Fintech
Fintech
As we enter May, a month dedicated to recognizing our U.S. Armed Forces, it’s only fitting to think about how we are honoring this special group of people. Yes, there will likely be car deals, coupons, and even a few beautiful ceremonies, but as both lawmakers and leaders have recognized, these individuals and their families deserve protections every day. Especially in the financial services universe. There should be no exorbitant fees. No excessively high interest rates. And when they are called to active-duty, they should have avenues to ease their financial commitments and/or exit out of lease agreements. Thankfully, the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act (SCRA) and a strengthened Military Lending Act (MLA) were introduced to help. In fact, we are in year one of the enhanced MLA Final Rule in which compliance was mandated by Oct. 3, 2016. The extended MLA protections include a 36% Military Annual Percentage Rate (MAPR) cap to a wider range of credit products, including payday loans, vehicle title loans, refund application loans, deposit advance loans, installment loans and unsecured open-end lines of credit. The cap additionally applies to fees tacked on for credit-related ancillary products including finance charges and certain application and participation fees. The amended rule covers credit offered or extended to active-duty service members and their dependents, if the credit is subject to a finance charge or is payable by written agreement in more than four installments. And finally, one of the most important additions is that creditors must verify active-duty and dependents at origination. Right now, this can be accomplished by either working with a bureau, like Experian, or by vetting lists directly with the Department of Defense’s (DOD) own database. To continue to help with client need, the bureaus are working with the DOD and financial institutions to ensure alignment in delivery of military member and dependent data for a consistent, immediate and accurate MLA verification process. While much has been introduced over the past year to strengthen protections, there is still more to come. The compliance date for credit cards is Oct. 3, 2017. To date, the MLA status of millions upon millions of consumer credit applications have been verified, ensuring our military members and their dependents receive the financial protections they are entitled to under law. There are roughly 3.4 million military members and dependents in the MLA database, and this is an audience who sacrifices a great deal for our country. Thankfully, protections are finally being enforced to ensure they are taken care of too.
Sometimes life throws you a curve ball. The unexpected medical bill. The catastrophic car repair. The busted home appliance. It happens, and the killer is that consumers don’t always have the savings or resources to cover an additional cost. They must make a choice. Which bills do they pay? Which bills go to the pile? Suddenly, a consumer’s steady payment behavior changes, and in some cases they lose control of their ability to fulfill their obligations altogether. These shifts in payment patterns aren’t always reflected in consumer credit scores. At a single point in time, consumers may look identical. However, when analyzing their past payment behaviors, differences emerge. With these insights, lenders can now determine the appropriate risk or marketing decisions. In the example below, we see that based on the trade-level data, Consumer A and Consumer B have the same credit score and balance. But once we see their payment pattern within their trended data, we can clearly see Consumer A is paying well over the minimum payments due and has a demonstrated ability to pay. A closer look at Consumer B, on the other hand, reveals that the payment amount as compared to the minimum payment amount is decreasing over time. In fact, over the last three months only the minimum payment has been made. So while Consumer B may be well within the portfolio risk tolerance, they are trending down. This could indicate payment stress. With this knowledge, the lender could decide to hold off on offering Consumer B any new products until an improvement is seen in their payment pattern. Alternatively, Consumer A may be ripe for a new product offering. In another example, three consumers may appear identical when looking at their credit score and average monthly balance. But when you look at the trend of their historical bankcard balances as compared to their payments, you start to see very different behaviors. Consumer A is carrying their balances and only making the minimum payments. Consumer B is a hybrid of revolving and transacting, and Consumer C is paying off their balances each month. When we look at the total annual payments and their average percent of balance paid, we can see the biggest differences emerge. Having this deeper level of insight can assist lenders with determining which consumer is the best prospect for particular offerings. Consumer A would likely be most interested in a low- interest rate card, whereas Consumer C may be more interested in a rewards card. The combination of the credit score and trended data provides significant insight into predicting consumer credit behavior, ultimately leading to more profitable lending decisions across the customer lifecycle: Response – match the right offer with the right prospect to maximize response rates and improve campaign performance Risk – understand direction and velocity of payment performance to adequately manage risk exposure Retention – anticipate consumer preferences to build long-term loyalty All financial institutions can benefit from the value of trended data, whether you are a financial institution with significant analytical capabilities looking to develop custom models from the trended data or looking for proven pre-built solutions for immediate implementation.
It should come as no surprise that reaching consumers on past-due accounts by traditional dialing methods is increasingly ineffective. The new alternative, of course, is to leverage digital channels to reach and collect on debts. The Past: Dialing for dollars. Let’s take a walk down memory lane, shall we? The collection approach used for many years was to initially send the consumer a collection letter recapping the obligation and requesting payment, usually when an account was 30 days late. If the consumer failed to respond, a series of dialing attempts were then made, trying to reach the consumer and resolve the debt. Unfortunately, this approach has become less effective through the years due to several reasons: The use of traditional landlines continues to drop as consumers shift to cell and Voice Over Internet Protocol (VOIP) services. The cost of reaching consumers by cell is more costly since predictive dialers can’t be used without prior consent, and the obtaining and maintaining consent presents its own set of tricky challenges. Consumers simply aren’t answering their phones. If they think a bill collector is calling, they don’t pick up. It’s that simple. In fact, here is a breakdown by age group that Gallup published in 2015, highlighting the weakness of traditional phone-dialing. The Present: Hello payment portal. With the ability to get the consumer on the phone to negotiate a payment on the wane, the logical next step is to go digital and use the Internet or text messaging to reach the consumer. With 71 percent of consumers now using smartphones and virtually everyone having an Internet connection, this can be a cost-effective approach. Some companies have already implemented an electronic payment portal whereby a consumer can make a payment using his or her PC or smartphone. Usually this is prompted by a collection letter, or if permitted by consumer consent, a text message to their smartphone. The Future: Virtual negotiation. But what if the consumer wants to negotiate different terms or payment plans? What if they want to try and settle for less than the full amount? In the past – and for most companies operating today – this translates into a series of emails or letters being exchanged, or the consumer must actually speak to a debt collector on the phone. And let’s be honest, the consumer generally does not want to speak to a collector on the phone. Fortunately, there is a new technology involving a virtual negotiator approach coming into the market now. It works like this: The credit grantor or agency contacts the consumer by letter, email, or text reminding them of their debt and offering them a link to visit a website to negotiate their debt without a human being involved. The consumer logs onto the site, negotiates with the site and hopefully comes to terms with what is an acceptable payment plan and amount. In advance, the site would have been fed the terms by which the virtual negotiator would have been allowed to use. Finally, the consumer provides his payment information, receives back a recap of what he has agreed to and the process is complete. This is the future of collections, especially when you consider the younger generations rarely wanting to talk on the phone. They want to handle the majority of their matters digitally, on their own terms and at their own preferred times. The collections process can obviously be uncomfortable, but the thought is the virtual negotiator approach will make it less burdensome and more consumer-friendly. Learn more about virtual negotiation.
