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Data Source

The Experian API connector enables you to ingest consumer and commercial credit data, identity verification results, fraud scores, business intelligence reports, and other data from Experian's extensive API platform directly into your Nexla data flows. Follow the instructions below to create a new data flow that ingests data from an Experian API source in Nexla.
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Experian API

Create a New Data Flow​

  1. To create a new data flow, navigate to the Integrate section, and click the New Data Flow button. Then, select the desired flow type from the list, and click the Create button.

  2. Select the Experian API connector tile from the list of available connectors. Then, select the credential that will be used to connect to the Experian API instance, and click Next; or, create a new Experian API credential for use in this flow.

  3. In Nexla, Experian Credit Data data sources can be created using pre-built endpoint templates, which expedite source setup for common Experian Credit Data endpoints. Each template is designed specifically for the corresponding Experian Credit Data endpoint, making data source setup easy and efficient.
    • To configure this source using a template, follow the instructions in Configure Using a Template.

    Experian Credit Data sources can also be configured manually, allowing you to ingest data from Experian Credit Data endpoints not included in the pre-built templates or apply further customizations to exactly suit your needs.
    • To configure this source manually, follow the instructions in Configure Manually.

Configure Using a Template​

Nexla provides pre-built templates that can be used to rapidly configure data sources to ingest data from common Experian Credit Data endpoints. Each template is designed specifically for the corresponding Experian Credit Data endpoint, making data source setup easy and efficient.

Endpoint Settings​

  • Select the endpoint from which this source will fetch data from the Endpoint pulldown menu. Available endpoint templates are listed in the expandable boxes below. Click on an endpoint to see more information about it and how to configure your data source for this endpoint.

    Get Consumer Credit Report

    Retrieves a consumer credit profile including credit score, tradelines, inquiries, and credit history for a specified individual. Use this endpoint to pull comprehensive consumer credit data for underwriting, risk assessment, or identity verification workflows.

    • Submits a POST request to the Experian consumer credit profile endpoint at /consumerservices/credit-profile/v2/credit-report/basic; the base URL is configured in your Experian credential.
    • Returns consumer credit data nested under $.creditProfile in the response; each call returns a single consumer's profile.
    • Configure the following parameters: First Name — consumer's first name. Last Name — consumer's last name. SSN — consumer's Social Security Number (used for identity matching). Street Address, City, State, ZIP Code — consumer's mailing address. Client Reference ID — an optional identifier to correlate requests with your internal records.

    Access to the Consumer Credit Report endpoint requires an active Experian API subscription with consumer credit data permissions. SSN and address information must be accurate for Experian to return a matched credit profile. Experian enforces strict rate limits and permissible-purpose requirements on this endpoint — ensure your use case complies with the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) before ingesting consumer credit data.

    Search Business

    Searches for and identifies businesses in the Experian database in order to retrieve their BIN (Business Identification Number). Use this endpoint as a first step before pulling business credit scores or reports — the BIN returned here is required as an input for the Get Business Credit Score endpoint.

    • Submits a POST request to /businessinformation/businesses/v1/search; returns matching business records as an array at $.results[*].
    • Each result includes the business BIN, name, address, and matching confidence details.
    • Configure the following parameters: Business Name — name of the business to search for. City, State, ZIP Code, Street Address — business address details used to narrow the search. Results Per Page — number of results to return per page; options are 10, 25 (Recommended), 50, or 100 (Max). Client Reference ID — optional identifier to correlate this search with your internal records.

    Providing a complete and accurate business address alongside the business name significantly improves match accuracy. The BIN returned in search results can be used directly with the Get Business Credit Score endpoint to retrieve credit scores for the identified business.

    Get Business Credit Score

    Retrieves business credit scores from Experian for a specific business identified by its BIN (Business Identification Number). Use this endpoint to assess a business's creditworthiness using Experian's Intelliscore Plus or Financial Stability Risk Score models.

