When I speak to people about credit reports and credit scores one of the things I always do is ask the audience members to raise their hands if they’ve requested their free annual credit report. Sadly, on a good night only about half the people in the audience raise their hands. A new report from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) confirmed my simple surveys. Far too few people request their reports each year. At a minimum you should check your credit report at least once every 12 months. There are a lot of reasons to get it, and here are five: It’s free. Never pass up a freebie, especially when it can affects your financial health and well-being. Your credit report plays an important part in your credit transactions and many other financial relationships.  Get your annual credit report.  It’s an important step in rebuilding and maintaining good credit. Reviewing your credit report periodically will help you make sure it is in good shape when you are ready to apply for new credit and enable you to monitor your progress if you are recovering from past credit problems. Photo: Shutterstock It’s an important part of managing your personal finances. You should review your credit report just like you do your bank statements and credit card bills. Managing credit, keeping track of spending and putting aside savings are all essential to being financially successful. It’s often the first indicator that you are an identity theft victim. If you find names you don’t recognize, Social Security numbers that don’t belong to you, or accounts that aren’t yours, you might be a fraud victim. Experian and the other national credit reporting companies can help you stop the credit fraud and prevent future misuse of your identity. It’s the first step in correcting any information you feel is inaccurate. The vast majority of the time people find everything is accurate. But if you do find something wrong, your personal credit report comes with instructions for submitting disputes and contact information including a toll-free telephone number, Internet address and mailing address.

In today’s extremely competitive digital world, business analysts want information when they want it, the way they want it. Nowhere is this more evident than in the financial services sector, where the power of information helps risk and portfolio managers improve strategies and make better business decisions every day. With the introduction of IntelliView, never before have you had this amount of pertinent data at your disposal that can be categorized and evaluated according to specific needs. The tool can help you to optimize strategic planning, uncover new opportunities and improve decision making by having 24-7 online access to Experian’s aggregated quarterly consumer credit data. Data is available for seven lending categories including bankcard, retail card, automotive, first mortgage, second mortgage, home-equity lines of credit and personal loans. IntelliView data is sourced from the information that supports the Experian–Oliver Wyman Market Intelligence Reports and is easily accessed through an intuitive, online graphical user interface, which enables you to extract key findings from the data and integrate them into your business strategies. With today’s ever-changing market conditions and increased regulatory scrutiny, you require advanced tools for optimizing strategic planning and operational decision making. The reports available through IntelliView utilize aggregate credit data that has been predefined into the appropriate product and analytical groupings, taking the pressure off of your organization’s internal resources and allowing them more time for analysis. Learn more about IntelliView.

Experian, the leading global information services company, today announced that its vice president of public education, Maxine Sweet, was recognized by the National Foundation for Credit Counseling (NFCC) with its Making the Difference Award during the organization’s 47th Annual Leaders Conference in Charlotte, N.C., which took place Sept. 30–Oct. 3, 2012. Introduced in 2005, the NFCC’s Making the Difference Award honors individuals who have made significant contributions to assisting consumers with financial literacy, awareness and education, furthering the NFCC’s mission, vision and programs through a national presence. “Maxine Sweet personifies this award,” said Gail Cunningham, vice president of membership and public relations at the NFCC. “Her level of commitment, passion and knowledge combined with Experian’s financial education resources has made a remarkable impact on consumers’ lives.” “It is a true honor to receive an award with such great meaning,” Sweet said. “As a company, we strive to make a difference. Through the services we provide, the organizations we support and the communities we serve, we will continue to make financial education the heart of Experian.” The NFCC’s Annual Leaders Conference addresses relevant and timely topics affecting the credit counseling sector. Attendees convene to network and to learn more about the latest developments in the housing, bankruptcy, legislative and financial education sectors. Sweet and Rod Griffin, Experian director of public education, also conducted a Credit Ambassador workshop for NFCC educators and counselors at the conference. The workshop provided an overview on how to build or restore credit and what to do in case of fraud as well as discussed other consumer resources available from Experian.

