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Experian Marketing Services’ Hitwise® announced today that Google accounted for 65.02 percent of all U.S. searches conducted in the four weeks ending June 2, 2012. The combined Bing-powered search comprised 28.12 percent of searches for the month, with Yahoo! Search and Bing receiving 14.95 percent and 13.17 percent, respectively. The remaining 65 search engines in the Hitwise Search Engine Analysis report accounted for 6.86 percent of U.S. searches. Shorter search queries increase 1 percent in May 2012 Shorter search queries — one to four words — increased 1 percent from April 2012 to May 2012. One-word searches comprised the majority of searches, too, amounting to 29.93 percent of all queries. One-word search queries have increased 19 percent from May 2011 to May 2012.  Longer search queries — those averaging five to eight words or more — decreased 4 percent from April 2012 to May 2012. “As automated search features have rolled out across the major search engines, we can expect to see one-word searches continue to increase as they have over the past year,” said Simon Bradstock, general manager of Experian Hitwise. “The long tail is not going away, rather just becoming more intensified within the shorter queries, and in turn marketers need to focus more on how consumers start their searches.” Learn more about search engine trends.

Last year, Rep. Heath Shuler (D-NC) introduced the Medical Debt Resolution Act (H.R. 2086), which would amend the Fair Credit Reporting Act to require the Consumer Reporting Agencies (CRAs) to remove paid or settled medical debt from a consumers’ credit file. The bill would require information related to a single fully paid or settled medical debt of $2,500 or less that had been characterized as delinquent, charged off, or in collection for credit reporting purposes, which, from the date of payment or settlement, antedates the report by more than 45 calendar days. As a general rule, expunging predictive information is not in the best interest of consumers or credit granters — both of which benefit when credit reports and scores are as accurate and predictive as possible. If any type of debt information proven to be predictive is expunged, consumers risk exposure to improper credit products as they may appear to be more financially equipped to handle new debt. It’s important to note that medical debts are never taken into consideration by the credit scoring company VantageScore if the debt reporting is known to be from a medical facility. The challenge, however, is knowing when a debt is medical related. For example, when a medical debt is outsourced to a third-party collection agency it is difficult to know the true origin of the debt. Collection accounts of lower than $250, or ones that have been settled, have less impact on a consumer’s VantageScore. The legislation also does not address medical bills paid with a credit card and there is risk that the current language could be interpreted to require that a credit card balance containing paid medical debt be expunged from a credit file. This is a growing issue as patients pay about $45 billion in medical costs with a credit card, according to a 2007 report by Mckinsey & Company. Share your thoughts … Congress Looks at Removing Paid or Settled Medical Debt from Credit Reports ex.pn/LTrVKn — Experian News (@ExperianNews) June 28, 2012 Photo: Shutterstock

 Experian Automotive today announced that there were 17.3 million more light-duty vehicles seven years and older on the road in the United States than there were three years ago. According to its Q1 2012 Vehicles in Operation (VIO) market analysis, Experian Automotive also found that there were more than 245 million vehicles on U.S. roads, and that the age of vehicles increased when compared to Q1 2011, up 1.9 percent to an average age of 11 years. “An increase of later-model vehicles on the road is a positive sign for the industry because it creates growth opportunities in the important aftermarket sector,” said Jeffrey Anderson, director of consulting and analytics for Experian Automotive. “With lower scrappage rates, historically large sales of older-model vehicles and an increase in incentives for maintaining vehicle ownership, aftermarket part manufacturers and retailers will see an influx of shoppers looking to extend the life of their vehicle.” Additional data from the report showed Ford as the most prevalent make on the road in Q1, followed by Chevrolet, Toyota and Honda for both Canada and the United States. At the model level, the U.S. analysis showed that the Ford F-150 had the largest volume on the road, followed by the Honda Accord, Toyota Camry and Chevrolet Silverado.           Other findings from the analysis showed that light trucks in the United States continue to grow and maintain a higher percentage of the total VIO than passenger cars. Light trucks made up 50.8 percent of the total U.S. VIO in Q1 2012, compared with 49.2 percent of passenger cars. Full-sized pickups make up the greatest percentage of VIO, at 14.6 percent overall, with General Motors, Ford, Chrysler and Toyota making up the greatest majority (98.7 percent) of those vehicles. Additional Q1 2012 findings for the United States include: Hybrid/Electric vehicles represent 0.9 percent of VIO in the United States 78.5 percent of all light-duty vehicles in the United States are 15 years old or newer The top five vehicle segments in the United States make up 50.1 percent of the VIO market Findings from the Canadian Q1 2012 VIO analysis include: More than 22 million vehicles were registered, up from 21.5 million in Q1 2011 The average age of all light-duty vehicles was 9.6 years The largest volume models were Honda Civic, Ford F-150, Toyota Corolla and Dodge Grand Caravan Passenger cars made up the greatest majority of VIO at 53.2 percent, and light trucks only encompassed 46.8 percent Small-economy cars were favored over full-sized pickups, with small cars encompassing 17 percent of the total VIO Hybrid/Electric vehicles represented only 0.4 percent of VIO 85.3 percent of all light-duty vehicles are 15 years old or newer The top five vehicle segments (small economy car, full-sized pickup, lower midrange car, standard midrange car and minivan) made up 60 percent of the Canadian market Click here to tweet this post.   Photo: Shutterstock