    • Submits a POST request to /businessinformation/businesses/v1/reports/scores; returns credit score data at $.results.
    • The response includes the requested score model's score value, percentile rank, and key contributing factors.
    • Configure the following parameters: Business BIN — the Experian Business Identification Number for the target business (obtainable via the Search Business endpoint). Score Model Code — the credit score model to retrieve; options are Intelliscore Plus v3 (000224), Financial Stability Risk Score (000223), or Payment Trend Indicators (000525). Client Reference ID — optional identifier to correlate this request with your internal records.

    A valid Business BIN is required to use this endpoint — use the Search Business endpoint first if you do not already have the BIN. Access to specific score models (Intelliscore Plus, Financial Stability Risk Score, Payment Trend Indicators) depends on your Experian API subscription and contracted products.

Endpoint Testing​

Once the selected endpoint template has been configured, Nexla can retrieve a sample of the data that will be fetched according to the current settings. This allows users to verify that the source is configured correctly before saving.

  • To test the current endpoint configuration, click the Test button to the right of the endpoint selection menu. Sample data will be fetched & displayed in the Endpoint Test Result panel on the right.

  • If the sample data is not as expected, review the selected endpoint and associated settings, and make any necessary adjustments. Then, click the Test button again, and check the sample data to ensure that the correct information is displayed.

Configure Manually​

Experian Credit Data sources can also be configured manually, allowing you to ingest data from any valid Experian API endpoint. Configuration options available for Experian Credit Data sources allow them to be fully customized to suit any use case—including using chained API calls to fetch data from multiple endpoints or sources that require custom authentication headers or request parameters.

First, select the method that will be used for calls to the Experian API from the Method pulldown menu. For data retrieval from Experian, the most common method is:

  • GET: For retrieving credit reports, scores, business data, identity verification results, and other data from the Experian API
  • POST: For submitting inquiry requests to Experian endpoints that accept request bodies (for example, batch credit inquiries or identity verification requests)

API Endpoint URL​

  1. Enter the URL of the Experian API endpoint from which this source will fetch data in the Set API URL field. This should be the complete URL including the protocol (https://) and any required path parameters.

    Common Experian API base URLs include:

    • Production (US): https://us-api.experian.com
    • Sandbox (US): https://sandbox-us-api.experian.com

    For example, to access the Experian Business Credit Reports endpoint in production, the full URL would be structured as https://us-api.experian.com/businessinformation/businesses/v1/reports/... with the appropriate path appended for your specific product.

The specific path appended to the base URL depends on the Experian API product you are using (for example, Business Credit, Consumer Credit, Identity Verification, or Fraud Detection). Refer to the Experian Global Developer Portal for the complete endpoint reference for each product.

Date/Time Macros (API URL)​

Optional

Optionally, the API URL can be customized using macros—all macros added to the API URL will be converted into values when Nexla executes the API call. Macros are dynamic placeholders that allow you to create flexible API endpoints that can adapt to different time periods or data requirements.

Macros are particularly useful when querying Experian endpoints that support date-range filtering, such as endpoints that return trade payment history or public records within a specified time window.

  1. To add a macro, type { at the appropriate position in the API URL (within the Set API URL field), and select the desired macro from the dropdown list.

    • {now} – The current datetime
    • {now-1} – The datetime one time unit before the current datetime
    • {now+1} – The datetime one time unit after the current datetime
    • custom – Datetime macros can reference any number of time units before or after the current datetime—for example, enter (now-4) to indicate the datetime four time units before the current datetime

  2. Select the format that will be applied to datetime macros from the Date Format for Date/Time Macro pulldown menu. This format will be applied to the base datetime value of the macro—i.e., the value of {now} in {now-1}.

  3. Select the datetime unit that will be used to perform mathematical operations in the included macro(s) from the Time Unit for Operations pulldown menu—for example, for the macro {now-1}, when Day is selected, {now-1} will be converted to the datetime one day before the current datetime.

Lookup-Based Macros (API URL)​

Optional

Column values from existing lookups can also be included as macros in the API URL. Lookup-based macros allow you to reference data from previously configured data sources or lookups, enabling dynamic API endpoints that can adapt based on existing data.

Lookup-based macros are useful when you need to query Experian API endpoints for a list of entities (for example, businesses or consumers) whose identifiers are stored in another Nexla data source, allowing you to dynamically construct endpoint URLs for each entity.