Experian Marketing Services announced the appointment of industry leader Peter DeNunzio as general manager for Experian CheetahMail. DeNunzio assumes responsibility across all CheetahMail offices in the United States and reports to Matt Seeley, president of Experian Marketing Services. With more than 25 years of experience in marketing, branding and direct-to-consumer programs, DeNunzio has a proven track record of anticipating opportunity and delivering results in every organization he has led. “Peter is a recognized leader in our industry, and joins us with an exceptional background in interactive marketing, data and agency services,” said Matt Seeley, president of Experian Marketing Services. “Through his leadership and breadth of experience, Peter brings a strategic vision that is essential as we continue to invest in technology and innovative solutions that help our marquee clients deliver truly coordinated, relevant and response driven marketing programs.” DeNunzio joins CheetahMail from Aimia (formerly Carlson Marketing), where he was most recently the president of the U.S. Customer Loyalty business. At Aimia, DeNunzio was charged with leading the design and delivery of all U.S. loyalty programs directed toward consumer audiences. Prior to Aimia, DeNunzio was president of Draftfcb New York Earlier in his career, he spent more than 14 years with Ogilvy & Mather, including the global position of managing director EMEA for client IBM, during a period of significant growth in digital and database marketing for the brand. He was also the general manager for OgilvyOne New York and general manager, Global Clients. Commenting on his new role, DeNunzio said, “As the industry’s largest integrated email service provider, with a client base representing the world’s most recognized brands, CheetahMail has built a reputation for exceptional service and innovation. I’m thrilled to lead this team of talented marketers, and I’m especially excited about the future as CheetahMail accelerates its commitment to providing a fully integrated, interactive marketing platform that helps brands connect with customers in a true multi-channel environment. “ DeNunzio lives in Manhattan and serves on the board of the Columbia Business School Center for Global Brand Leadership and on the board of the Advertising Education Foundation.

The auto finance market is always a hot topic for discussion. After all, a vehicle loan is the second largest purchase that most consumers will ever make (the first being a home). Following the credit crunch, analysts and consumers alike watched the auto finance market with great interest to see how auto lending would be affected. The answer? Well, according to Experian Automotive’s Q3 State of the Automotive Finance Market analysis, subprime financing and leasing are continuing to make a strong comeback, which is good news for everyone. According to Melinda Zabritski, Experian Automotive’s director of credit, “Expanding loans to lower-risk tiers opens the market for more car shoppers, while an increase in leasing means it is easier for consumers to get more vehicle for a lower monthly payment. Both of these trends are positive signs of a strong and recovering auto finance market, which ultimately benefits the consumer and the entire auto industry.” Experian Automotive’s quarterly report looks at several areas of the automotive finance market to show how things have changed on a year-to-year basis. In Q3, market share for nonprime, subprime and deep-subprime automotive loans for new vehicles grew by 13.6 percent and new vehicle leasing grew by 7.53 percent year over year. The analysis also looked at the top makes that consumers financed. In Q3, Toyota grabbed top honors, claiming 14.09 percent of all new vehicles financed. Ford was second with 13.16 percent, and Chevrolet was third with 11.10 percent. Other areas covered in this quarter’s analysis include average consumer credit scores for new and used vehicle loans, average dollar amounts financed, 30- and 60-day delinquencies, repossessions, as well as which new vehicles had auto loans with the highest average consumer credit scores. For more information on this report and other automotive-related insights, please visit ExperianAutomotive.com or check out our press release.

