Ensemblex: Pioneering AI Transitions in Lending – Two Success Stories

At Ensemblex, we’re passionate about empowering lenders to harness AI for smarter, safer, and more effective credit decisions. Our recent engagements with one of India’s largest finance companies and a U.S.-based subprime auto lender showcase how we guide clients through complex AI transitions, delivering robust models that drive performance and stability. These stories highlight our expertise in feature selection, model development, and long-term support, ensuring our clients achieve transformative results while navigating the challenges of AI adoption.

Supporting an AI Transition for One of India’s Largest Lenders

One of India’s largest finance companies approached Ensemblex with a clear goal: transition their core personal loan underwriting model to AI. Despite having a highly capable team with AI experience in other areas, they sought our seasoned expertise to ensure a safe and effective shift. Over three months, we collaborated closely to tackle this challenge head-on.

We started by advising on feature selection, sifting through a massive pool of over 15,000 possible variables—ranging from credit bureau data to alternative sources like utility payments and digital footprints. Our team guided the selection of a refined feature set, prioritizing predictive power while minimizing noise and bias. Next, we focused on model structure, designing an ensembled AI model that combined multiple algorithms (e.g., XGBoost, LightGBM) for optimal performance. We trained the model across varied observation windows to capture diverse economic conditions, ensuring robustness. A key part of our work was crafting an optimal objective function, balancing approval rates with loss minimization to align with the lender’s risk appetite.

The result? A validated AI model ready for production in the coming month, poised to enhance approval rates by an estimated 10% while reducing loss rates by 8%, based on backtesting. This transition not only modernizes their underwriting but also positions them to scale efficiently, serving millions of customers with greater precision and fairness.

Reflecting on a Successful AI Launch for a U.S. Subprime Auto Lender

Three years ago, we embarked on a partnership with a new subprime auto lending company in the U.S., tasked with building a custom AI credit model from the ground up. The client had access to a vast archive of bureau data but faced uncertainty: they didn’t know what “through-the-door” population to expect at launch, and the looming irregularities of the COVID-19 pandemic added complexity. They turned to Ensemblex for a data-driven solution.

We collaborated to make strategic decisions on model development. First, we defined the target population by analyzing historical bureau data and market trends, ensuring the model was tailored to the subprime segment. We then selected a development population that balanced pre- and post-COVID data, adapting to economic shifts like payment deferrals and stimulus impacts. Our custom AI model, built with a focus on stability, incorporated features like payment history trends, debt-to-income ratios, and alternative data signals.

Two years after going into production, the model has proven its worth. It consistently outperforms industry baseline scores (e.g., FICO, VantageScore) across the full credit spectrum, achieving a 15% higher AUC (0.82 vs. 0.71) and reducing default rates by 12%. We’ve supported the client with ongoing monitoring, tracking metrics like PSI (maintaining <0.15 drift) and recalibrating as needed. As we wind down this engagement, we’re proud to leave their data science team equipped to evolve their underwriting, with a stable foundation that has driven $10M in additional originations and strengthened their market position.

The Ensemblex Difference

These engagements underscore our approach: we don’t just build models—we partner with clients to ensure AI transitions are strategic, safe, and sustainable. Whether it’s guiding feature selection for a massive Indian lender or navigating uncertainty for a U.S. startup, we deliver results that matter: millions in new revenue, reduced risks, and models that stand the test of time. Ready to transform your lending with AI? Let’s connect and chart your path to success with Ensemblex.