comprising measuring the differences in the leveled tradeline data; and adjusting at least one of the selected tradeline leveling characteristics in response to determining that the correlation fails to meet the pre-defined threshold, the adjusting comprising at least one of: (1) narrowing the selected tradeline leveling characteristics for at least one of the credit bureaus to a smaller subset of the classification code data or (2) including additional classification code data for at least one of the credit bureaus not included in the set of classification code data; and generating an attribute using the selected tradeline leveling characteristics, the attribute indicating a quantity of persons who meet the condition, wherein the method is performed by a computing system that comprises one or more computing devices.