Reading raw credit bureau data using SAS

[dkanze]

Does anyone have SAS code to share that will parse out raw credit bureau data for each of the major U.S. credit bureaus?  Each bureau has it's own data structure.

Thanks

Dan

[zekeT_sasaholic]

Hello Dan,

My immediate recommendation is to code  your own against the data/file(s) you have.

Next - see if you can find a relevant and appropriate data dictionary for the data/file(s) you have.

As you indirectly stated "Major US CB"... the fact that they are - major - does facilitate finding information on the files they might make available for corporate use or consumption by an authorized, licensed entity.  It might be on the web as a data dictionary or actual 'code'.  But my caution is that they often do have changes to layouts, fields etc.  Sometimes per file or projects.

IMHO - you are much better off (safer) asking each CB for the relevant DD, documentation directly per the file (file ids, file names etc).

Now - what you didnt state - which might be the case - is that many of these kinds of files have data dictionary and documentation but are a mess to read.  Thus you would like code that is pre-written to help read intricately structured data such as those in CB's or other industries.  That is found - but i'm not sure you'd hit the holy grail of all in one place.  And certainly not by just saying "CB data" - there is no specificity in that and someone who would have it - wouldnt know what to share of the many types of files to be found (often).

So i'll ask back - do you need help with reading data using @ signs?  do you need help with reading data that has different layouts per rows but within the same file?  do you need help reading unstructured text?  if you could narrow things down that might help out.

hth.

zeke torres

www.wcsug.com

[dkanze]

I have the data dictionaries for each bureau and could write my own solution. What I was hoping was to piggyback on existing open source code.
Thank you for your input.
Dan

[zekeT_sasaholic]

Got it.

one trick that i do/use is...

a. i run the data thru proc import.

b. copy the relevant part of sas log from said proc import

c. customize and tailor the code and flip it to a dedicated .sas code

the customization i typically do:

a. assign specific lengths and formats

b. tailor field names

c. custom field formatting or changes

so i basically let proc import spring board my code generation for me.

hth

[dkanze]

Interesting starting point.  Thank you.