Experian Automotive today announced that loans to customers in the nonprime, subprime and deep-subprime risk tiers accounted for more than one in four new vehicle loans in Q2 2012. With 25.41 percent of all new vehicle loans to customers in the nonprime, subprime and deep subprime risk tiers, loans to credit-challenged customers were up 14 percent compared to Q2 2011. In addition, new vehicle loans to credit-challenged customers now are higher than they were in Q2 2007 (24.96 percent) and Q2 2008 (24.49 percent) just prior to the financial market crisis. However, the Q2 analysis also shows that lenders are still taking a cautious approach, keeping loan-to-value (LTV) ratios (the amount of money paid over the life of a loan versus the purchase price of the vehicle) lower than they were a year ago. For new vehicles, the average LTV ratio was 109.55 percent in Q2 2012, compared to 115.65 percent in Q2 2011. “Despite the rise in subprime loans overall, there is still a strong sense of managing risk,” said Melinda Zabritski, director of automotive credit for Experian Automotive. “Because the overall lending environment has improved, lenders are making loans available to a wider range of customers. This is good for manufacturers and dealers, as it allows them to sell more vehicles. However, the lower loan-to-value ratios show that lenders are not willing to throw caution to the winds.” Additionally, the Q2 report showed that the average customer credit score for new vehicle loans dropped nine points, from 762 in Q2 2011 to 753 in Q2 2012. For used vehicle loans, the average customer credit score also dropped nine points from 671 in Q2 2011 to 662 in Q2 2012. The average amount financed for a new vehicle increased $474, from $25,240 in Q2 2011 to $25,714 in Q2 2012. The average amount financed for a used vehicle jumped $370 from $17,063 in Q2 2011 to $17,433 in Q2 2012. The average monthly payment for both new and used vehicles was relatively flat, with new vehicles rising by $2, from $450 in Q2 2011 to $452 in Q2 2012. For used vehicles, monthly payments jumped $4, from $347 in Q2 2011 to $351 in Q2 2012. Complete findings from the State of the Automotive Finance Market Q2 2012 credit trends analysis will be presented in a Webinar at 11 a.m. Pacific/1 p.m. Central/2 p.m. Eastern on Sept. 6. If you would like to register for the event, visit www.ExperianAutomotive.com. Experian Automotive’s quarterly credit trend analysis features market reporting data and analysis from its AutoCount® Risk Report, which analyzes automotive lending markets based on a uniform measurement of credit quality that segments markets by geography, credit score and vehicle registrations, among other factors. It also incorporates data from the Experian–Oliver Wyman Market Intelligence Reports, which provide topical, quarterly analysis; peer benchmarking options; and commentary on key issues facing the financial services industry. >> Subscribe to the Experian Blog by Email Photo: Shutterstock
Experian Marketing Services showed that email volume has increased 10 percent in Q2 2012 versus Q2 2011 according to the Experian® CheetahMail® 2012 Q2 email benchmark report. Experian CheetahMail also found that total open rates increased 1.5 percent in Q2 2012 versus Q2 2011. Analyzing the email volume among different industries shows that Travel and Consumer Products and Services emails reported the largest increases, with 41 percent and 19 percent, respectively. Media and Entertainment emails also reported a double-digit increase (17 percent) in Q2 2012 versus Q2 2011.There was only a 2 percent change in All Industry email volume from Q1 to Q2 in 2012, as all verticals except Travel had less growth from Q1 to Q2 in 2012 than they had for the same time in 2011. “For Q2 2012, overall email volume increased 10 percent while open rates were slightly above the 2011 Q2 rates, as more than 55 percent of brands had statistically significant increases in open rates for Q2 2012,” said Regina Gray, vice president of strategic services, Experian CheetahMail. “While click rates continued to show a year-over-year decline, there is some evidence that the rates are stabilizing. Email is still the most effective channel to connect with customers as we’ve seen a growing trend of brands utilizing social capabilities to acquire and engage consumers and fans across these new media channels.” The Email and Social Media Connection The Q2 benchmark report analyzed the Q2 2012 mailings that had a reference to a social media site in the mailing name or subject line of the email – such as Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest – and then were compared to the performance of all other mailings from the same clients for the same time period found that: 70 percent growth in brands sending ‘Like us’, ‘Follow us’ or ‘Pin us’ email campaigns. Pinterest ‘Pin us’ mailings are generating unique click rates that are almost 25 percent higher than other mailings. Unique open rates for Twitter ‘Follow us’ mailings are 9.5 percent higher than those for their other mailings, but unique click rates are virtually identical to all of their other mailings. Coupons had over 50 percent higher click rates and double the revenue per email than campaigns without offers. Experian CheetahMail’s Q2 2012 Quarterly Benchmark Study is available to download.