Investors and financial institutions continue to invest in fintech to help meet the dynamic expectations of consumers who want fast, easy and hassle-free access to new financial products and services. Just last week, in his annual letter to shareholders, JP Morgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon noted that the bank has invested approximately $600 million “on emerging fintech solutions – which include building and improving digital and mobile services and partnering with fintech companies.” Meanwhile, policymakers in Washington continue to grapple with how to spur responsible innovation and how fintech fits into the existing regulatory paradigm. The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) continues to move forward with the development of a special purpose national charter for fintech lenders. On March 15, the OCC issued a draft supplement to its existing Licensing Manual that describes how the agency “will apply the licensing standards and requirements in its existing regulations and policies to fintech companies applying for a special purpose national bank charter.” The draft manual, which is open for a 30-day public comment period ending April 14, 2017, would prohibit fintech lenders from offering products “with predatory features” or entities that inappropriately mingle banking and commerce. The agency also defended its legal authority to make the move without a new law from Congress or any formal rulemaking process, saying it’s doing nothing more than expanding a longstanding practice. At the same time, a group of House Republicans, led by House Financial Services Committee Chairman Jeb Hensarling (R-Tex.), has asked Comptroller of the Currency Thomas Curry to slow down plans to grant special charters to fintech firms. In the letter, the lawmakers state that OCC should provide “full and fair opportunity” for public comment on standards for granting fintech charters and allow President Trump’s pick for the next comptroller to weigh in. The lawmakers go on to say that if OCC “proceeds in haste” to create new limited-purpose charter for fintech, Congress will examine the agency’s actions and “if appropriate, overturn them.” The issue will likely continue to bubble under the surface as Congress and the Trump Administration tackle larger issues such as tax reform, infrastructure spending and possibly wider financial services reform. However, the fintech charter is a legacy item for Comptroller Curry and he is likely to seek to move this to closure given that his term expires at the end of April (although he would remain in place until President Trump nominates and confirms his replacement).
The U.S. Senate declared April to be Financial Literacy Month back in 2004. Fast forward 13 years and one has to question if we’ve moved the needle on educating Americans about personal finance and money management. There is still no national standard or common curriculum to teach our kids the basics in schools, and only five states require high school students to take one semester of personal finance in order to graduate. I read an interesting stat years back that high school seniors spend more time shopping for their prom attire than they do researching financial education options for college. No wonder there is sticker shock post-graduation when those first student loan bills coming. The lack of investment shows. In a 2016 Mintel study, very few consumers gave themselves high grades for their knowledge of personal finance, and the situation was worse among women, with twice as many assigning themselves a “C” as an “A.” Having worked in the financial services industry for more than a decade, I can say with certainty I’m a bit of a personal finance geek. Learning about the latest products and economic shifts has been rolled into my job, and I’ve sadly seen the consequences of what happens to consumers when they make poor financial decisions. Slumping credit scores. Delinquent payments. Repossessed vehicles. Hard times. The good news? There are plenty of resources to help Americans learn. The challenge? Finding the right ways to capture mind share via the right mediums at the right time. There is obviously a benefit to the consumer to be more financially literate, but financial institutions benefit as well when consumers are money smart. Individuals who understand financial products and how they can use them to achieve their goals are more likely to purchase those products throughout their financial lives. So how can financial institutions help close the financial literacy gap? Make online education and resources readily available. Research shows more consumers would like to get information about finance through the use of online resources rather than seminars. This preference is likely due to the fact that online resources can be accessed on one’s own schedule and gives the user more control over the topics s/he wants to explore. Provide parents resources to launch smart money talks with their kids. Study after study reveals parents are one of the most powerful teachers in their kids’ lives – and this includes providing an education and modeling strong money management skills. Consider adding online education for kids – or partnering with a provider who has already built a money app for youngsters. Additionally, educate parents about when it might be time to help a child establish their first savings account. Advise them on ways to finance college. Talk about co-signing on vehicles. Explain the power of saving. Train up your next wave of customers and they will likely remain loyal to you. Offer one-on-one credit education sessions. A high-touch solution is sometimes the perfect opportunity to grow a customer in the right financial direction. Perhaps a low credit score prevents an individual from securing an ideal interest rate for an auto or home loan. Each person’s financial situation is different, and a one-on-one session with a trained agent can help them understand what is specifically contributing to their low score. With a few insights, a customer can determine if they need to pay down some debt, address a few late payments, or reduce their number of credit lines. Knowledge is power, and consumers will appreciate this service and personable touch. --- Lenders have a vested interest to close the financial literacy gap, and while they can’t solve for everything, they can certainly make a difference with some basic steps and investments. If nothing else, April seems like a perfect time to evaluate what you’re doing and what resolutions you can make for the year ahead. Just as every saved penny counts, so does every effort to educate Americans on manning their money more effectively.