  1. To include a lookup column value macro, select the relevant lookup from the Add Lookups to Supported Macros pulldown menu.

  2. Type { at the appropriate position in the API URL, and select the lookup column-based macro from the dropdown list. Lookup-based macros are automatically populated into the macro list when a lookup is selected in the Add Lookups to Supported Macros pulldown menu.

Path to Data​

Optional

If only a subset of the data that will be returned by the API endpoint is needed, you can designate the part(s) of the response that should be included in the Nexset(s) produced from this source by specifying the path to the relevant data within the response. Experian API responses typically include the requested data nested within JSON objects, often alongside metadata, status codes, and pagination information.

For example, when calling a Experian endpoint that returns a business credit report, the response may include the report data nested under a key such as results or businessData, along with surrounding metadata. By entering the path to the relevant data, you can configure Nexla to treat each element of the returned array or object as a record.

Path to Data is essential when working with Experian API responses, as the data of interest is typically nested within the JSON structure. Without specifying the correct path, Nexla may not be able to properly parse and organize your data into usable records.

  • To specify which data should be treated as relevant in responses from this source, enter the path to the relevant data in the Set Path to Data in Response field.

    • For responses in JSON format, enter the JSON path that points to the object or array that should be treated as relevant data. JSON paths use dot notation (e.g., $.results[*] to access an array of results within the top-level response object).
    Path to Data Example:

    If the Experian API response is in JSON format and includes a key named results at the top level that contains the relevant business or consumer data records, the path to the data would be entered as $.results[*].

Autogenerate Path Suggestions​

Nexla can also autogenerate data path suggestions based on the response from the API endpoint. These suggested paths can be used as-is or modified to exactly suit your needs.

  • To use this feature, click the Test button next to the Set API URL field to fetch a sample response from the API endpoint. Suggested data paths generated based on the content & format of the response will be displayed in the Suggestions box below the Set Path to Data in Response field.

  • Click on a suggestion to automatically populate the Set Path to Data in Response field with the corresponding path. The populated path can be modified directly within the field if further customization is needed.

    PathSuggestions.png

Metadata​

If metadata is included in the response but is located outside of the defined path to relevant data, you can configure Nexla to include this data as common metadata in each record. Experian API responses often include pagination metadata, request identifiers, and response status information alongside the primary data payload.

For example, an Experian response may include a top-level requestId or pagination fields at the same level as the results array. If you specify a path to the results array but also want to capture the requestId in each record, you can specify the path to that metadata separately.

Metadata paths are useful for preserving Experian API response context such as request IDs, status codes, or pagination details that apply to all records in the response and may be useful for auditing or troubleshooting.

  • To specify the location of metadata that should be included with each record, enter the path to the relevant metadata in the Path to Metadata in Response field.

    • For responses in JSON format, enter the JSON path to the object or array that contains the metadata.

Request Headers​

Optional

  • If Nexla should include any additional request headers in API calls to this source, enter the headers & corresponding values as comma-separated pairs in the Request Headers field (e.g., header1:value1,header2:value2). Additional headers may be required for Experian API versioning, specifying accepted response formats, or other custom requirements.

    You do not need to include the Authorization header in the Request Headers field. Nexla automatically includes the OAuth 2.0 bearer token from your Experian credential in the Authorization header for all API calls.

Endpoint Testing​

After configuring all settings for the selected endpoint, Nexla can retrieve a sample of the data that will be fetched according to the current configuration. This allows users to verify that the source is configured correctly before saving.

  • To test the current endpoint configuration, click the Test button to the right of the endpoint selection menu. Sample data will be fetched & displayed in the Endpoint Test Result panel on the right.

  • If the sample data is not as expected, review the selected endpoint and associated settings, and make any necessary adjustments. Then, click the Test button again, and check the sample data to ensure that the correct information is displayed.

Save & Activate the Source​

  1. Once all of the relevant steps in the above sections have been completed, click the Create button in the upper right corner of the screen to save and create the new Experian API data source. Nexla will now begin ingesting data from the configured endpoint and will organize any data that it finds into one or more Nexsets.