Greater transparency in buy now, pay later activity is key to helping consumers build their credit histories and supporting responsible lending.
Experian North AmericaScott Brown, Group President, Financial Services
Affirm plans to report all pay-over-time loan products issued from April 1, 2025, and beyond, including Pay-in-4. The move will help drive greater transparency into the buy now, pay later market while helping consumers build their credit histories over time.
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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/.
Experian®, the leading global information services company, today announced that it has joined forces with Moody’s Analytics to create a business index and detailed report that provides insight into the health of U.S. businesses. The new Experian/Moody’s Analytics Small Business Credit Index will be reported quarterly to show fluctuations in the market and discuss factors that are impacting the business economy. “Experian’s data, analytics and tools provide organizations with the services they need to be successful and enable them to make more profitable financial decisions,” said Allen Anderson, president of Experian’s Business Information Services. “Over the past two years, we have published a Business Benchmark Report that provided insight into the credit health of U.S. businesses. Now, working with Moody’s Analytics we are able to take the next step in researching and reporting the impact of current economic trends on the business community, to provide another layer of valuable insight into what is affecting the business marketplace.” The Experian/Moody’s Analytics Small Business Credit Index tracks how businesses are faring over a period of time compared with a base point, with the first quarter of 2011 being equal to 100. The key factors that comprise the index are commercial credit data (including growth of credit balances and delinquency rates measured on a dollar basis) combined with a variety of macroeconomic data (including growth rates for employment, income, retail sales, investment, output and industrial production). The Q1 2012 report shows that although access to credit remains tight, U.S. commercial credit conditions are improving, with fewer small businesses falling behind on bill payments. The Experian/Moody’s Analytics Small Business Credit Index improved in Q1 2012 to 103.2, up from 101.9 in Q4 2011. This is the index’s second consecutive quarterly improvement after it fell during much of last year. The index is riding on a wave of increased consumer spending, which is boosting small businesses’ balance sheets. “The Q1 analysis has shown that small businesses are finally getting some relief from the credit crunch that has plagued many of them since the Great Recession,” said Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody’s Analytics. “The recent improvement in small-business credit growth and quality bodes well for the broader economy and job market.” Other trends seen in the Q1 Experian/Moody’s Analytics Small Business Credit Index report include: The overall health of U.S. small businesses has improved, thanks to rising consumer confidence and spending, but balance sheets are strengthening unevenly. Most metrics of small-business credit quality were essentially unchanged from last quarter, but the average commercial risk score improved on a year-ago basis due to a drop in the percentage of dollars delinquent. Not surprisingly, states where the labor market is healing more vigorously typically are home to small businesses with stronger credit standings. Similarly, small firms in states with high unemployment and lackluster housing markets are struggling. Get the full Experian/Moody’s Analytics Small Business Credit Index report.
Secure and convenient online access to your Social Security earnings and benefit information is available due in part to fraud prevention services that help the U.S. Social Security Administration (SSA). The SSA uses Experian fraud prevention services to securely authenticate and safeguard the identities of consumers who now have online access to their Social Security earnings and benefit information through the SSA’s new online Social Security Statement. The statement is simple and easy to use and provides people with estimates that can help them plan for retirement. The online statement also provides estimates for disability and survivors benefits, making it an important financial planning tool. In addition to helping with financial planning, the online statement offers a convenient way to determine whether your earnings are accurately posted to your Social Security records. To get a personalized online statement, people age 18 and older must be able to provide information about themselves that matches information already on file with Social Security. Then, Social Security uses Precise IDSM, Experian’s fraud detection and prevention platform, to securely authenticate and further verify the person’s identity. Once verified, the person can create a “My Social Security” account with a unique user name and password to access his or her online Statement. To get your Social Security Statement online, go to www.socialsecurity.gov/mystatement. Photo: Shutterstock
Recently there has been one area of Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) reform that has gained support from Republicans and Democrats in Congress, as well as the CFPB Director himself: ensuring the confidentiality of privileged information that financial institutions provide to the bureau. Current law ensures that when a financial institution turns over documents containing information covered by the attorney-client privilege to a specific list of regulators — the Federal Reserve, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. or the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency — its right to privilege will not be waived. This guarantees that the confidential information will not be viewed by third parties, including other regulators, who could use it to mount a legal case. However, the law that created the CFPB failed to add the bureau to the list of regulators exempted from privilege. In March, the CFPB announced a proposed rule to formalize protections for privileged information provided to the bureau, whether it is from banks or non-banks. The proposal also seeks to clarify that the transfer of privileged information to other Federal or state regulators does not waive the financial institution’s right to privilege. Congress has also been active on the issue. This spring the House unanimously approved legislation (H.R. 4014) to legally ensure that privilege is not waived for documents submitted to the CFPB. Similar legislation has been introduced in the Senate and is likely to be brought to the floor soon. Photo: Shutterstock
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