While the runways boast couture and fashions that you rarely see walking down the street, some of the top cities in the U.S. are keeping comfortable in their sweats. For the second year in a row, the nation’s top per capita consumer of sweats is Philadelphia, PA while New York was seventh, Los Angeles ranked eighth, and Chicago was twentieth. The top 10 cities for sweats consumption: Philadelphia, PA Hartford, CT Pittsburgh, PA Lafayette, LA Laredo, TX Boston, MA New York, NY Los Angeles, CA Victoria, TX Scranton, PA Perhaps these purchases are travel-related. Spirit Airlines passengers are the biggest buyers of sweats, followed by Jet Blue, Continental and US Air. Foreign airlines have really high sweat purchase numbers too – especially Asian carriers. On the flip side, Southwest Airlines passengers buy the fewest number of sweat apparel items. Source: Experian Marketing Services Simmons Photo: Shutterstock
Today, we stand at the forefront of a digital revolution that is reshaping the financial services industry. And, against this backdrop, financial institutions are at vastly different levels of maturity; the world’s biggest banks are managing large-scale infrastructure migrations and making significant investments in AI while regional banks and credit unions are putting plans in place for modernization strategies, and fintechs are purpose-built and cloud native. To explore this more, I recently had the privilege of attending the annual Reuters NEXT live event in New York City. The event gathers globally recognized leaders across business, finance, technology, and government to tackle some of today’s most pressing issues. On the World Stage, I joined Del Irani, a talented anchor and broadcast journalist, to discuss the future of lending and the pivotal role of data and AI in building a more inclusive financial system. Improving financial access Our discussion highlighted the lack of access to traditional financial systems, and the impact it has on nearly 100 million people in North America alone. Globally, the problem affects over one billion people. These people, who are credit invisible, unscoreable, or have subprime credit scores, are unable to secure everyday financial products that many of us take for granted. What many don’t realize is, this is not a fringe subset of the population. Most of us, myself included, know someone who has faced the challenges of financial exclusion. Everyday Americans, including young people who are just starting out, new immigrants and people from diverse communities, often lack access to mainstream financial products. We discussed how traditional lending has a limited view of a consumer. Like looking through a keyhole, the lender’s understanding of the person in view is often incomplete and obstructed. However, with expanded data, technology, and advanced analytics, there is an opportunity to better understand the whole person, and as a result have a more inclusive financial system. At Experian, we have a unique ability to connect the power of traditional credit with alternative data, bringing a more holistic understanding of consumers and their behaviors. We are dedicated to leveraging our rich history in data and our expertise in technology to create the future of credit and ultimately bring financial power to everyone. The future of lending After spending two days with over 700 industry leaders from around the world, one thing is abundantly clear: much like the early days of the internet, today, we are at the cutting-edge of a technical revolution. Reflecting on my time at Reuters NEXT, I am particularly excited by the collective commitment to drive innovative, and smarter ways of working. We are only beginning to scratch the surface of how data and technology can transform financial services, and Experian is positioned to play a significant role. As we look to the future, I am excited about the ways we will create new opportunities for businesses and consumers alike.
The advertising ecosystem has seen significant transformation over the past few years, with increased privacy regulation, changes in available signals, and the rise of channels like connected TV and retail media. These changes are impacting the way that consumers interact with brands and how brands understand and continue to deliver relevant messages to consumers with precision. Experian has been helping marketers navigate these changes, and as a result, our marketing data and identity solutions underpin much of today’s advertising industry. We’re committed to empowering marketers and agencies to understand and reach their target audiences, across all channels. Today, we are excited to announce our acquisition of Audigent—a leading data and activation platform in the advertising industry. With Audigent’s combination of first-party publisher data, inventory and deep supply-side distribution relationships, publishers, big and small, can empower marketers to better understand their customers, expand the reach of their target audiences and activate those audiences across the most impactful inventory. I am excited to bring together Audigent’s supply-side network as a natural extension to our existing demand-side capabilities. Audigent’s ability to combine inventory with targeted audiences using first-party, third-party and contextual signals provides the best of all worlds, allowing marketers to deliver campaigns centered on consumer choices, preferences, and behaviors. The addition of Audigent further strengthens our strategy to be the premier independent provider of marketing data and identity, ultimately creating more relevant experiences for consumers. To learn more about Experian and Audigent, visit https://www.experian.com/marketing/ and https://audigent.com/.
When it comes to cybercriminals and threat vectors, we need to expect the unexpected. Experian’s 12th annual Data Breach Industry Forecast highlights several potential trends for 2025, with AI playing a central role. This year has already seen more data breaches and impacted consumers than 2023, indicating that global data breaches are not slowing down. Some things to watch out for next year includes the potential for more internal fraud. As companies train employees on AI, there is a growing risk that some will misuse their knowledge for internal theft and sourcing sensitive information. Another trend may be cyberattackers targeting large data centers, with the growth of generative AI introducing power as a new attack vector. It’s reported that a single ChatGPT query uses significantly more electricity than a standard Google search, making data centers and cloud infrastructure vulnerable, especially in countries with varying security standards. We expect AI-related attacks to dominate the headlines next year and investments in cybersecurity will increase to tackle this emerging threat, as hackers leverage AI for phishing, password cracking, malware, and deepfakes. Jim Steven, Head of Crisis and Data Response Services at Experian Global Data Breach Resolution in the UK, anticipates that global data breaches will persist at their current rate next year. He notes that ransomware attacks are likely to become even more sophisticated with the integration of AI. Additionally, Steven predicts that threat actors will escalate their tactics to achieve greater rewards, and the misuse of consumer data to damage reputations will increase in 2025. To access the complimentary report, click here.