University Financial Associates

University Financial Associates, LLC, usually called UFA, is a research-driven firm that sells predictive location risk data to mortgage lenders, investors and risk managers. Its main product, the ForeScore, is a ZIP-code-level score that adds local economic risk to a borrower's credit score when estimating default and prepayment risk over the life of a loan. The firm says the score has been embedded in Fitch Ratings' methodology for more than 20 years.

The firm works with institutional clients rather than walk-in customers, and the site invites inquiries by email, phone or a contact form to request a briefing. The office is on East William Street in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Its research lead is a professor emeritus of finance at the University of Michigan Ross School of Business.