a method for processing credit applications , including several steps . a credit request is received including consumer identification data . credit report data is received corresponding to the consumer identification data . the credit report data is organized to form formatted credit report data . consumer identification data is removed from the formatted credit report data and credit request data to form anonymized credit data . pre - defined application data , credit report data , and credit request data characteristics are appended . the anonymized credit data is encrypted to form an encrypted credit file . the encrypted credit file is transmitted to a lending institution . a response is received indicating credit approval corresponding to the encrypted credit file .