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This guest post from Erin Lowry. Erin is the founder of Broke Millennial, where her sarcastic sense of humor entertains and educates her peers about finances. Erin lives and works in New York City, so she’s developed quite the knack for finding deals and free events. If we looked at current generations in a family structure, Baby Boomers are mom and dad, the Greatest Generation are grandma and grandpa, Generation X are the older siblings and Millennials are those overindulged younger siblings that always got later curfews and more relaxed rules. For that reason, there is a natural, friendly, sibling-type rivalry between Generation X and Millennials. And this week, millennials came out the victors because Generation X failed to school its younger sibling when it came to average debt load. Millennials are Growing Into the Credit Industry Generation X shouldn’t be completely ridiculed for carrying an average $185 more in debt than it’s obnoxious younger sibling (this is debt is excluding mortgages). Millennials may be drowning in student loan debt, but they’ve also had less time to get into credit card trouble, take out personal loans for life milestones that needed funding or get auto loans. In fact, the CARD Act stopped many of the younger millennials from even obtaining a credit card in college to do serious financial damage in the first place. Doesn’t the younger sibling always have it easier? Consequently, the CARD Act does make it a bit harder for a college graduate with no credit history to get a credit card (thank goodness for those secured cards). But there is one place millennials are significantly outshining Generation X and that’s credit card balances. Millennials carry an average $3,403 balance while Generation X deals with $6,752 – the highest of all four generations. Another possible reason millennials haven’t done quite as much damage to their debt burden is simply a lack of resources. Generation Xers likely has significantly higher credit limits. Not only do they probably have a higher paying job, but Generation X has been in the credit game longer and would naturally have earned higher credit limits. After all, even with millennials having an average 50% lower credit card balance, they still are 43% utilized (use of total available credit limit) while Generation X is only 41% utilized. Tsk, tsk to both generations on that one. Shoot for 30% utilization or less. The high utilization could help explain millennials’ 625 average credit score – or a mixture of irresponsible repayments or lack of history and diversity of credit could be anchoring the number. Why a High Credit Score is Important It’s time for millennials to grow up, take charge and be building their credit scores in order to make the rest of their lives more affordable. The higher the credit score, the more access you have to top-notch financial products. For instance, a 625 credit score would receive a significantly higher interest rate on an auto-loan than a 750 credit score. And millennials are currently seeking auto loans with 14% of all recently opened accounts on credit reports being for the purchase of a car. This compares to just 1% of Generation X at the same age in 1998. Next up will be a mortgage, and where just half a percent difference on a loan could mean spending tens-of-thousands more across 30 years. It’s key to get that credit score into the high 700s (or even 800+) to have access to the prime rates. Millennials Aren’t Just Less Trusting – They Prefer to be Alternative Yes, millennials watched the economy collapse as the older part of the generation was entering college or the workforce. Yes, plenty of millennials saw their parents lose retirement funds or college savings or their homes to the Great Recession. Yes, it has inherently made millennials less trusting of big banking and investing – but that’s not really the reason millennials are seeking alternative financial options. Hipsters certainly aren’t an exclusively a millennial trend, but the mentality of wanting something outside of the mainstream does appeal to the generation. Perhaps growing up in an age of social media overexposure coupled with being taught they’re special from a young age created a craving to be unique – even in financial decisions. Plus, the digital natives are comfortable with the idea of online bank, sourcing loans by clicking a few buttons online and uploading oodles of personal information without speaking with a human being. These factors have created a perfect storm for millennials to turn their backs on the world of big banking and instead use startups, apps, Internet-only banks and whatever new, eclectic, mobile-friendly option exists. Banks like Ally, Simple and Moven quickly get millennial attention while student loan refinance and personal loan options like SoFi, Earnest and Upstart are specifically designed to appeal to the 20 to young 30-something demographic. Millennials are the aging into the housing market, dealing with student loan debt, planning weddings*, having babies and looking for the best way to borrow money, refinance existing debt or getting a personal loan. Lenders would do well to remember these customers want digital access, easy-to-use apps, friendly customer service and instant access. *Ideally you do this without incurring any debt, but let’s be realistic about what happens…

