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It’s no secret electric vehicles (EVs) have grown in popularity over recent years. In fact, new EV registrations grew more than 250% over the last five years. The shift to electric gives automotive professionals more of a reason to reach consumers who may be interested—making it important to understand the types of EVs currently in the market and the states where they are most prominent in order to plan strategically. According to Experian’s Automotive Consumer Trends Report: Q2 2022, EVs comprised more than 1.7 million vehicles in operation throughout the US, quite a jump from more than 400,000 EVs just five years ago in Q2 2018. The number of EVs in operation this quarter may not seem significant when compared to the 284 million vehicles on the road today, but data shows registrations are continuing to grow with no signs of slowing down. Additionally, it’s notable the types of EVs consumers prefer is beginning to shift—making it important for professionals to stay up-to-date with the current trends and understand the landscape in order to make informed decisions as the industry transitions into more gas-alternative options. Consumers’ vehicle preference is shifting As EVs continue to gain momentum throughout the industry, more models are introduced to the market every year—giving consumers a wider range of selection when searching for a vehicle that fits their needs. Though, as more options become available, it seems consumers are shifting away from sedans and gravitating towards SUVs; similar to the trend seen across other fuel types, including gasoline vehicles. For example, SUV registrations in the EV market experienced significant growth in the past few years—going from 19.87% in Q2 2019 to 49.19% in Q2 2020 and 57.17% in Q2 2021, now comprising 59% of new EV registrations in Q2 2022. In comparison, sedan registrations in the EV market have declined over the same period—going from 79.82% in Q2 2019 to 49.07% in Q2 2020 and 39.73% in Q2 2021, now making up 35.77% of new EV registrations in Q2 2022. There may be a few reasons why consumers are shifting to larger EVs, such as having additional cargo space or more options available than ever before. Not only are the vehicle trends important for professionals to watch, but knowing where EV registrations are growing is important when looking for more opportunities to market strategically. EVs are growing across multiple states It’s somewhat expected that California still makes up the largest share of EV registrations in Q2 2022, as the state had many early adopters of the new technology. Although, data shows that other states are beginning to experience growth, as well. For instance, California comprised 36.6% of new EV registrations in Q2 2022 and Arizona made up 2.61%. While the large difference in registrations may not seem comparable—it’s important to note that Phoenix, Arizona had over 14,000 new EV registrations in the last 12 months and Tucson, Arizona had one of the fastest growing DMAs aside from California, coming in at 82.33% this quarter. In addition to that, Chicago, Illinois also had over 14,000 new EV registrations year-over-year and Houston, Texas had more than 9,000 new EV registrations in the same time frame. It will be crucial for professionals to stay up-to-date as preferences shift throughout the automotive industry, more models are being introduced to the market and more states offer infrastructure support and tax credits for EVs. Leveraging this data will enable them to prepare for what’s to come in the near future. To learn more about EV insights, watch the entire Automotive Consumer Trends Report: Q2 2022 webinar.

Many adult Americans understand the value of monitoring their financial, credit, and online activity for identity theft. With fraudulent online activity on the rise, more and more people in the United States are taking proactive steps to protect themselves against attacks from cyber criminals. However, a lesser-known threat is identity theft against children. How does child identity theft happen? In 2021, 1.25 million victims of identity theft and fraud were children, with each case costing an average of about $1,110 to resolve.[1] Since the credit scores of children are checked much less frequently than those of adults, children are considered easy targets for cyber criminals because the theft can remain undetected for a longer period of time. Children may also inadvertently share their personal information, such as birthdates, addresses, and phone numbers, on their social media channels and other places around the internet. This can make it even easier for hackers to obtain that information and commit identity theft. Why are children at risk? A child’s credit score is usually checked for the first time when they turn 18 years old, as they begin to make more adult decisions such as opening a checking account, applying for a job, or building credit. The time leading up to a child’s 18th birthday can leave them open to the threat of identity theft if the appropriate safety measures are not put into place. This is why it’s crucial for consumers with children to extend their own identity protection to their kids. How can consumers protect children from identity theft Child identity monitoring services can provide alerts of potential theft to parents and help safeguard their children’s identity and credit. These services can include social media, dark web, and social security number monitoring to ensure that children’s personal information is protected and secure across multiple areas of the internet. If a child’s identity is stolen, child monitoring services can also extend to identity theft insurance and identity restoration to help parents recover their child’s identity and minimize the damage. By implementing a child monitoring service, parents can protect the identities of their loved ones and resolve any threats of potential theft as quickly as possible. Click here to learn more [1]Yahoo.com. 2021. Child Identity Fraud Costs Nearly $1 Billion Annually, According to a New Study From Javelin Strategy & Research.

