Connecting Traditional Credit

Connecting your traditional credit report from major bureaus (TransUnion, Experian, Equifax, or regional equivalents) is one of the most powerful optional boosters in Localcredit. It bridges your proven off-chain financial history with your on-chain reputation, often delivering the single largest immediate score increase available.Why Connecting Traditional Credit is Important

• Instant Credibility Boost: A strong legacy credit record (e.g., years of on-time payments, low utilization) demonstrates reliability that on-chain activity alone takes months or years to match.

• Faster Access to Better Opportunities: Many lenders and partners still weigh traditional scores heavily. Linking yours makes your Localcredit profile more attractive for higher limits, lower rates, and unsecured products.

• Financial Inclusion for Established Users: If you already have good traditional credit but are new to crypto or cross-border finance, this connection prevents you from “starting from zero” in the decentralized world.

• Holistic Reputation: It combines the best of both worlds – long-term institutional history with modern, portable, privacy-first scoring.

• Privacy-Preserving: We never store or see your full report. Only threshold-based zero-knowledge proofs (e.g., “FICO ≥ 700”, “On-time payments ≥ 95%”) are generated and linked to your identity.

Without this connection, your score relies primarily on wallet activity and other verifications, which is perfectly viable but slower to reach the highest tiers.Score Improvement from Traditional CreditThe boost is tiered based on the strength of your report and is applied to the Identity Strength & Persistence component (medium impact, weight 0.20).

Traditional Score Range	Example (FICO)	Localcredit Boost	New Score Potential (example from 60 base)
Excellent	740–850	+30–40 points	90–100
Good	670–739	+20–30 points	80–90
Fair	580–669	+10–20 points	70–80
Limited / Thin File	<580 or short history	+5–15 points	65–75

Additional factors that increase the boost:

• Longer credit history (e.g., 5+ years of accounts)

• High percentage of on-time payments

• Low credit utilization

The boost is applied immediately upon successful connection and updates automatically if your report improves over time (with periodic re-attestation).How to Connect Traditional Credit

1. In the dashboard → “Boost” tab → tap “Connect Traditional Credit”.

2. Select your country and preferred bureau (TransUnion, Experian, Equifax, or regional equivalents).

3. Securely log in via the bureau’s official OAuth portal (read-only access only).

4. Grant permission for a limited summary (score, payment history, account age – no full report downloaded).

5. A zero-knowledge proof is generated and linked to your Localcredit identity.

6. Done – your score updates within minutes.

Connection is completely optional and reversible: you can disconnect anytime from Profile settings, and the associated proof will be removed (score will adjust accordingly).By linking your traditional credit, you accelerate your journey to a top-tier Localcredit score and unlock the best opportunities across both traditional and decentralized finance – all while keeping your sensitive data private.