Experian recently acquired a minority stake in Finicity, a leading financial data aggregator enabling innovation in the FinTech industry through its modern RESTful API and Finicity Aggregation Platform. Steve Smith—chairman, CEO and co-founder of Finicity—has a passion and experience in developing innovative and disruptive technology, products and services that leads to efficiency for markets and, ultimately, improvements for consumers. Here he shares his thoughts about disruptive technology in the lending space and its benefits to lenders and consumers. Q: Finicity has said its objective is to take a loan application approval from weeks to minutes using its technology. That sounds pretty great, but how is that possible? How does this play out behind the scenes? A: Well, we’re living in a world where we, as consumers, expect very user-friendly experiences and we expect things to happen at digital speeds. The loan process is no exception. To deliver the experience consumers are expecting requires us to leverage the technology trends of digitization, mobility and big data. Finicity plays a foundational role by leveraging thousands of digital connections across financial institutions to aggregate consumer-permissioned account data. Once we have this data, we’re able to deliver real-time insights into an individual\'s financial health. This financial health assessment includes income and assets, two critical components to the loan approval process. All that’s required is the borrower to permission use of the data. Once that’s done, we’re able to gather all appropriate data across multiple accounts, rapidly analyze it and send a verification report to the lender. No papers. No multiple requests. No questions on the validity of the data. All done in minutes, not weeks. Q: This is very disruptive technology. What are the benefits for lenders? Consumers? A: Well, as we discussed, one of the major benefits is the speed to a loan. Furthermore, this reduces cost for the lender by maximizing loan officer’s time, while also freeing up loan capital as they can move through loans more quickly with a higher quality assessment. Another benefit for lenders is reduced fraud. Our information on income and assets is coming from real-time bank validated information. This eliminates the possibility of altered data. For consumers, it’s a dramatically simplified process. No need to chase down multiple documents. There are virtually no second requests for information, which we often see in the process. And they’re always in control of their information. All in all, it’s a dramatically better experience for both the lender and the borrower. Q: What sets this solution apart from others in the market? A: A few things set Finicity apart in delivering the quality of insights required. First, we are an industry leader in the number of financial institutions we connect with, ensuring broader access for more customers. Second, 95 percent of our integrations provide access to formatted data, something that’s critical to credit decisioning solutions. In these cases, we’re not screen scraping. This enhances our ability to collect bank validated transactions; we provide the financial institution transaction ID. This provides assurance of data quality. Finally, is our ability to categorize and analyze the transactions. This allows us to identify income streams and assets. Through this process, we’re also able to flag unusual transactions, like large deposits, that may skew actual assets. Q: The future of financial technology is still evolving. What lies ahead? A: We’re very excited about the future of financial technology and the impact that aggregation will have. Whether it’s financial management, digital payments or credit decisioning, real-time data will improve the experiences and the outcomes. As we’re talking about lending, this is one of the spaces that could see significant disruption. Our ability to generate a richer view of an individual’s or organization’s financial health will more accurately determine their ability to repay a loan. This will be a great benefit for those that have thin file or no credit history. We see a world where suitability for a loan will be driven by their actual financial life independent of their use of credit. One of the largest markets in the US is millennials. However, for consumers under 30, two-thirds have subprime or non-prime credit scores and one-third of millennials don\'t have any credit history. This is just one group underserved because legacy models don’t leverage the full extent of data available. Q: Is there anything else you can tell us about Finicity and its role changing customer experiences across financial service? A: For us, it all comes down to one thing: enabling individuals and organizations to have the information and insights they need to make smarter financial decisions. The data is there. We’re helping to unlock the potential of that data by working with innovative partners like Experian. To learn more about Experian and Finicity\'s account aggregation solutions, visit www.experian.com/finicity
Knowing a consumer’s credit information at a single point in time only tells part of the story. I often hear one of our Experian leaders share the example of two horses, running neck-in-neck, at the races. Who will win? Well, if you had multiple insights into those two horses – and could see the race in segments – you might notice one horse losing steam, and the other making great strides. In the world of credit consumers, the same metaphor can ring true. You might have two consumers with identical credit scores, but Consumer A has been making minimum payments for months and showing some payment stress, while Consumer B has been aggressively making larger pay-offs. Trended data adds that color to the story, and suddenly there is more intel on who to market to for future offers. To understand the whole story, lenders need the ability to assess a consumer’s credit behavior over time. Understanding how a consumer uses credit or pays back debt over time can help lenders: Offer the right products & terms to increase response rates Determine up sell and cross sell opportunities Prevent attrition Identify profitable customers Avoid consumers with payment stress Limit loss exposure The challenge with trended data, however, is finding a way to sort through the payment patterns in the midst of huge datasets. At the singular level, one consumer might have 10 trades. Trended data in turn reveals five historical payment fields and then you multiple all of this by 24 months and you suddenly have 1,200 data points. But let’s be real … a lender is not going to look at just one consumer as they consider their marketing or retention campaigns. They may look at 100,000 consumers. And on that scale you are now looking at sorting through 120M data points. So while a lender may think they need trended data – and there is definitely value in accessing it – they likely also need a solution to help them wade through it all, assessing and decisioning on those 120M data points. Tapping into something like Credit3D, which bundles in propensity scores, profitability models and trended attributes, is the solution that truly unveils the value of trended data insights. By layering in these solutions, lenders can clearly answer questions like: Who is likely to respond to an offer? How does a consumer use credit? How can I identify revolvers, transactors and consolidators? Is there a better way to understand risk or to conduct swap set analysis? How can I acquire profitable consumers? How do I increase wallet share and usage? Trended data sounds like a “no-brainer” and it definitely has the ability to shed light on that consumer credit horse race. Lenders, however, also need to have the appropriate analytics and systems to assess on the huge volume of data points. Need more information on Trended Data and Credit 3D? Contact Us
