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/.
As part of Advertising Age’s American Consumer Project, Matt Carmichael (Director of Information Projects at Advertising Age) recently reported on “How the U.S. Watches Cable.” The coverage, and supporting map/infographic, offer some revealing analysis around cable television viewership with relation to demographic segmentation, with the map providing a snapshot of viewership by County. Experian Marketing Services contributed data and analysis. “The more advertisers know about the particular qualities of an audience, the better choices they can make about which programs to support and the creative to target them with,” says Carmichael. Very true, which makes this report a great resource for marketing and sales teams. As always, great content from Ad Age’s American Consumer Project. See the full coverage here. Do any of these findings surprise you? How about for your County? Share your thoughts in the comments section below. Photo: Shutterstock
I opened a few of my daily newspapers this morning (yes, the print kind!), and pondered some seemingly conflicting messages. In the Wall Street Journal, I saw the headline “Economic Reports Fan Fears.” In the New York Times, the top business story read “In a Shift, Debt Levels are Falling,” noting that American consumers are reducing their debt. There is merit and editorial integrity in each story – no doubt. As someone who works in the financial services business, I understand that there may be different barometers and reports to gauge our collective perspective on the current economy. But, to the everyday consumer, it might be puzzling. We thought this might provide a good opportunity to remind people that, regardless of the various barometers and reports, one premise remains true: commit yourself to financial literacy. The average debt held by American consumers older than age 19 is more than $78,000. For the first time in U.S. history total student loan debt exceeds total U.S. credit card debt. Yet, most high school students graduate without having learned to balance a checking account. Young people entering the work force or going to college know how to dissect a frog, but they have never been introduced to critical life skill concepts like the power of compound interest, the cost of credit, or the importance of credit reports and credit scores in their daily lives. A basic understanding of these essential concepts empower everyone to make better decisions about money, leading to greater financial success. According to some, that in turn leads to reduced stress and even better overall health and greater general happiness. To improve your financial literacy, visit www.LiveCreditSmart.com. Photo: Shutterstock
Last month, the Network Advertising Initiative (NAI)—a coalition of more than 80 leading online marketing companies—released its 2011 annual report reviewing efforts in online advertising self-regulation. In the annual report, which is required by the NAI’s self-regulatory Code of Conduct for Online Behavioral Advertising (OBA), the NAI reviewed the practices of member companies with regards to the collection, use and disclosure of data for OBA purposes. The report identified a high level of compliance among member companies and concluded that industry self-regulatory guidelines have increased transparency and consumer understanding of OBA. Visits to the NAI website increased by 200%, with nearly 8.5 million unique visits. Of those visitors, approximately 840,000 used the NAI’s opt-out tool and nearly 2.5 million visitors went to the educational portion of the site. Photo: Shutterstock
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