Today's top lenders use traditional and alternative credit data1 – or expanded Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) regulated data – including consumer permissioned data, to enhance their credit decisioning. The ability to gain a more complete and timely understanding of consumers' financial situation allows lenders to better gauge creditworthiness, make faster decisions and grow their portfolios without taking on additional risk. Why lenders need to go beyond traditional credit data Traditional credit data is — and will remain — important to understanding the likelihood that a borrower will repay a loan as agreed. However, lenders who solely base credit decisions on traditional credit data and scores may overlook creditworthy consumers who don't qualify for a credit score — sometimes called unscorable or credit invisible consumers. Additionally, they may be spending time and money on manual reviews for applications that are low risk and should be automatically approved. Or extending offers that aren't a good fit. What is consumer permissioned data? Consumer permissioned data includes transactional and account-level data, often from a bank, credit union or brokerage account, that a consumer gives permission to view and use in credit decisioning. To access the data, lenders create secure connections to financial institutions or data aggregators. The process and approach give consumers the power to authorize (and later retract) access to accounts of their choosing — putting them in control of their personal information — while setting up security measures that keep their information secure. In return for sharing access to their account information, consumers may qualify for more financial products and better terms on credit offers. What does consumer permissioned data include? Consumers can choose to share different types of information with lenders, including their account balances and transaction history. While there may be other sources for estimated or historic account-level data, permissioned data can be updated in real-time to give lenders the most accurate and timely view of a consumer's finances. There is also a wealth of information available within these transaction records. For example, consumers can use Experian Boost™ to get credit for non-traditional bills, including phone, utility, rent and streaming service payments. These bills generally don't appear in traditional credit reports and don't impact every type of credit score. But seeing a consumer's history of making these payments can be important for understanding their overall creditworthiness. What are the benefits of leveraging consumer permissioned data? You can incorporate consumer permissioned data into custom lending models, including the latest explainable machine learning models. As part of a loan origination system, the data can help with: Portfolio expansion Accessing and using new data can expand your lending universe in several ways. There are an estimated 28 million U.S. adults who don't have a credit file at the bureaus, and an additional 21 million who have a credit file but lack enough information to be scorable by conventional scoring models.2 These people aren't necessarily a credit risk — they're simply an unknown. Increased insights can help you understand the real risk and make an informed decision. Additionally, a deeper insight into consumers' creditworthiness allows you to swap in applications that are a good credit risk. In other words, approving applications that you wouldn't have been able to approve with an older credit decision process. Increase financial inclusion Many credit invisibles and thin-file applicants also fall into historically marginalized groups.3 Almost a third of adults in low-income neighborhoods are credit invisible.3 Black Americans are much more likely (1.8 times) to be credit invisible or unscorable than white Americans.3 Recent immigrants may have trouble accessing credit in the U.S., even if they had a good credit history in their home country.3 As a result, using consumer permissioned data to expand your portfolio can align with your financial inclusion efforts. It's one example of how financial inclusion is good for business and society. Enhance decisioning and minimize risk Consumer-permissioned data can also improve and expand automated decisions, which can be important throughout the entire loan underwriting journey. In particular, you may be able to: Verify income faster: By linking to consumers' accounts and reviewing deposits, lenders can quickly verify their income and ability to pay. Make better decisions: Consumer permissioned data also give lenders a new lens for understanding an applicant's credit risk, which can let you say yes more often without taking on additional risk. Process more applications: A better understanding of applicants' credit risk can also decrease how many applications you send to manual review, which allows you to process more applications using the same resources. Increase customer satisfaction: Put it all together, and faster decisions and more approvals lead to happier customers. While consumer permissioned data can play a role in all of these, it's not the only type of alternative data that lenders use to grow their portfolios. What are other types of alternative data sources? In addition to consumer permissioned data, alternative credit data can include information from: Alternative financial services: Credit data from alternative financial services firms includes information on small-dollar installment loans, single-payment loans, point-of-sale financing, auto title loans and rent-to-own agreements. Rental agreement: Rent payment data from landlords, property managers, collection companies and rent payment services. Public records: Full-file public records go beyond what's in a consumer's credit report and can include professional and occupational licenses, property deeds and address history. Read our latest report to learn more about accessing and using alternative credit data. Access now Why partner with Experian? As an industry leader in consumer credit and data analytics, Experian is continuously building on its legacy in the credit space to help lenders access and use various types of alternative data. Along with Experian Boost™ for consumer permissioned data, Experian RentBureau and Clarity Services are trusted sources of alternative data that comply with the FCRA. Experian also offers services for lenders that want help understanding and using the data for marketing, lending and collections. For originations, the Lift Premium™ credit model can use alternative credit data to score an estimated 96 percent of American adults — compared to 81 percent with conventional scores using traditional credit data. And the enhanced scoring capabilities could enable 6 million subprime applicants to qualify for prime or near-prime credit.3 The last word Lenders are turning to new data sources to expand their portfolios and remain competitive. The results can provide a win-win, as lenders can increase approvals and decrease application processing times without taking on more risk. At the same time, these new strategies are helping financial inclusion efforts and allowing more people to access the credit they need. Learn more about leveraging consumer permissioned data 1When we refer to “Alternative Credit Data," this refers to the use of alternative data and its appropriate use in consumer credit lending decisions, as regulated by the Fair Credit Reporting Act. Hence, the term “Expanded FCRA Data" may also apply in this instance and both can be used interchangeably.2 Oliver Wyman (2022). Driving Growth With Greater Credit Access3 Ibid.