There are two sides to every story. It’s one of those old clichés you hear time and time again. When I think about the collections process, this is the first thing that comes to mind. You have the consumer or debtor who enters into an agreement to pay for something and at some point, makes the decision not to pay. It could be a credit card bill or a car payment –or maybe they even forget to pay a library book fine (this actually happened to someone I know!). On the other side, you have the debt collector, who has the task day in and day out, of collecting on the debt the debtor has agreed to pay. This can be stressful, daunting and even unpleasant for both parties. The debt collector is concerned with finding the right party and working out a way to get the debt paid and they use a number of tools to help them do this, including skip tracing products. They definitely don’t want to spend time going down the wrong path wasting valuable time and resources. With Experian’s introduction of TrueTrace today, collectors now have a new industry-leading product that can improve the collections process. TrueTrace provides a very comprehensive and unique combination of data sources that can include everything from payday lending information to rental information through Experian’s RentBureau database. With increasing margin pressures in this industry, a product like TrueTrace offers the most up-to-date, comprehensive and accurate contact data to streamline their skip-tracing efforts. This process is part of the business, part of an agreement, but what strikes me as a pleasant surprise is the turn of events where many debt collectors are spending more time understanding consumer credit to better their understanding of the consumer. In turn, they can make themselves more effective and create a more positive experience for the consumer as well. This increase in knowledge can help the collector make better determinations about the consumer’s ability to pay and allow for a more meaningful conversation with the debtor. With the debt recovery industry focused so heavily on results, TrueTrace will surely play an important role, but combining this with education and professional development can really make for a winning combination for everyone. For more information about TrueTrace, you can read the news release here. Photo: Shutterstock

            Small businesses are getting a lot of attention right now. With the presidential election, Affordable Care Act and talk of the looming fiscal cliff, small business health and survival concerns have been widely discussed across the United States. Earlier this year, Experian’s Business Information Services and Moody’s Analytics, a leading independent provider of economic forecasting, joined forces to create a business index and detailed report that provides insight into the health of U.S. businesses. The Experian/Moody’s Analytics Small Business Credit Index is reported quarterly to show fluctuations in the market and discuss factors that are impacting the business economy. The recently released Small Business Credit Index for third quarter 2012 showed that small business credit quality began deteriorating in Q3 after four consecutive quarters of improvement. Findings from the report also indicated that severely delinquent account balances and slower consumer spending growth posed a significant challenge to small businesses that will likely continue throughout the rest of 2012 and most of 2013. Details from the analysis also highlighted several other areas affecting small business including job growth, payment trends, consumer spending, raising home prices and unemployment. To download a full copy of the report, please visit www.experian.com/SmallBusinessCreditIndex

Do you love saving money? Do you ever use apps to help you cut costs and stay on budget? In our continuing quest to promote financial literacy and help consumers live credit smart, we asked some of our favorite personal finance writers to share a favorite app that helps them stay on budget and save money. Check out these great apps: The Ballpark Calculator I really like the Ballpark calculator at choosetosave.org because it gives you a quick, easy estimate of how much you need to save in order to retire comfortably. Knowing *what* you're saving for always makes saving easier for people. Jean Chatzky is the financial editor for NBC’s TODAY show, is an award-winning personal finance journalist, AARP’s personal finance ambassador, and the host of “Money Matters with Jean Chatzky” on RLTV. You can reach her on Twitter @JeanChatzky and find more tips like this in her book: Money Rules The Simple Path to Lifelong Security.    Mint.com I’m a big fan of Mint, which tracks all of our financial accounts and alerts us when we’re paying fees or reaching a spending limit that we’ve set on our accounts. Mint makes it easy to review our transactions so I can see exactly where our money is going and make adjustments as necessary. Liz Weston, writes for MSN, and author of "There Are No Dumb Questions About Money." I love Mint.com. It's just so helpful to be able to look at the state of all of your accounts in one place, and the site makes it easy to set budgets and savings goals. Plus, as a visual person, I find their graphs super helpful — it seems kind of silly, but it's so much easier to have the different sections of my budget visualized instead of looking at them as a series of little numbers in a spreadsheet. Meg Favreau is the Senior Editor at Wisebread.com and tweets @wisebreadmeg. She's also a comedian, food enthusiast, and author of the book Little Old Lady Recipes.   