Direct mail is not dead, but it\'s 2017. Financial services companies need to acknowledge there might be other ways to deliver credit offers and capture consumer eyeballs. There are multiple screens competing for our attention, including one of the originals - TV. Advertising and TV have been married forever, but addressable TV allows marketers to target on a much more sophisticated level. Welcome to credit marketing in the digital age. To help financial services companies understand the addressable TV channel, Experian marketing expert Brienna Pinnow answered the following questions in a short interview. What is addressable TV? Addressable TV is an amazing 1-to-1 direct marketing capability. To put it simply, addressable TV is the ability for an advertiser to deliver a TV ad to a specific household. From a consumer perspective, that means even if you and your next door neighbor are watching the latest episode of The Voice, you may see an ad for a mini-van while your neighbor sees an ad for upcoming one-day sale from their favorite retailer. With addressable TV, brands can define their target audience based on 1st, 2nd or 3rd party data (like Experian’s). With the help of satellite and cable companies, they can deliver a personalized, measurable experience. This is an exciting departure from the way that TV advertising has been planned and targeted for nearly 70 years. Instead of focusing on the program, marketers can now focus on the person. Addressable TV makes reaching a precise audience – the same way you would with a direct mail piece or an email – a marketing reality. How long have marketers been leveraging addressable TV? Experian has been an pivotal player in the development of the addressable TV space. Since the first addressable TV trials back in 2004, nearly 13 years ago, Experian has provided the audience targeting data and privacy-compliant matching capabilities that make addressable TV possible. The past 3 years, however, have demonstrated unprecedented, hockey-stick growth in addressable TV. In 2016 alone, the volume of addressable campaigns doubled from the previous year accounting for nearly $300 million spend. That trajectory remains the same in 2017 and beyond. So why are we seeing this growth now? Here are a few reasons addressable TV is continuing to grow… Scale: Millions of households can now be targeted using addressable technology, and the footprint continues to grow with smart TVs and additional cable operators. Data: As organizations put data at the heart of their business, addressable TV enables them to infuse their most important customer information into the targeting. Education: Agencies, data providers, and TV providers have invested time educating brands on the process and power of addressable TV. And now, advertisers are becoming more experienced at making this a consistent part of their marketing plan. Accountability: You’ll be hard pressed to find a marketer that doesn’t have to demonstrate ROI on their marketing campaigns. The measurement capabilities that addressable TV provides adds a layer of accountability and insight that was not previously possible. Technology: Experian has developed an audience management platform, the Audience Engine, which makes addressable TV possible in a matter of clicks. In the past year alone, our platform has distributed over 1,800 audiences for addressable advertising campaigns. What types of companies have been utilizing addressable TV? Have you seen many financial services companies test this channel? The early adopters of addressable TV were primarily automotive advertisers. Compared to other verticals, auto advertisers still spend the largest proportion of their budgets across TV. For that reason, they know it’s a necessity to see if their dollars are actually driving sales for their big-ticket items. Addressable TV solves that problem for auto advertisers. In a DIRECTV campaign leveraging Experian’s automotive data for audience targeting and post-campaign sales reporting, one major auto OEM saw a 26.2% lift in sales for the advertised model compared to the control group. In the past few years, Experian has worked closely with advertisers across verticals – from retail to travel to finance – to launch addressable campaigns. Financial services clients particularly find Experian’s financial related segments, such as income or net worth, to be accurate and powerful in creating qualified target audiences that improve campaign performance. I’ve read that millennials are abandoning cable and TV providers in favor of services like Hulu and Netflix. Does this mean the market for addressable TV will shrink in the coming years? There is a segment of consumers who are abandoning traditional cable services. However, this doesn’t mean they are abandoning content. In fact, content consumption is at an all-time high with offerings from Roku, Hulu, Netflix, Sling TV, CBS, and beyond. All this shift in behavior means is that the definition of TV is becoming more fluid. “TV” doesn’t have to be a big screen sitting in your living room; it can be a laptop on a red-eye flight. And from a marketing perspective, the concept of addressable, 1-to-1 targeting is already moving into some of these products and services. The footprint of addressable TV will only continue to rise as consumers stay connected to the content they love. How can companies measure the success of utilizing addressable TV as a channel? Not only does addressable TV provide laser-targeted ad delivery, but it also opens up measurement capabilities that were never possible for TV advertisers in the past. Traditionally, TV audience measurement has focused simply on eyeballs and not revenue impact, with little insight into how TV advertising converts into sales. The primary source for audience measurement in the TV world has been program ratings and expensive brand studies. With addressable TV, that story is changing. With companies that collect second-by-second viewership data linked to households, marketers now have the ability to tie this data back to their online and offline sales. Experian is pivotal in making closed-loop TV reporting possible. As a data and matching safe-haven, we link together the viewing information from the target audience with the sales data provided by the advertiser. The end result is a privacy compliant report that clearly demonstrates the impact of the campaign on the target audience. Did the targeted audience visit a bank location? Email customer service? Sign up for a new account? Spend a certain amount? These are all questions our TV attribution reporting answers for clients. If a company wants to begin marketing in addressable TV, what is required in terms of set-up? Addressable TV may sound new, exciting or even complex. But it doesn’t have to be. Getting started is as simple as defining the target audience. Decide whether you would like to leverage your own CRM data, a custom model, third-party data or a combination of these data sources. If you’re still not sure where to start, ask yourself a very simple question, “Who am I sending a direct mail piece or email to in the next month?” There’s your audience. Better yet, you will be amplifying your message, reaching the customer with a consistent message and meeting them wherever they are. After you’ve determined who you want to target, a matching partner like Experian can work with you to show you the reach of your audience across TV providers. You’ll finalize your budget, creative and media plan while Experian distributes your audience to the selected media destinations. Before you know it, your campaign will be live, and reaching your target audience whether they’re watching Shark Tank or Sharknado. When the campaign wraps, you’ll be on your way to measuring results like never before. Are there any additional trends you see emerging in the addressable TV space? The future of addressable TV is related to both the targeting and measurement capabilities. More advertisers are working with Experian, for example, to launch coordinated campaigns. That doesn’t just mean launching a digital campaign and TV campaign at the same time. It really means targeting the same exact people for the digital and TV campaign. We like to consider this a \"surround sound\" approach where the customer or prospect experiences a consistent message across channels. As for measurement, Experian is working closely with advertisers to explore the power of mobile data. Recently, Experian partnered with Ninth Decimal and DIRECTV to incorporate mobile location data into the post-campaign measurement process for Toyota. The results proved a 19% lift in dealership visits for those exposed to the campaign. This is an exciting development because this approach can translate well for any other advertiser who wants to measure metrics like location visitation. If you’d like to learn more, check out our Addressable TV whitepaper.
