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“What does a credit bureau do?” is one of the most common questions I’ve answered throughout the years – both at conferences and cookouts. Admittedly, it can be difficult understanding the different roles of credit bureaus, credit score companies, and lenders. Amid COVID-19, it’s important for us to define our purpose and help guide you toward the right resources for financial help. As the consumers’ bureau, Experian is committed to examining financial questions and helping consumers, businesses, and lenders navigate this transitional fiscal landscape. It’s important for you to know your financial options and how to separate fact from fiction, especially during times of crisis. Here are answers to some of the most common questions about credit. Do credit bureaus make lending decisions? This is one of the rare instances in credit reporting for which there is a simple answer. No, credit bureaus do not make lending decisions. Lenders – such as banks, mortgage companies, credit unions, and credit card issuers – help consumers borrow money and they make the lending decisions. The credit bureaus are responsible for working closely with lenders to provide information that helps them make informed and responsible lending decisions. At Experian, we equip lenders with accurate and complete data about consumers’ and small businesses’ credit activity and payment history, which enables lenders to develop a full picture of a borrower’s financial health. During COVID-19, it is important for there to be open lines of communication between consumers and lenders about upcoming payments and payment plans. Some lenders are offering deferments and other workable accommodations to ensure consumers do not fall behind on their payments. It is important for consumers to contact their lenders to understand what options are available to them. Do credit bureaus control my credit score (and whether it goes up or down)? Credit bureaus, like Experian, do not determine your credit score. Credit scores are calculated based on third-party credit-scoring models, like those developed by FICO or VantageScore Solutions. These models use information from your credit reports, including credit activity sourced from credit bureaus, to calculate a credit score. The scoring models are proprietary to the companies that develop them. In the most fundamental terms, the credit bureaus are responsible for compiling the credit reports. The scoring companies create algorithms that calculate the score. Credit scores reflect the information in your credit report at the moment the credit score is calculated. The scores will change to reflect changes in your credit report. You control how you use credit, so you play an important role in determining whether your scores trend upward or slip downward. If you consistently make good credit decisions, your scores will trend upward over time. Reviewing your credit report helps you manage your credit and gives you a full picture of what lenders see. Monitoring your credit report is as important as reviewing bills and bank statements, as your credit is an integral part of your overall financial health. Additionally, with an increase in phishing and cyberscams as a result of COVID-19, it’s especially important to stay informed about your credit report, so that you can dispute anything you believe may be inaccurate and ensure that there is no evidence of fraud that could impact your score. Are lending decisions based solely on my credit score? No, credit scores are just one factor in lenders’ decision-making process. Lenders consider additional information when making a decision, such as employment status, income and information about a consumer’s assets and liabilities. In the wake of COVID-19, lenders may start to tighten their credit standards – meaning consumers may need a higher score to receive a loan. Because of this, it is important to be proactive and take action to mitigate any potential negative impact on your credit score. If you’re worried you may miss a payment, contact your lender to discuss your options. Through April 2021, Experian has partnered with our peer credit bureaus to offer a weekly free credit score at https://www.annualcreditreport.com/. This additional measure will allow consumers to access their credit reports frequently and talk to their lenders with the most updated information possible. How are credit bureaus working with the government during COVID-19? At Experian, we fully supported the signing of the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (CARES Act), which provides relief to Americans through expanded unemployment coverage and by providing grants and loans to small businesses. The CARES Act also provided important guidance to lenders about how to work with consumers affected by COVID-19. Experian is working with lenders to ensure appropriate accommodations are made to protect consumers. Additionally, the credit reporting industry has developed reporting standards for lenders to use during emergency periods, such as COVID-19. These reporting standards allow lenders flexibility when reporting accommodations made to consumers who are experiencing hardships due to the pandemic. For additional questions regarding COVID-19 debt and credit relief options, view Experian’s full list of financial and non-financial institutions’ websites where you can find information on relief measures: COVID-19 (Coronavirus) Credit Card and Debt Relief.    

