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Millennials, also known as Generation Y (ages 19-34) are now the largest segment of the U.S. population, and according to a recent Experian analysis, also take the title for being the least credit savvy when compared to previous generations. The study revealed that millennials’ average credit score is 625, and their average debt excluding mortgages is $26,485. While their current financial picture may not seem so bright, they are at a prime age to establish great habits that will impact their credit future. With so many financial education resources available to help them, I believe that this generation is more empowered and informed than any previous generation and is positioned to be more successful if they make just a few good financial decisions now. While it’s important to know what you should do, it’s equally important to know what you shouldn’t do. Here’s a list of five “credit don’ts” to help guide millennials on the right path to credit success: Don’t be afraid of credit. Many millennials saw their parents hit financial rock bottom during the Great Recession and it created a fear of credit for this generation. It’s important to know the difference between credit and debt. Credit is a financial tool, debt is a financial problem caused by misusing credit. Using credit wisely is an important part of becoming financially successful. Don’t be car poor. Millennials are purchasing cars at a much earlier point in life, which is giving them the opportunity to build credit a little differently than previous generations. Fourteen percent of today’s millennials carry an auto loan, compared with only 1 percent of their Gen X counterparts at the same age in 1998. My advice: don’t get more car than you need. Flash is fun, but usually expensive. Keeping it basic, and less expensive, will help you lay a stronger overall financial foundation. Go for the luxury, fully-loaded car when you are more financially secure. Don’t let student loan debt get you down. The high cost of college tuition has caused students to take on more debt than other generations. Student loans make up 24 percent of all new accounts for millennials, compared to 20 percent for their Generation X counterparts at a comparable age. Some critics question whether tuition debt is worth it. The answer is yes. Research has shown – and continues to show — that an education will pay off over the course of your career. Do keep in mind that there are options for where to get an education and costs vary widely. The average student loan debt is comparable to debt for an auto loan, between $25,000 and $30,000, but which one has better return on investment? Invest in yourself. If you think you will have trouble repaying your student loan debt, or already are, talk to your lender. Student loans often offer a variety of repayment options to help you manage the debt. Lenders may be able to  work with you to create a payment plan that helps you keep making your payments on time, which is key to building a strong credit history. Don’t let “YOLO” and “FOMO” interfere with your budget. The average estimated income for millennials is $34,430 and their average debt excluding mortgages is $26,485. Be sure to have a written budget to help keep track of spending and what you can afford to spend on. A weekend music festival or a three month Euro-trip with friends requires saving and planning. A budget can help you reach those destinations and help you live a lifestyle you can afford. Delayed gratification takes willpower but the wait is usually worth it. Don’t ignore your credit report. Only 34 percent of U.S. adults have ordered a copy of their credit report in the past 12 months, according to the National Foundation for Credit Counseling’s 2015 Financial Literacy Survey. Reviewing your credit report will help you make sure it is in good shape when you are ready to apply for new credit. It also affects your credit scores, which are used to help lenders determine whether they should extend credit to you or not and the interest rate you may pay. By law, you’re entitled to get a copy of your credit reports from each of the three national credit reporting companies once every 12 months at no cost through AnnualCreditReport.com. Click here to view the full study and check out more credit educational resources on our Ask Experian blog.

In the video and presentation, Craig Boundy, former CEO of Experian North America, discusses how big data is being used as a force for good. Good for consumers, good for business and good for society.He shares his perspective how Experian’s work in data and analytics has real-life applications. As part of this, he highlights how our business is predicated on the idea that Experian employees come to work every day to help society make better sense of the world by sifting through the information and coming up with solutions for real people, partners, governments and clients. Whether that helps consumers secure an affordable loan, understand their credit score, or protect their identity; or for a business to manage risk, help prevent fraudulent transactions, and to ensure they are marketing their products and services to the right consumers at the right time and across the right channels. As you will see, the force that is known as Big Data can be used for good and there’s still more we can do with it to drive growth and improve our economy. Big Data: The Force That’s Good for Consumers and Society from Experian_US  

The following column was originally published in Adotas. Addressing the issue of identity management has become a top priority for marketers. The fact is that their customers are represented by dozens of identities – both known and unknown – in today’s digital world. According to new research published in our recently published 2015 Digital Marketer Report, linking identity data is now the #1 challenge for marketers around the world, up from fourth place just a year ago. Further, 89% of marketers report having challenges creating a single customer view. Why? Top reasons cited by marketers include poor data quality (43%), siloed departments (39%), and inability to link different technologies (37%). Brand marketers have an identity crisis Without a sophisticated approach to identity management, the concept of customer-centricity and data-driven marketing slips, like sand, through the fingers of marketers. Yes, they may have details around a specific customer on a given device or in a particular channel, but the holistic promise provided by identity data is lost; and with it the real potential of targeting, reaching and engaging digital audiences. To appreciate the nature of the challenge, it is helpful to understand its scale. According to our latest research, 84% of U.S. adults are digital. Seventy three percent own a computer, 58% a smart phone and 33% a tablet – percentages that will only increase with time. These devices will be joined by wearables (such as the Apple Watch), addressable television and the emerging world of the Internet of Things. Couple the explosion of devices with the number of email addresses, social media accounts, apps, website logins, cookies and other trackers and you have the ingredients for a full-blown identity crisis. Connecting the identity dots All of the data associated with these identities paint a rich, complex and complete picture of the user behind them. Connecting and managing these identity dots, however, is no small task. For everyone there are known identities (accounts you log into) and unknown ones (anonymous IDs based on web histories) and marketers need to appreciate and be able to navigate the differences. When linked and analyzed responsibly, identity information allows marketers to understand who we are, what matters to us and how to craft the most effective digital experience for all. This is what makes identity management such a critical issue. Good identity data provides marketers with three core capabilities: Identify – the ability to identify people across media channels, devices, access methods and applications using techniques including cookies, deterministic and probabilistic IDs and first party data. Link – the ability to link disparate data and profiles into a unified consumer view. Engage – the ability to use a deeper understanding of customers to better deliver better messages, optimize campaigns and measure performance. Identity Management is the foundation of Data-Driven Marketing For marketers to get the greatest benefit from their data, they need an identity management strategy that considers and addresses the following three things: Data Stewardship – preserving the value of the information, protecting the privacy of individuals and making it available for appropriate uses. Identity Resolution – having the ability to make connections between disparate known datasets and being able to infer connections between known and unknown identities. Technology-Current – maintaining the ability to effectively and compliantly collect, manage and act on digital identity-derived information across existing and emerging channels, platforms and devices. So what does this identity management approach look like in a real world campaign? A customer visits a brand website, uses its mobile app and “like” it on Facebook. The result is three discreet identifiers, two deterministic (the app and Facebook) but likely stored in separate systems and one statistical (the site visit). Appropriate data stewardship means all three data sets are stored and protected – and, perhaps most importantly – are accessible. Although a distinct identifier represents each of the three identities, linkage capabilities allow them to be resolved in a way that unites the data behind each of the three. Rather than treating each identifier as a separate individual, they can now be used to reflect different facets on a single person. With a now unified view, the marketer can begin to plan to reach their customers in more creative and effective ways. They can do a better job of executing cross-channel campaigns – and frequency capping on all devices and platforms. This provides a dramatically different experience for all involved. Why? Because not only does the marketer have a unified view of the customer, but the customer has a unified experience of the brand. Without an identity-driven approach to audience engagement and marketing, the customer will not be able to have a unified brand experience because the marketer can’t establish that unified view. Further, it allows marketers to make the most of their organization’s information assets, meet their customers where and when it makes the most sense and execute the most cost-efficient and effective campaign possible.