As lenders seek to enhance their credit marketing strategies this year, they are increasingly questioning how to split their budgets between digital, direct mail and beyond. What is the ideal media mix to reach consumers in 2017? And is the solution different in the financial services space? Scott Gordon, Experian\'s senior director of digital credit marketing, recently tackled some of the tough questions financial services marketers are posing. Here are his responses: Q: We live in a world where consumers are receiving hundreds of messages and offers on a daily basis. How can financial services companies stand out and capture the attention of the customers they wish to engage with relevant offers? A: When it comes to the optimal marketing media mix, there is no “silver bullet.” It varies from product to product. The current post-campaign analysis is showing us that consumers react positively to coordinated multi-channel messaging. We’ve seen studies showing that marketers can see up to a 30% lift in sales by combining email with social media, for example. This makes sense, when you look at how consumers engage through devices. We are no longer a single channel culture; we check Facebook while watching TV, listen to podcasts while checking our email, etc. Consequently, marketers have had to adapt their campaign strategies accordingly – and this starts with the organizational structure. Far too often we see silo’ed groups responsible for disparate media verticals. For example, a company may have a direct mail group and a digital marketing team, and then (in extreme cases) outsource television to one agency group and social media to another. Aligning these groups and breaking down the barriers between the groups is a critical first step toward building a true multi-channel campaign strategy. This includes addressing budget concerns that are inherent with a culture where the size of a budget is tied to job security and corporate status. Aligning campaigns and finding the perfect cross channel market mix is much easier once you’ve broken down internal barriers and encouraged marketing collaboration. Q: What are some of the new best practices financial companies must embrace in 2017 in order to improve their marketing efforts? A: Thanks to tremendous efforts from industry leaders, we can now utilize regulated data with the same proficiency that they’ve been executing campaigns using non-regulated data. This presents unique challenges, as the industry races to get up-to-speed on new capabilities, take best-in-breed practices and apply them to the world of regulated campaigns. We’re seeing tremendous demand to combine programmatic advertising with people-based advertising, with cross-channel campaigns spanning mobile, video, social, and addressable TV. Measurement and analytics must play a large part in these strategies. While the industry hasn’t achieved true cross-channel measurement to identify a consumer’s path to purchase across multiple devices, it’s getting closer, thanks to technology advances. Q: Is direct mail dead? How should financial marketers be using direct mail in 2017? How can it best be combined with digital? A: Direct mail is certainly not dead. It has its place among a media mix that continues to grow as new advertising technologies come to market and are adopted by consumers. Will direct mail’s influence diminish in the future? Possibly. At Experian, we are focused on making sure that our advertisers can reach consumers where they spend time, when they are most receptive to receiving messages, and most importantly in a cost-effective manner. So no matter where consumers shift their focus in the future, we’ll be able to support comprehensive targeted advertising campaigns. How can digital be best combined with direct mail? We’ve seen encouraging results in retargeting direct mail with digital credit marketing like email and display. With that said, we haven’t seen a silver bullet solution, and we’re still advising our clients to put a heavy focus toward “test and learn” in concert with comprehensive campaign measurement and analytics protocols. Q: What are the advantages to serving up a firm offer of credit to a consumer in a digital format? Are consumers ready to embrace this type of delivery in the financial services space? A: The advantages of serving up a firm offer of credit to a consumer in a digital format are similar to those benefits for “traditional” digital marketing. Lower cost, more measurement capabilities, and greater flexibility to optimize campaigns are just some of the benefits. Early indications show that consumers are very receptive to digital credit marketing offers. It provides them with offers in the channels in which they spend time, in a consumer friendly manner which offers them numerous paths in which they can have a voice in the messages that they receive. Q: Some say digital credit marketing should largely be directed to Millennials? Do you think other generations are ready to embrace this type of digital messaging? A: We don’t view digital credit marketing as an exclusive offering just for Millennials. It is a holistic consumer offering – applicable to all generations as our parents and grandparents make the move to new channels such as addressable TV and social media. Need more info on Digital Credit Marketing? Learn More
