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For more than 20 years, Experian has been an advocate for full-file reporting, which means that we support the widespread reporting of alternative data—rental payments, utility payments and cellular telephone payments to name a few. For a large segment of the population, the reporting of these types of payments could provide opportunities to establish and/or build a credit file. In 2011, Experian recognized that positive rental payment data was missing from credit files and could be an opportunity for 100 million renters to finally be rewarded and not overlooked simply because they rent instead of own the place they call home. With this in mind, we led the industry to start incorporating on-time rental payments to credit files through our Experian RentBureau business and utilized new technology that could score consumers previously deemed unscoreable. This investment opened the doors to underserved populations and helped moved the needle to becoming more financially inclusive.
Experian Consumer Services in association with Univision Communications Inc., the leading media company serving Hispanic America, recently launched a Spanish-language, credit-focused product and online financial resource center for the U.S. Hispanic community called Crédito y Más. The new product was developed to improve Hispanics access to credit education and resources. With Crédito y Más, consumers can check their credit score, receive a credit report, and have credit monitoring, among other benefits and access the information in Spanish or English. One of the most valuable features is the Centro de Información™, a robust resource center with articles, videos, financial calculators, a glossary of key credit terms and more.
Just a little over a week ago, I was in New Orleans surrounded by interesting, engaging and financially-savvy people with a common interest.
All of these people were brought together for FinCon Expo, which took place from September 18-21. It was not only a tremendous financial media community networking event, it was an opportunity to learn, grow and find inspiration.
From the Experian perspective, it was an opportunity to further build and focus on our social channels as a way to reach consumers and provide education and dialog around credit and financial empowerment. The two-day conference featured an expo hall where one could score some great information (along with some cool swag), keynote sessions that were led by powerful speakers like Jeff Goins, Farnoosh Torabi and Chris Ducker, and a full daily schedule packed with educational sessions and panel discussions (and of course, a lot of beignets served along the way).
October is National Cyber Security Awareness Month, and Experian’s ProtectMyID® issued its new survey results about cybersecurity. The study, conducted by Edelman Berland, reveals areas where consumers’ identities are the most at risk, including electronic devices and online accounts. The findings show that 93 percent of respondents believe that identity theft is a growing problem yet are not doing enough to address the issue.
Experian Marketing Services, a recognized leader in data-driven marketing, today unveiled OmniView™, a persistent data-linkage technology that creates a real-time single customer view, as part of the Experian Marketing Suite. The single customer view, or persistent identity, created by OmniView allows organizations to increase the precision, authenticity and sophistication of their marketing campaigns across channels and devices. Since introducing the industry’s first linkage-technology product, Experian Marketing Services has been the go-to resource for identity-linkage issues among database and customer relationship management (CRM) marketers. With the launch of OmniView, Experian Marketing Services extends its market-leading linkage expertise beyond database and CRM marketers to the digital-advertising industry. OmniView resolves pivotal issues plaguing advertising effectiveness, including data quality, accuracy, authenticity and precision. OmniView creates a persistent identity that gives key players within the digital advertising ecosystem — including advertisers, publishers, digital analytics providers and data management platforms — the ability to verify, match and manage identities efficiently in a privacy-protected way from all data sources. “The advertising industry needs a common denominator — a ubiquitous, consistent and persistent link across all channels — to execute legitimate 1-to-1 marketing, and OmniView is that common denominator,” said Rick Erwin, president, consumer insights and targeting, Experian Marketing Services. “OmniView breaks new ground in identity linkage technology in that it gives advertisers the ability to verify, understand and engage with their customers at a scale and accuracy that is unprecedented. This has been the centerpiece of Experian Marketing Services’ strategy for more than 20 years.” A single customer view for addressable advertising According to recent research from Experian, 99 percent of companies believe that achieving a single customer view is important to their business, but only 24 percent say they have a single customer view today. For solutions where media is being activated in addressable advertising, OmniView is the linkage engine that connects an advertiser’s or marketer’s CRM data to Experian’s data, as well as media channels, in a secure, privacy-compliant manner. OmniView gives advertisers a single customer view by establishing identification keys for consumers at an individual, household and address level that serve as a common denominator between all data sources. OmniView is built to process and reconcile large amounts of fragmented data from both third- and first-party sources, including social, email, mobile and transactional data. OmniView features a real-time application programming interface that allows marketers to understand the behavior of their customers as they move in and out of channels and make “in the moment” marketing decisions. A high-speed, high-scale platform, OmniView delivers results in real-time or batch processing. For example, marketers can connect a social-media follower to a display-advertising campaign and know if that follower made a purchase in a brick-and-mortar store. A central element of the Experian Marketing Suite’s Identity Manager, OmniView stands out from other linkage technology products in market through its accuracy. It leverages the most accurate data and the most accurate linkage technology in market. Experian Marketing Services\' linkage capabilities excel in reliability and accuracy, with accuracy rates of two times, three times and five times greater than other major vendors. This accuracy ensures meaningful experiences for the consumer that fosters loyalty and repeat purchases to the brand. Learn more about OmniView: http://ex.pn/1mEn5qO
School is back in session, but many people still have questions about a subject that is rarely taught in the classroom: their credit. Through its credit education portal, Experian provides people who have questions about credit reports or credit scores with a simple, convenient way to learn more about credit.
The following article is a guest post from Dara Duguay, executive director, Credit Builders Alliance. A good credit history is crucial in today’s economy. Far more than just a number, a good credit score can make the difference in being able to access the affordable lending products necessary to go to college, buy a home, or start and grow a small business. Renting an apartment, paying for car insurance, signing up for utilities and even landing a job can also be affected by a person’s credit history – or the absence of one.
The following article is a guest post from Paul Combe, President and CEO of Boston-based American Student Assistance. According to recent Experian research, student loans were the only type of consumer debt to increase during the recession, growing 84 percent from 2008 to 2014. Today, 40 million Americans carry college loans. The average borrower has nearly four different student loans for a total of $29,000. Keeping track of multiple loan payments and high debt can mean a rough financial start for newly minted college graduates. Evidence is mounting that student debt could be getting in the way of our economic recovery, as growing numbers of millennials delay forming their own households under the weight of their student debt burden.
Summertime only comes around but once a year. And when it does, you can always expect to see the sun shining brightly, kids eating ice cream and folks heading to the beach.
While all these may be staples of the season, none are more indicative of summer than seeing someone drive down the highway in a nice convertible with the wind blowing through their hair.