We are delighted to have completed the acquisition of a 60% stake in Arvato Financial Solutions Risk Management Division (AFS RM), expanding our presence in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland (DACH) and bringing Germany’s second largest credit bureau into Experian.  It is an incredibly exciting moment for us both and marks a significant step forward in Experian EMEA’s growth ambitions.        Together, we form a powerful new partnership in Europe’s economic powerhouse. With AFS RM’s local expertise and sector knowledge of industries like e-commerce, telecoms and insurance, and our global experience and innovation in data, analytics, software, and technology platforms, we will redefine what’s possible for our customers.     AFS RM brings market presence with high-quality risk, fraud and identity management products and solutions tailored for key industries.   We bring scale, expertise, and innovative products like Experian One and Ascend Analytics on Demand.  Together, we will offer the best new technologies into these markets, delivering broad coverage and innovation that enables existing and new customers to make better, faster decisions, ultimately delivering greater access to finance for people across the region.     Our new partnership will be branded Experian, which is just one of the ways we’re welcoming AFS RM to the Experian family.  I’m delighted it will be led by Kai Kalchthaler as CEO, Experian DACH, who will ensure we help businesses find and fulfill their potential, so they can go further with us.  Watch how we’re redefining possible, today, tomorrow, together here.     

Juniper Research released their Online Payment Fraud 2020-2024 report in May highlighting key trends in digital fraud, it’s implications on businesses and consumers as well as a competitive analysis for advanced solutions available to secure digital payments. Experian is proud to have contributed to the research and its CrossCore solution considered on their Fraud Detection & Prevention Leaderboard. Key takeaways: We’re in the middle of a payment revolution with mobile payments on the rise. Nearly half the world will be using digital wallets by 2024, with transaction values to increase by almost 60% to over $9 trillion in 2024. Omnichannel expectations are creating new challenges for online payments as new technologies for creating convenience are being exploited by cybercriminals, but it’s preventable. Juniper Research forecasts a $25.5 billion eCommerce transaction fraud loss in 2019, a 17% increase in 2018. By 2024, this will double to almost $50.5 billion. The Fraud Detection & Prevention Leaderboard is an assessment based on a combination of quantitative and qualitative measures but not considered a ranking or exhaustive list of solutions on the market. Experian’s flagship solution, CrossCore, just released its latest advanced features and offers unique functionality that lives up to its layered approach for mitigating fraud and authenticating customers. CrossCore is an integrated digital identity and fraud risk platform that combines rich data assets from Experian with identity insights and capabilities from its curated partner ecosystem. Through sophisticated orchestration, it applies advanced analytics to give businesses confidence in every transaction. CrossCore combines risk-based authentication, identity proofing, and fraud detection into a single cloud platform to make real-time risk decisions throughout the customer lifecycle. The platform is designed to help clients differentiate between their good and bad customers, without disrupting good customers, or increasing customer friction in their attempts to stop fraud. Key profile features: Our partner network, some of which we don’t publicly disclose, cover a variety of categories including, behavioural biometrics (Biocatch), traditional biometrics (Daon), document verification (Mitek, Acuant, Onfido), call centre risk assessments (TrustID, NextCaller), email verification (Emailage), Alternative Data (Ekata, Global Data Consortium, HelloSoda, Pipl), Mobile Phone Verification (Boku/Danal) and Chargeback Management (Chargebacks911). Customers include banks, eCommerce merchants and retail companies, telecommunications providers, travel providers, health providers, insurance companies, and public sector organizations. Advanced Decisioning: CrossCore is designed to leverage the complete raw output in our partner network to perform advanced analytics via Experian’s native machine learning infrastructure. This approach includes a hybrid of Unsupervised models (to generate features), Supervised generic or custom models per use case, and a business rules infrastructure. This provides high levels of accuracy to the client, leading to significantly reduced friction and operational costs. Find out how Experian’s capabilities compare and hear from our experts on how to balance security with convenient customer experiences.