Prescreen, prequalification and preapproval. The terms sound similar, but lenders beware. These credit solutions are quite different and regulations vary depending on which product is utilized. Let’s break it down … What’s involved with a Prescreen? Prescreen is a behind-the-scenes process that screens consumers for a firm offer of credit without their knowledge. Typically, a Credit Reporting Agency, like Experian, will compile a list of consumers who meet specific credit criteria, and then provide the list to a lending institution. Consumers then see messaging like, “You have been approved for a new credit card.” Sometimes, marketing offers use the phrase “You have been preapproved,” but, by definition, these are prescreened offers and have specific notice and screening requirements. This solution is often used to help credit grantors reduce the overall cost of direct mail solicitations by eliminating unqualified prospects, reducing high-risk accounts and targeting the best prospects more effectively before mailing. A firm offer of credit and inquiry posting is required. And, it’s important to note that prescreened offers are governed by the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA). Specifically, the FCRA requires lenders initiating a prescreen to: Provide special notices to consumers offered credit based on the prescreened list; Extend firm offers of credit to consumers who passed the prescreening, but allows lenders to limit the offers to those who passed the prescreening; Maintain records regarding the prescreened lists; and Allow for consumers to opt-out of prescreened offers. Lenders and the Consumer Reporting Agencies must scrub the list against the opt-outs. Finally, it is important to note that a soft inquiry is always logged to the consumer’s credit file during the prescreen process. What’s involved with a Prequalification? Prequalification, on the other hand, is a consumer consent-based credit screening tool where the consumer opts-in to see which credit products they may be qualified for in real time at the point of contact. Unlike a prescreen which is initiated by the lender, the prequalification is initiated by the consumer. In this instance, envision a consumer visiting a bank and inquiring about whether or not they would qualify for a credit card. During a prequalification, the lender can actually explore if the consumer would be eligible for multiple credit products – perhaps a personal loan or HELOC as well. The consumer can then decide if they would like to proceed with the offer(s). A soft inquiry is always logged to the consumer’s credit file, and the consumer can be presented with multiple credit options for qualification. No firm offer of credit is required, but adverse action may be required, and it is up to the client’s legal counsel to determine the manner, content, and timing of adverse action. When the consumer is ready to apply, a hard inquiry must be logged to the consumer’s file for the underwriting process. How will a prequalification or prescreen invitation/offer impact a consumer’s credit report? Inquiries generated by prequalification offers will appear on a consumer’s credit report, but can only be seen by the consumer when they specifically request a report from the credit bureaus. Soft inquiries are never included in credit score calculations. For “soft” inquiries, in both prescreen and prequalification instances, there is no impact to the consumer’s credit score. However, once the consumer elects to proceed with officially applying for and/or accepting a new line of credit, the hard inquiry will be noted in the consumer’s report, and the credit score may be impacted. Typically, a hard inquiry subtracts a few points from a consumer’s credit score, but only for a year, depending on the scoring model. --- Each of these product solutions have their place among lenders. Just be careful about using the terms interchangeably and ensure you understand the regulatory compliance mandates attached to each. More info on Prequalification More Info on Prescreen
There has been a lot of discussion around the auto loan market regarding delinquency rates in the past year. It is a topic Experian is asked about frequently from clients in regard to what particular economic market behaviors mean for the overall consumer lending. To understand this issue more clearly, I ran a deeper dive on the data from our Q3 Experian-Oliver Wyman Market Intelligence report. There are some interesting, and perhaps concerning, trends in the data for automotive loans and leases. Want Insights on the latest consumer credit trends? Register for our 2016 year-end review webinar. Register now Auto loan delinquency rates are at their highest mark since 2008 The findings indicate that the performance of the most recent loans opened from Q4 2015 are now performing as poorly as the loans from the credit crisis back in 2008. In fact, you have to go back to 2008, and in some cases, 2007, to see loan default rates as poorly as the Q4 2015 auto loans originated in the last year. Below we have the auto loan vintage performance for loans originated in Q4 of the last 8 years — going back to 2008. The lines on the chart each represent 60 days late or more (60+) delinquency rates over specific time period grades. For these charts, I analyzed the first three, six, and nine months from the loan origination date. As you can see, the rates of delinquency have steadily increased in recent years, with the increase in the Q4 2015 loans opened equaling or even surpassing 2008 levels. The above chart reflects all credit grades, so one might think that this change is a result of the change in the credit origination mix. By digging a little deeper into the data, we can control for the VantageScore at the loan opening, or origination date, and review performance by looking at two different score segments separately. Is there concern for Superprime and Prime consumers auto loans? In the chart immediately below, the same analysis as above has been conducted, but only for trades originated by Superprime and Prime consumers at the time of origination. You can see that although the trend is not as pronounced as when all grades are considered, even these tiers of consumers are showing significant increases in their 60+ days past due (DPD) rates in recent vintages. Separately, looking at the Subprime and Deep Subprime segments, you can really see the dramatic changes that have occurred in the performance of recent auto vintages. Holding score segments constant, the data indicates a rate of credit deterioration in the Subprime and Deep Subprime segments that we have not observed since at least 2008 — back to when we started tracking this data. What’s concerning here is not only the absolute values of the vintage delinquencies but also the trend, which is moving upward for all three time periods. Where does the risk fall? Now that we see the evidence of the deterioration of credit performance across the credit spectrum, one