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Most consumers (89 percent) agree that credit plays an important role when buying a home or a car but only 73 percent recognize that identity fraud could affect their ability to get loans with favorable interest rates, according to a new survey from Experian Consumer Services. In addition, more than half of big-ticket purchasers fail to check their credit at any point in the buying process, which leads to surprises when it comes time to close the deal. “Identity fraud is real and affects consumers at very important times of life,” said Ken Chaplin, senior vice president of marketing for Experian Consumer Services. “In today’s environment, it’s especially important that consumers check their credit regularly to spot signs of fraud, understand better what affects their credit and make decisions that will help them be in the best position possible when it comes time to buy their dream home or car.” The key highlights of the research include: Many consumers live credit confident: Eighty-two percent of consumers report they feel confident about their credit status — only 14 percent say they worry their credit status might hurt their ability to make a home or vehicle purchase Credit affects when and what people buy: Sixteen percent of respondents delay purchasing a vehicle or home in order to improve their credit — 13 percent would purchase a more expensive car or home if they had better credit Checking credit plays a part in the buying process: Sixty percent of home buyers and 25 percent of car buyers check their credit as part of the purchase process For those that check their credit: Thirteen percent were surprised by their credit scores Thirty-six percent said their credit scores were higher than expected Eleven percent report their credit scores were lower than expected Eleven percent found something negative on their credit report that they did not know about Consumers can learn more by visiting Experian.com and watching the most recent commercials from Experian Consumer Services about how they can live credit confident™ when buying a car or securing a home loan. Survey methodology The data points referenced above come from a study commissioned by ConsumerInfo.com® Inc., an Experian company, produced by research firm Edelman Berland and conducted as an online survey of 500 car and home buyers (250 car buyers, 250 home buyers). Buyers were defined as adults who had purchased within the past year or plan to purchase in the next year. Interviewing took place from January 27–30, 2014. The margin of error is plus or minus 4.4 percent. Experian

Agreement extends Experian data and consulting services to ProAct clients Experian®, the leading global information services company, today announced an agreement with Ser Technology, developer of ProAct, a Web-based business intelligence consumer lending analysis and data warehousing solution. The agreement integrates Experian’s Global Consulting Practice expertise with ProAct providing SerTechnology’s credit union clients a 360 degree portfolio view, improving efficiency in the delivery of portfolio risk management decisioning. “We’re excited to collaborate and work more closely with Experian,” said Douglas White, executive vice president of business development at Ser Technology. “Credit unions are overwhelmed with increased risk management compliance burdens as well as executing strategic portfolio risk management strategies. With Experian, credit unions can now leverage ProAct and Experian data and business consulting for strategic portfolio risk management solutions.” ProAct clients can leverage Experian data across a broad spectrum of deliverables, including automated valuation model analysis, credit score migration, loss forecasting and stress testing many different scenarios. Experian’s consulting services will augment ProAct and Experian data, providing the insight and direction credit unions need to evaluate opportunities to improve their customer relationships. “Experian is committed to providing the advice needed to execute strategic decisions using Ser Technology software offering credit unions an essential portfolio risk management and data warehousing framework,” said Shannon Lois, vice president of Experian’s Global Consulting Practice. Experian’s Global Consulting Practice is a credentialed consultancy dedicated to creating measurable and sustainable value for organizations around the globe in a variety of industries. About Ser Technology Ser Technology Corporation, is a technology development and service company and specializes in credit pre-approval marketing, consumer lending analysis, instant credit decisioning and proprietary data encryption for over 2,700 credit unions in the U.S. The company’s passion for excellence is reflected in their web-based ProAct software which is gaining a solid reputation as being a leader in portfolio risk management solutions. For more information, visit www.sertech.com

Experian North America CEO Victor Nichols recently was recognized by the Consumer Credit Counseling Services of Orange County, California, as its 2014 Community Hero of the Year for his commitment to consumer financial literacy. Mr. Nichols and Experian are proud to have been honored with this award. Experian has long been committed to consumer financial literacy and removing the mystery surrounding credit reports and scores, and that commitment has not wavered. More than 20 years ago, Experian became the first national credit reporting company to establish a dedicated consumer education team. Over the ensuing two decades the company has used creative outreach, combining traditional materials and online technology with powerful partnerships to reach consumers of all ages and economic circumstance with critical financial information, tools and resources. Here are just a few examples of what Experian has done and continues to do to help people become more financially capable: In 1995, Experian was a founding partner of the JumpStart Coalition for Financial Literacy, an organization that advocates for mandatory financial literacy coursework in our schools. Five years ago Experian provided a grant to JumpStart to launch the first national teacher’s conference for financial educators and continues to sponsor this event annually. In 1997, we launched Ask Experian, the industry’s first online consumer credit advice column. Published continuously since, consumers submit on average more than 1,000 questions each month. The company awards financial literacy grants in excess of $300,000 annually to support innovative consumer financial education programs conducted by non-profit organizations. Grants have facilitated programs that reach hundreds of thousands of consumers each year including high school and university students, military personnel, minority communities, the underbanked, and cities particularly hard hit by the recession. Our education partners include the National Foundation For Credit Counseling, the Center for Financial Services Innovation, the Credit Builders Alliance, the National Consumers League, the InCharge Institute, the Mission Asset Fund and Call For Action. Recently, Experian established an Education Ambassador program to train its own employee volunteers so that they can support outreach programs in communities across the country. Social media has further enabled us to talk directly with people about critical financial subjects. Our weekly #CreditChat is always a lively discussion and is open to anyone who would like to join in the conversation on Twitter every Wednesday and 12 p.m. Pacific time. Learn more about Experian’s commitment to consumers and find tips on how to live credit smart.

