Getting a copy of your credit report is the easiest first step to take control of your finances. A personal credit report contains details about your financial behavior and identification information. It is an easy-to-read summary of your credit accounts and total debt—both existing balances and available limits. Under federal law you are entitled to a copy of your credit report every twelve months. To obtain your credit report go to www.annualcreditreport.com.
Did you know that April is the official month for promoting financial literacy? Being aware of your credit and where you stand is important all year long, but the next 30 days will be dedicated specifically to educating consumers on all aspects of personal finance from managing your credit, paying off debt and saving for your first home or child’s secondary education to how to invest and plan well for retirement. We know how these topics can be overwhelming and intimidating. It’s one of the reasons that our weekly #CreditChat on twitter and Ask Experian column focuses on these subjects all year round. We want to give consumers the right resources and access to experts in an effort to help consumers change their financial behavior – that is part of our commitment. Join us all month long in our special Google+ hangouts, tweet chats (#CreditChat), and visit our blog for some exciting new resources created just for you!
It’s no surprise that cybercrime and data breaches are hot topics for media and bloggers these days.
Unfortunately, because of all the attention paid to these topics, we’ve seen some inaccurate information about Experian circulating in news outlets and other Web sites.
I want to take a moment to clarify the facts and events, including Experian’s involvement in the case involving Court Ventures, a company that collects and aggregates information from public records; US Info Search, a company that provides location and other data for people and companies; and a criminal named Hieu Minh Ngo.
Santander, one of the UK\'s leading providers of current accounts, mortgages, loans and savings products, has signed a five year contract for the deployment of Experian’s Originations and Customer Management products on their PowerCurve™ platform, to support its customer acquisitions and portfolio monitoring processes. The PowerCurve Originations and PowerCurve Customer Management solutions will help Santander support customer acquisitions and portfolio review processes across their retail and business banking products The PowerCurve platform allows Santander the ability to create unique profiles for each of its customers, encompassing each customer’s entire relationship with the business. This includes scores and metrics for risk, affordability, profitability, propensity to pay and lifetime value. Mark Staveley, Chief Credit Officer at Santander UK, comments: \"The ability to share strategies across products, portfolios and lifecycle stages was pivotal to our software selection and partner of choice. We were looking for a partner with proven experience of delivering highly complex, large scale credit risk infrastructure projects under demanding timescales, and to work in an integrated manner with the business. We selected Experian because of the business’ ability to meet our requirements and experience in undertaking platform hosting solutions.\" You can read the full Santander press release here: http://bit.ly/1jDyHYR
Pinterest is the top social media traffic driver for retailer Websites; Amazon.com is the top source of traffic from social sites. According to new research from Experian Marketing Services, a global provider of integrated consumer insight, targeting, data quality and cross-channel marketing, social media Websites are playing an increasingly important role in driving traffic to other Websites, including retail Websites and even other social networking sites, at the expense of search engines and portal Websites. As of March 2014, social media sites now account for 7.72 percent of all traffic to retail Websites, up from 6.59 percent in March 2013. Further, Pinterest, more than Facebook or YouTube, is supplying the greatest percentage of its downstream traffic to retail sites. This trend, among others, is highlighted in Experian Marketing Services’ recently released 2014 Digital Marketer: Benchmark and Trend Report. The report is an annual go-to resource for marketers looking for key industry benchmarks, insights, technology trends and consumer data. “While search still dominates, social media is becoming a significant source of traffic across the Internet as consumers increasingly use sites like Facebook, Pinterest or YouTube more as discovery platforms,” said Bill Tancer, general manager of global research, Experian Marketing Services. “Many of today’s marketers are leveraging the power of social communities to increase customer engagement and expand their brand’s reach. For retailers, all eyes are on Pinterest.” According to the report, more retailers are directing their customers to social media within their email campaigns. Ninety-six