might ask – who is bearing the risk in these recent vintages? Taking a closer look at the chart below, you can see the significant increase in the volumes of loans across lender type, but particularly interesting to me is the increase in 2016 for the Captive Auto lenders and Credit Unions, who are hitting highs in their lending volumes in recent quarters. If the above trend holds and the trajectory continues, this suggests exposure issues for those lenders with higher volumes in recent months. What does this mean for your business? Speak to Experian\'s global consulting practice to learn more. Learn more Just to be thorough, let\'s continue and look at the relative amounts of loans going to the different score segments by each of the lender types. Comparing the lender type and the score segments (below) reveals that finance lenders have a greater than average exposure to the Subprime and Deep Subprime segments. To summarize, although auto lending has recently been viewed as a segment where loan performance is good, relative to historical levels, I believe, the above data signals a striking change in that perspective. Recent loan performance has weakened to a point where comparing the 2008 vintage with 2015 vintage, one might not be able to distinguish between the two. // <![CDATA[ var elems={'winWidth':window.innerWidth,'winTol':600,'rotTol':800,'hgtTol':1500}, updRes=function(){var xAxislabelSize=function(){if(elems.winWidth<elems.winTol){return'12px'}else{return'14px'}},xAxislabelRotation=function(){if(elems.winWidth<elems.rotTol){return-90}else{return 0}},seriesLabelSize=function(){if(elems.winWidth<elems.winTol){return'12px'}else{return'16px'}},legenLabelSize=function(){if(elems.winWidth<elems.winTol){return'12px'}else{return'16px'}},chartHeight=function(){if(elems.winWidth<elems.rotTol){return 600}else{return 400}},labelInside=function(){if(elems.winWidth<elems.rotTol){return false}else{return true}},chartStack=function(){if(elems.winWidth<elems.rotTol){return null}else{return'normal'}};this.sourceRef=function(){return['Source: Experian.com']};this.seriesColor=function(){return['#982881','#0d6eb6','#26478D','#d72b80','#575756','#b02383']};this.chartFontFamily=function(){return'"Roboto",Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif'};this.xAxislabelSize=function(){return xAxislabelSize()};this.xAxislabelOverflow=function(){return'none'};this.xAxislabelRotation=function(){return xAxislabelRotation()};this.seriesLabelSize=function(){return seriesLabelSize()};this.legenLabelSize=function(){return legenLabelSize()};this.chartHeight=function(){return chartHeight()};this.labelInside=function(){return labelInside()};this.chartStack=function(){return chartStack()}}(), updY=function(chart){var points=chart.series[0].points;for(var i=0;i elems.rotTol){if(thisWidth<20){var y=points[i].dataLabel.y;y-=10;points[i].dataLabel.css({color:'#575756'}).attr({y:y-thisWidth})}}}},updX=function(chart){var points=chart.series[0].points;for(var i=0;i elems.rotTol){if(thisWidth
Personal loans have been booming for the past couple of years with double-digit growth year-over-year. But the party can’t last forever, right? In a recent Experian webinar, experts noted they have seen originations leveling off. In fact, numbers indicate it’s gone from leveled off to a slight year-over-year decline. They projected the first quarter of calendar year 2017 may also be down, but then we’ll see a peak again in the second quarter, which is typical with the seasonality often associated with personal loans. The landscape is changing. A recent data pull revealed a 9-point shift in the average VantageScore® for originations from Q3 to Q4 of 2016. Lenders are digging deeper in order to keep their loan volumes up, and it is definitely a more competitive marketplace. The days where lenders were once able to grow their personal loan business with little effort are gone. Kelley Motley, Experian’s director of analytics, noted some of the personal loan origination volume shifts may be due to the rebound in the housing market and increased housing values, enabling super-prime and prime consumers to now also consider home equity loans and lines of credit, in lieu of personal loans. Still, the personal loan market is healthy. Lenders just need to be smart about their marketing efforts and utilize data to improve their response rates, expand their risk criteria to identify consumers trending upward in the credit ranks, and then retain them as their cash-flow and financial situations evolve. In the presentation, experts revealed a few interesting stats: 67% of those that open a personal installment loan had a revolving trade with a balance >$0 5% of consumer that close a personal loan reopen another within a few months of the original loan closure 68% of consumers that re-open a new personal loan within a short timeframe of closing another personal loan do so with the same company Together, these stats illustrate that individuals are largely leveraging personal loans to consolidate debt or perhaps fund an expense like a vacation or an unexpected event. Once the consumer comes into cash, they’ll pay off the loan, but consider revisiting a personal loan again if their financial situation warrants it. The calendar year Q2 peak has been consistent since the Great Recession. For many consumers, after racking up holiday debt and end-of-year expenses, the bills start coming in during the first quarter. With the high APRs often attached to revolving cards, there is a sense of urgency to consolidate and lock in a more reasonable rate. Others utilize the personal loan to fund weddings, vacations and home improvement projects. Kyle Matthies, a senior product manager for Experian, reminded participants that most people don’t need your product, so it’s essential to leverage data find those that do. Utilizing propensity score and attributes, as well as tools to dig into ability-to-pay metrics and offer alignment can really fine-tune both an organization’s marketing and retention strategies. To learn more about the current state of personal loans, access our free webinar How lenders can capitalize on the growth in personal loans.