Experian is excited to participate in the 2014 Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah! We’re lucky to have some great stars stopping by our Experian Coffee Bar to answer some questions about their films. Check out the action on Sundance Channel on the following days and times: Sunday, Jan 19th at 10 am MT The Intersection of Television and Independent Film presented by Experian Confirmed Panelists: Maggie Gyllenhaal, The Honourable Woman Jason Momoa, Game of Thrones Moderated by Barbara Chai, The Wall Street Journal Monday, Jan 20th at 2 pm MT Spotlight on Female Directors presented by Experian (a discussion showcasing the impact of female directors in the film industry) Confirmed Panelists: Rory Kennedy, Last Days in Vietnam Shola Lynch, Free Angela and All Political Prisoners Judith Helfand, Cooked Lucy Walker, The Crash Reel Moderated by Indiewire's Anne Thompson, author of the upcoming The $11 Billion Year Wednesday, Jan 22nd at 1 pm MT Filmmaker Conversation presented by Experian Confirmed Panelists: Andrew Droz Palermo, Co-Director, Rich Hill Tracey Droz Tragos, Co-Director, Rich Hill If you’re attending Sundance, make sure to swing by our Experian Coffee Bar (centrally located in the middle of the action on Main Street) to grab a free coffee… and you’ll get to keep the cup! If you miss the panels in person or on TV, we’ll make sure to share a recap with you soon. Also, make sure to check out our Experian Facebook page for updates throughout the weekend. Photo: ShutterStock

Experian’s State of Credit report recently highlighted the credit savviness of four generational groups, and showed how differently they manage their financial obligations. As you’d expect, there were several intriguing findings, so we extended the research to see how these same generational groups would differ when it comes to buying a vehicle. In a recent analysis of market trends in the automotive industry, Experian Automotive looked at vehicle registrations, and examined the car buying habits of Millennials (up to 32 years old), Generation X (33-48 years old), Baby Boomers (49-67 years old) and the Silent Generation (68-85 years old). Interestingly, Millennials and Generation X had similar taste in the new vehicles they purchased, differing only in order of preference. The Honda Civic, Ford F-150, Honda Accord, Toyota Camry and Chevrolet Silverado 1500 made up the top five for Millennials, while the Generation X list consisted of the Ford F-150, Honda Accord, Chevrolet Silverado 1500, Toyota Camry and Honda Civic. Baby Boomers shared a similarity with Generation X, as the F-150 was also their vehicle of choice. The rest of the top five new vehicles for Baby Boomers were the Chevrolet Silverado 1500, Honda Accord, Toyota Camry and Honda CR-V. The top five for the Silent Generation consisted of the Toyota Camry, Ford F-150, Honda Escape, Honda Accord and Hyundai Sonata. Other findings from the analysis included: • Twenty-five percent of new vehicles financed by the Silent Generation were leases • Generation X and Baby Boomers purchased vehicles with the highest average values in the quarter, $29,494 and $28,764, respectively • Baby Boomers purchased the highest percentage of Hybrid vehicles (47 percent), while Millennials purchased the lowest (9 percent) • Baby Boomers purchased the highest percentage of new import vehicles and new domestic vehicles at 42.5 percent and 43.2 percent, respectively

When a criminal steals your account number and security code, they often are planning to use that account to make purchases. Your credit report is not consulted for purchase transactions. So, in such cases, you should consider contacting your card issuer and request a new account number. At minimum, you should check your account online to see if there has been any activity which you do not recognize. If the criminal’s goal is to open new accounts in your name, then it is likely that one of your three credit reports would be accessed by the potential lender. In that case, you may want to consider adding an alert to your reports. Fraud alerts are special statements consumers can have added to their credit report if they have reason to believe they may be a fraud victim or know that they have been victimized. There are two different fraud alerts: An initial security alert tells lenders that you may be a victim of fraud or identity theft and asks them to take additional measures to verify the identity of the applicant before granting credit in your name. You can request a free copy of your credit report when you request that the alert be added. If you don’t find evidence of fraud, you can have the alert removed, or simply allow it to expire. If you do find evidence of fraud, your next step would be to add an extended security alert, sometimes called a victim statement. You will need a police report or other valid identity theft report to add an extended security alert. The extended security alert states that you are a victim of identity theft and requests that lenders call you to verify your identity before granting credit in your name. An extended security alert remains on your credit report for seven years or until you ask that it be removed. The alerts are included when your report is provided to a lender so they can take appropriate action when the alert is on your report. There is no charge to add a fraud alert. When you do so, Experian notifies the other national credit reporting companies so that alerts can be added to those reports, as well. You can add an alert online at experian.com/fraud, or by calling 1-888-EXPERIAN (1-888-397-3742) and selecting the fraud option.