One Year of OneTru™: TransUnion’s Identity Tech Finds Its Stride in Its First 12 Months

The world of lending never stands still, particularly when it comes to verifying an individual’s identity. 

In the modern age, methods used to confirm individuals’ identities are simply no longer effective. Lenders must act speedily yet be correct. A single incorrect approval can open the door to fraud and loss and create a regulatory nightmare. 

And consumers — particularly those with thin files — are left with an outdated system that fails to see them and their financial reality. It is a lose-lose scenario on both fronts.

That’s the type of gap TransUnion sought to address when it introduced OneTru™ in early 2024.

A year into the product’s release, the company is reporting its results.

What sets OneTru™ apart is its pairing of traditional credit data with real-time digital signals. Rather than verifying consumers just by name and number, it checks consumers across multiple sources — devices, IP addresses, behavior patterns, and more. 

The aim is to provide lenders with a more complete view right out of the gate, enhancing levels of trust and reducing the time to onboard new customers.

“Many customer benefits from OneTru come from our internal-first approach, where we test new capabilities before releasing them through our product lines,” said Venkat Achanta, Chief Technology, Data & Analytics Officer at TransUnion.

TransUnion created OneTru™ to consolidate identity signals and credit insights into one solution.

In doing this, lenders can move past surface-level checks and instead utilize a rich variety of data to verify an individual’s identity and cut down on false positives in fraud screening.

OneTru™ takes advantage of an approach that layers both device intelligence and behavior analytics with traditional credit file data, email and phone reputation, and geolocation patterns. 

For instance, if an application comes in from a device or location the applicant has not been linked to in the past, OneTru™ will flag the discrepancy to review further. It identifies velocity patterns — such as a single device used across multiple applications in minutes — which often signal synthetic fraud.

This system not only enhances identity verification but also separates risky and non-risky behavior in real time. So lenders can react with accuracy, accelerating low-risk candidates while routing questionable profiles for further scrutiny. 

The outcome is faster onboarding for genuine users and fewer fraudulent accounts slipping through the cracks.

TransUnion revealed that in the past year OneTru™ has been embraced by fintechs, personal loan lenders, and increasingly by traditional banks entering the world of digital origination. 

According to its press release, lenders are improving both the speed and quality of identity verification with the use of more comprehensive sets of digital and offline identity data. 

One U.S. credit card issuer cut its offer timeline from 45 to 21 days using TransUnion’s TruIQ Data Enrichment.

OneTru™ reflects a clear trend: moving from static to dynamic identity verification. Matching a name to a Social Security number is no longer enough. Lenders now need real-time data to assess intent and risk even before a loan begins. That shift can strengthen not just underwriting, but also marketing and retention.

For lenders, TransUnion’s solution can be particularly valuable. Subprime borrowers are often outside the parameters of conventional models of identity and credit. 

OneTru™ provides solutions to resolve identities when there is little or no credit history, and that can enable access to credit that might not otherwise exist. This multi-layered approach has helped lenders reduce synthetic identity fraud and improve access for previously underserved consumers.

“We continue to build on OneTru’s success by expanding its underlying capabilities, including identity attributes, enhanced matching, decisioning and AI tools to improve efficiency,” said Chris Cartwright, President and CEO, TransUnion.

“Our progress enhances the performance of our seven global product lines, delivering better overall quality and accelerating time-to-insights for our customers.”

TransUnion plans to grow OneTru™’s capabilities in the months ahead, including tighter integrations with fraud detection and consent management systems. In a lending world built on speed, precision, and trust, that kind of progress isn’t just helpful — it’s essential.