I like Mint.com's app — it securely pulls your bank account and credit card information into one place so you can quickly see how much you've spent and what kinds of things you're spending too much on. It also helps you set spending caps and then will email when you're about to go over these. Catey Hill is the author of "Shoo, Jimmy Choo! The Modern Girl's Guide to Spending Less and Saving More." She regularly writes regularly about personal finance for MarketWatch.com and eHow.com. ShopSavvy Shopping App ShopSavvy is a must-have shopping app for Android users. The app lets you scan barcodes and compare prices across some 20,000 retailers, either the brick and mortar ones or those online. Beats going to each store individually to do canvassing. Plus, you’ve got reviews to make sure you’re purchasing products that others have already tried and tested; it’s got wish lists for those nudge/wink/hint times of the year, and price alerts for the busy folks who still want to save on deals. The best part? The app is free! Kathryn Finney is the founder of TheBudgetFashionista.com and named “One of the Top Ten Women in Money by AOL. Google Calendar I like Google Calendar a lot because I can set up email and text alerts for when bills are due or when a particular promotion is ending. This helps keep my bill payments up-to-date as well as lets me know when it's time to renegotiate items like cable TV fees. Glen Craig is the founder of FreeFromBroke.com. Budgetable App I have so many that I use and love, but my favorite would have to be Budgetable. It not only show you a full snapshot of your finances, but also includes a deals map so you can save even more dough. Kelly Whalen is the blogger behind TheCentsiblelife.com, and has been featured in Money Magazine, USA Today, Consumerist, and MSN Money Blog. My Money Center My favorite tool for saving money and managing my finances is LearnVest’s My Money Center –and it's free! Through My Money Center, you can connect all of your accounts, from credit cards and debit cards to savings accounts, loans and investment accounts. Alexa von Tobel is the founder and CEO of LearnVest.com And check out the new LearnVest app: RetailMeNot Right now, my favorite tool for saving money is the RetailMeNot mobile app that shows coupons and deals both online or in store. It's especially great to have when I'm on the road traveling. I can find discounts on everything from hotels to rental cars to Starbucks (and who doesn't want to save at Starbucks?). Carrie Smith is the blogger and founder of CarefulCents.com RedLaser & Other Barcode Scanning Apps The app I use the most on my iPhone is called RedLaser. It provides product search results sorted by the lowest price for almost any item that has a bar code. It helps me save money at the grocery store, and also when I am shopping at department stores. It provides the best price on items from both brick-and-mortar stores and online retailers. Andrew Schrage is the Editor-in-Chief of MoneyCrashers.com, which has been featured in the Wall Street Journal, US News and World Report, Yahoo Finance, Forbes, and more. I really like the bar code scanning apps out there, where you scan the bar code of a product and it tells you if you can buy it for less somewhere else. I've found a lot of things cheaper on Amazon and those apps (there are a million of them, I think I use Red Laser the most) are great for helping you save a few bucks, especially if you're not in a rush to get it. Sometimes I don't even end up buying the item! Jim Wang is the blogger behind WalletHacks. I'm a big fan of those barcode scanning apps. While you're shopping, you can just take an image of the barcode and it will allow you to compare prices at other stores in town, as well as online. It's a great way to comparison shop and get the best value for your money. Miranda Marquit is the founder of PlantingMoneySeeds.com.  ImpulseSave & LevelUp Obviously, we're huge fans of ImpulseSave. Our app allows you to turn those impulse buys into ImpulseSaves right in the moment  – transferring that money you would have spent into a separate savings account under a goal that you really care about. If you can buy on Impulse just about anywhere – why shouldn't you be able to save on impulse too? Another staff favorite is LevelUp, which allows you to make payments with your phone while also getting loyalty discounts from local merchants. It's beautifully simple to setup and use, and loyalty rewards are automatically applied to your transaction (no more carrying around those "free sandwich" cards). Phil Fremont-Smith is the co-founder and CEO of ImpulseSave.com  Hotel Tonight My favorite new app is Hotel Tonight. Check it out the day that you need a hotel, and it will let you know if your city has any inventory on sale! The app is adding cities constantly and it's a fun way to catch a last minute hotel sale. You can get rooms for up to 70 percent off. Natalie P. McNeal, creator, TheFrugalista.com, author, The Frugalista Files: How One Woman Got Out of Debt Without Giving Up the Fabulous Life  Craigslist App I really like the Craigslist app. When I find something that's been lying around my house for too long without getting used, I take out the app, snap a pic, and list my item for sale. The app is also good for quickly finding a used version of something I may need. Philip Taylor is the blogger and founder behind PTmoney.com, and has been featured on CNBC, Fox Business, U.S. News and World Report, and MSN.  