percent of marketers now promote social media in their emails, and in 2013, Pinterest had the greatest year-over-year increase. Pinterest is now being promoted by 64 percent of brands within emails. Amazon.com is the top source of downstream traffic from Pinterest, Facebook and YouTube After visiting Facebook, YouTube or Pinterest, consumers are visiting Amazon.com more frequently than any other retailer Website. The top five retail sites downstream from Facebook: Amazon.com Walmart Zulily Target Beyond the Rack The top five retail sites downstream from Youtube: Amazon.com Walmart GameStop Crutchfield Target The top five retail sites downstream from Pinterest: Amazon.com Target Zulily Walmart Nordstrom “Social media continues to grow as an influential source of traffic for retail sites, and it’s important that marketers understand what is driving customers to their Web page,” said Tancer. “Amazon is clearly benefitting from this trend across all of the major social networks. Meanwhile, gaming and electronic retailers GameStop and Crutchfield are top downstream sites for YouTube, which is likely due to enthusiasts sharing videos of game performance and setup, and how-to videos for electronic enthusiasts.” Social drives more traffic to other social Websites In addition, social media Websites increasingly are responsible for driving traffic to other social sites. Upstream traffic from social networking Websites rose 20 percent in 2013 over 2012. Despite still driving the greatest share of traffic to social networking sites at 39.1 percent, search engines’ share declined 13 percent year-over-year. Upstream industries visited before social networking and forum sites 2013 versus 2012 Industry Click share 2013 Year-over-year difference Search engines 39.1% -13% Social networking and forums 15.1% 20% Email services 8.4% 18% Portal front pages 5.4% -41% Multimedia 5.0% 41% Games 2.5% 16% Software 1.6% 16% Television 1.6% 74% Reference 1.2% 28% Department stores 1.1% 48% Source: Experian Marketing Services’ 2014 Digital Marketer: Benchmark and Trend Report The 2014 Digital Marketer: Benchmark and Trend Report is available via a free download at http://ex.pn/PpijOx. The 2014 Digital Marketer webcast hosted by Bill Tancer can be viewed at: http://ex.pn/P2IFFd.
Experian Decision Analytics helps financial institutions manage and enhance their profitability by integrating sales, portfolio and customer management so they can assess each relationship in their portfolio and create active client-focused strategies.
Over the years, one of the lessons that I’ve learned is, to prepare for the future you must understand the past. The same lesson can and should be applied to the automotive industry. As manufacturers, aftermarket companies and retailers continue to move their businesses into 2014 and beyond, it is always beneficial to take a moment and assess what happened in years past. For example, according to Experian Automotive’s Quarterly Report: A look back at the 2013 automotive market share trends, the overall automotive market decreased slightly, with approximately 900,000 vehicles taken off the road from a year ago. Additionally, there were 98 million vehicles within the aftermarket “sweet spot” (vehicles between model years 2002-2008), which means a good number of opportunities (vehicles out of warranty) are available for aftermarket companies. However, with a shortage of model year 2009 vehicles due to low sales volumes, we can expect this number to decrease next year.
Experian Marketing Services, a global provider of integrated consumer insight and targeting, data quality and cross-channel marketing, today announced the release of The 2014 Digital Marketer: Benchmark and Trend Report, the marketing industry’s go-to resource, now in its sixth year, for key industry benchmarks, consumer insights and data. In addition to benchmark and trend data, the 2014 edition features the results of a new cross-channel marketing survey conducted by Experian Marketing Services in more than 20 countries throughout Europe, North America and Asia. According to its results, the survey shows that 80 percent of marketers plan to run cross-channel marketing campaigns in 2014 and more than half of marketers plan to integrate their marketing campaigns across four or more different channels.
As a child, one of the things we all learn is cause and effect. If someone is hungry, then they eat food. If someone is tired, then they take a nap. So logically, one can infer that since we are seeing a recovering housing market, more people will want to buy houses, thus creating a need for more homes to be built. But that’s what makes the findings from Experian’s Q4 Metro Business Pulse analysis all the more intriguing. Although the housing market is showing signs of improvement, the construction industry continues to struggle with below-average business credit health, including a lower-than-average risk score, paying their bills more days beyond contracted terms, had higher bankruptcy rates and had a greater percentage of delinquent debt than other industries.