Experian Marketing Services unveiled a new, more predictive and addressable Experian Marketing Suite for nearly 1,000 marketers at its 2015 Client Summit in Las Vegas, today. The advancements released today include new addressable advertising and predictive intelligence tools both powered by Experian’s consumer database, the largest consumer database worldwide, with modeled insights covering 700 million individuals in 270 households. Both enhancements will help brands identify and interact with their customers no matter where they are in the world or in the cloud. “At Experian, everything begins and ends with the customer — and we know the customer better than anyone else,” said Matt Seeley, president, Experian Marketing Services. “As a global data powerhouse and a leader in developing innovative, market-moving technology with a fierce commitment to service, Experian is committed to helping our clients take the guesswork out of their customer interactions. This next phase for Experian Marketing Suite is about making it possible for brands to match their customers’ pace of innovation so they can be relevant today and stay relevant in the future.” For the debut, brands like Publishers Clearing House spoke on the need for clear customer communication. “Publishers Clearing House is a company committed to the customer experience, but keeping up with the customer is becoming more difficult and complex,” said Jason John, chief marketing officer, Publishers Clearing House Digital. “We needed a partner that shares our commitment to the customer and can help us understand who they are, and how to reach them as they switch devices, networks, and channels. We found that in Experian. As we look at this changing, always-connected customer, we can understand their preferences, predict what they want next and how to make that meaningful, every time.” Two new enhancements to Experian Marketing Suite Real-time, predictive intelligence and automated analytics The new predictive functionality released today in Experian Marketing Suite integrates real-time identity and intelligence data to create predictive insights that help brands optimize campaign performance. Within Experian Marketing Suite, marketers can compare email subject lines, send times and channels from all their historical email campaigns, across customer segments, and use that data to predict the performance of future cross-channel campaigns. It then layers those predictive insights with rich customer, demographic, audience and behavioral data to understand how content performs in the context of a brand’s audience segments. Specifically, brands can use this functionality to: Generate and identify predictive insights that inspire their customers to take action Pinpoint messages and content that are the most relevant and will drive the most engagement across a brand’s audiences Understand what is relevant for their customers when they are researching or exploring and when they are transacting or looking for a discount Predict the performance of campaigns and commerce Leverage real-time intelligence to power campaign strategies across channels and deliver intelligent interactions, on any device For example, a retailer could use the predictive tool to determine which subject lines and product offers perform the best among their top customer segments during back-to-school season based on years of historical campaign data. Cross-channel audience activation Advertisers, marketers and agencies now can turn to Experian Marketing Suite to help activate their data-driven marketing strategies. Marketers can execute true one-to-one advertising campaigns across multiple channels, including online and mobile display, video, TV and direct mail. The new addressable advertising functionality first finds an advertiser’s best audience based on first-party Customer Relationship Management data, Experian data or a combination of the two. Then, through a network of direct media publisher partners and onboarding capabilities, Experian® helps advertisers find and target this exact audience across multiple channels. Unlike other addressable advertising providers, Experian Marketing Suite: Supports single campaigns to provide advertisers with the flexibility to test and learn. Provides advertisers with insights on who saw an ad, how often they saw it, and how it drove their in-store and online activities. Does not rely solely on third-party cookies. Instead, the suite leverages one of the industry’s largest networks of publishers and media/adtech partners, giving brands the flexibility to use it in conjunction with their existing Software-as-a-Service provider. “Experian has the most accurate consumer data and identity capabilities in the industry, which means that our media partner match rates are consistently higher than the competition,” said Seeley. “For the advertiser, this means we can launch campaigns with both accuracy and scale. We know your customers today, and we know the people you want to be your customers tomorrow — and we can find those customers across the channels and devices where they are consuming content so you can engage them in a meaningful way from the first interaction.” Another milestone for Experian Marketing Suite These enhancements mark another milestone in Experian Marketing Services’ long-term strategy to provide marketers with customer-first technology and services through Experian Marketing Suite, which debuted at the 2014 Client Summit. Just this week, Experian was recognized as a strong performer in the 2015 Forrester Wave for Real Time Interactions Management which evaluated vendors on the ability to enable brands to deliver contextually relevant experiences across the Customer Life Cycle through customer data management, real-time analytics and insights, and automated cross-channel interactions. Experian Marketing Suite is flexible, giving clients complete control over the components necessary to power their programs. As a client’s campaign requirements and complexity evolve, the client can easily take advantage of the functionalities across the suite’s three core capabilities: Identity Manager, Intelligence Manager and Interactions Manager. Find out more about the extensive data and technology enhancements for the Experian Marketing Suite, here.

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.