Peapod Grocery Shopping App My Peapod grocery shopping app– it makes it so easy for me to shop for my groceries online (for delivery) that I can easily plan my meals, see what's on sale, and make my shopping list. I can do it all while I'm waiting in line or watching TV. Kimberly Palmer is the Sr. Editor at U.S. News & World Report and author of GenerationEarn.com  Pencil and Paper Whether you scratch a budget out on a ledger with a pencil like we did in our early years of marriage or whether you use a high-tech budgeting software that syncs with your phone and computer, I believe a written budget is imperative for true financial success. Without it, all your money will just pass through your fingers like sand with little to show for it. Contrary to what many people think, following a budget gives you freedom. You can guiltlessly spend the money you've allotted in your eating out budget without having to worry about how you're going to afford to pay your electric bill since you already have money set aside for that and all of your other necessities. Crystal Paine is founder of MoneySavingMom.com and author of The Money Saving Mom®'s Budget. Follow her on Twitter or Facebook.   I don’t own a smartphone (that saves me money) so I don’t use any apps.  My favorite tool is a pencil and a piece of paper, which I use to make a menu plan and a grocery list.  The menu plan helps prevent me from eating out and the grocery list helps me buy only the things I need. Kristen is the founder of TheFrugalGirl.com, where she shares practical tips for simple, frugal living. She tweets at @thefrugalgirl can also be found at facebook.com/thefrugalgirl. ReadyForZero When I decided to get out of debt earlier this year, I knew I would use ReadyForZero, a free online tool that helps you organize and pay off your debts as fast as possible. But I didn't realize just how useful it would be! The most important feature is that it lets you make a plan that works with your individual budget, and it can be adjusted at any time. Then it tells you which account has the highest interest rate, and helps you target that one with timely e-mail reminders and a bright blue progress bar to keep you focused on your goal. Ben Feldman is the writer and content strategist for ReadyforZero.com   ING App My favorite app is ING's, only because of the awesome check deposit tool. You take pictures of the front and back of a check, and can deposit it easily. The app has dramatically reduced the number of trips I make to the bank! Other banks have similar apps, I just happen to use ING so it's the only one I have personal experience with. Cathy is the founder of ChiefFamilyOfficer.com and wrote a great post on creating a price book to help you save money. Yelp My husband and I consider eating out a special treat both financially and nutritionally.  When we indulge, we love to get special deals by using Yelp.  It is a great way to see what others think of the restaurant and occasionally to enjoy free wine or two-for-one dining. Maxine Sweet is vice president of Experian North America’s Public Education organization and leads Experian’s consumer education, community involvement and corporate responsibility teams.   BigCrumbs.com & Ebates.com So what types of applications or tools do I use to help save me money?  I thoroughly appreciate any great comparison shopping tool or review site.  These tools and sites allow me to get a better grasp for a product and service before I commit to a purchase.  I also like using cash back sites such as BigCrumbs.com and Ebates.com. These cash back shopping sites can help you save money even as you spend.  I manage to earn enough cash back from these sites to help defray the costs of my holiday shopping every Christmas season. Silicon Valley Blogger (SVB) runs The Digerati Life, a personal finance site that offers tips and resources on saving money, stock investing, credit management and general money management. You can check out her twitter page at @TheDigeratiLife and Facebook. Excel Spreadsheet I'm a tinkerer by nature, so my favorite tool for saving money is actually my trusty old spreadsheet. Whether it's my budget, investment performance or net worth, I can tailor the information to my liking without worrying about security, updatability or cost. David Ning is the founder of MoneyNing.com. Ah, there are so many! I get that question often. So often, that I put together a list of all of the money saving products I use. Some favorites include the American Express Blue Preferred card, which gives 6% cash back on groceries and a low-flow showerhead. G.E. Miller is the founder and blogger behind 20somethingfinance.com.   Do you use any apps that help you stay on budget? Comment below and let us know. Photo: Shutterstock

Whether you own the largest pickup or the smallest hybrid on the market, one thing remains clear – folks in the U.S. love their vehicles. In the recently released Loyalty and Market Trends Report by Experian Automotive, we looked at several key trends that highlight who is buying what, and which auto makers received highest marks in loyalty in Q2. The infographic here reveals that Toyota took the top spot in Corporate Loyalty* for the first time since Q3 2009, and that the Chevrolet Sonic was top model in Brand Loyalty. The analysis also found that Ford owners were the most Brand Loyal overall, landing six models in the top ten. The report also highlighted several other areas of the Auto industry including registration trends, market share shifts and changes in the average vehicle age. All of this information will be presented in a free webinar on Oct. 11 at 11am PT / 1pm CT / 2pm ET. If you would like to attend the event, visit www.ExperianAutomotive.com to register. If you can’t make the live event, a recording will be available on the site for download. *To measure loyalty, we looked at vehicle owners and their subsequent vehicle purchase. For example, if you owned an Acura, then purchased a Honda, you would be considered Corporate Loyal, but not Brand Loyal. To be Brand Loyal, you need to buy another Acura.