When you think of criteria for prescreen credit marketing, what comes to mind? Most people will immediately discuss the risk criteria used to ensure consumers receiving the mailing will qualify for the product offered. Others mention targeting criteria to increase response rates and ROI. But if this is all you’re looking at, chances are you’re not seeing the whole picture. When it comes to building campaigns, marketers should consider the entire customer lifecycle, not just response rates. Yes, response rates drive ROI and can usually be measured within a couple months of the campaign drop. But what happens after the accounts get booked? Traditionally, marketers view what happens after origination as the responsibility of other teams. Managing delinquencies, attrition, and loyalty are fringe issues for the marketing manager, not the main focus. But more and more, marketers must expand their role in the organization by taking a comprehensive approach to credit marketing. In fact, truly successful campaigns will target consumers that build lasting relationships with the institution by using the three pillars of comprehensive credit marketing. Pillar #1: Maximize Response Rates At any point in time, most consumers have no interest in your products. You don’t have to look far to prove this out. Many marketing campaigns are lucky to achieve greater than a 1% response rate. As a result, marketers frequently leverage propensity to open models to improve results. These scores are highly effective at identifying consumers who are most likely to be receptive to your offer, while saving those that are not for future efforts. However, many stop with this single dimension. The fact is no propensity tool can pick out 100% of responders. Layering just a couple credit attributes to a propensity score allows you to swap in new consumers. Simultaneously, credit attributes can identify consumers with high propensity scores that are actually unlikely to open a new account. The net effect is even higher response rates than can be achieved by using a propensity score alone. Pillar #2: Risk Expansion Credit criteria are usually set using a risk score with some additional attributes. For example, a lender may target consumers with a credit score greater than 700 and no derogatory or delinquent accounts reported in the past 12 months. But, most of this data is based on a “snapshot” of the credit profile and ignores trends in the consumer’s use of credit. Consider a consumer who currently has a 690 credit score and has spent the past six months paying down debt. During that time, utilization has dropped from 66% to 41%, they’ve paid off and closed two trades, and balances have reduced from $21,000 to $13,000. However, if you only target consumers with a score greater than 700, this consumer would never appear on your prescreen list. Trended data helps spot how consumers use data over time. Using swap set analysis, you can expand your approval criteria without taking on the incremental risk. Being there when a consumer needs you is the first step in building long-term relationships. Pillar #3: Customer profitability and early attrition There’s more to profitability than just originating loans. What happens to your profitability assumptions when a consumer opens a loan and closes it within a few months? According to recent research by Experian, as many as 26% of prime and super-prime consumers, and 38% of near-prime consumers had closed a personal loan trade within nine months of opening. Further, nearly 32% of consumers who closed a loan early opened a new personal loan trade within a few months. Segmentation can help identify consumers who are likely to close a personal loan early, giving account management teams a head start to try and retain them. As it turns out, many consumers use personal loans as a form of revolving debt. These consumers occasionally close existing trades and open new trades to get access to more cash. Anticipating who is likely to close a loan early allows your retention team to focus on understanding their needs. If you don’t, you’re competition will take advantage through their marketing efforts. Building the strategy Building a comprehensive strategy is an iterative process. It’s critical for organizations to understand each campaign is an opportunity to learn and refine the methodology. Consistently leveraging control and test groups and new data assets will allow the process to become more efficient over time. Importantly, marketers should work closely across the organization to understand broader objectives and pain points. Credit data can be used to predict a range of future behaviors. As such, marketing managers should play a greater role as the gatekeepers to the organization’s growth.
As we enter 2017, it’s no surprise people are buying and selling online and using their mobile devices more than ever. At the close of November, Adobe released its online shopping data from Black Friday, Cyber Monday, and the overall holiday season. According to the data, the major November holiday shopping season was driving close to $40 billion in online and mobile revenue alone — a 7.4% increase year-over-year! Every year, we see tremendous growth in spending through online and mobile channels. Interestingly, this pattern is not just indicative of consumer spending and overall market confidence. The consumer pattern also illustrates a clear change in communication preferences — with the ever-present shift toward digital. In general, consumers are interacting more and more through both online and mobile channels for all of their personal needs, including banking and financial services; and the lending community is anxious to continue connecting to consumers where they need them most. No longer is digital communication the “cool thing to do,” but rather it is essential. While Experian’s lending customers still find tremendous success in direct mail prospecting, many financial institutions are preparing to implement an enhanced acquisition strategy in 2017. This strategy includes multi-channel prospecting initiatives to present consumers with preapproved credit offers. In addition to direct mail, our customers are evaluating digital channels such as email, mobile, and other online channels to improve the overall consumer experience and responsiveness. In the latest Digital Banking Report, published in July 2016, email is the top channel financial marketers are turning to for cross-channel marketing after the initial onboarding process (as illustrated in chart 49), but you can see social media and retargeting are rising in the ranks. In Sept., 2016, Experian was named one of the top 100 most innovative companies for a third year by Forbes magazine. A key part of that success was driven by investments in Experian’s Data Lab and Experian Marketing Service’s Audience Engine, which is an audience management platform that changes the way the advertising industry buys and measures media. We are focused on meeting our customers and the consumer where they need us most. Bottom line? As you refine your goals for 2017, the financial services sector should dig deeper when making connections. They must reach consumers where they want to connect – and that means a successful credit marketing strategy will be one that includes both direct mail and digital communications. A new year is the perfect time to re-evaluate those same-old, same-old marketing and acquisition tactics. We\'re not saying you need to abandon direct mail, but it is certainly time for lenders to complement their direct mail efforts with a savvy digital plan as well. Resolve to do it better in 2017.
The holidays are behind us, the presents are unwrapped, resolutions have been made and may already be broken. For many, it’s the most depressing time of the year as the reality of holiday spending settles in. According to the American Consumer Credit Council the average American spends $935 on gifts each holiday season. A recent report by Mintel showed the average consumer held $16,000 in debt at the end of 2015. Now is the time to reach out to consumers who may be suffering from a financial hangover; an Experian study revealed consumers typically look to personal loans for help with credit card debt in the second quarter of each year. What’s the best way to reach these consumers? Direct mail is still one of the most successful paths. Here are four keys to securing new personal loan customers via direct mail marketing: Focus on education: Some of the most successful direct mail campaigns for personal loans in 2015 focused on educating consumers about personal loans first, and then showing options for debt consolidation. Consumers are weary of trusting new lenders, according to Mintel, with 50% viewing them as riskier than banks and credit unions. Marketplace and online lenders should take the extra step of introducing their brand and showing their product as a safe option. Highlight the use of the loan: Consumers generally have a negative attitude toward debt, with 72% feeling uncomfortable holding any type of debt. Stressing that personal loans are a responsible tool for consolidating debt is critical. Some effective campaigns listed the top three reasons to choose a personal loan, while others used customer testimonials to show how a personal loan was used and how they benefited. Provide a competitive comparison: Another way to highlight the benefits of personal loans is by comparing the fixed rates and payments of a personal loan to credit cards. Many consumers consolidate credit card debt to one card immediately after the holidays, according to the Experian study. Simply showing the long-term benefit of a personal loan versus credit card is often enough to trigger action. Personalize the offer: Lenders are delivering more personal, relevant offers that are tailored to the interests of each recipient through the use of the latest personalization technology. For example, highlight the recipient’s specific qualifying loan amount or the qualifying loan rate for which they are eligible. Unsecured loans have experienced growing popularity in the last several years, and originations are poised for a seasonal peak in the coming months. Are you ready?
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