Experian Global News Blog

Tag: financial education

  • Hello Personal Assistant, Can You Do Maths?

    GettyImages-601919228

    As the owner of one of those increasingly popular voice-controlled assistants, I get a weekly email from the supplier suggesting new things to ask it to do or help with.

    Rather conveniently, this week’s update arrived this morning and includes the suggestion: “[Hello], can you do maths?”  I use the word ‘conveniently’ because among the various tasks on my to-do list today is ‘write a short blog about numeracy’. So now I have an introduction.

    Like literacy, numeracy – understanding and being able to apply numbers – is a vital life skill. They are both key foundations of our education from the earliest of ages and go on to support opportunity and achievement throughout our schooling, into the world of work and beyond.

    Low levels of numeracy in adult life can be a major obstacle to success. Most employers require at least basic maths skills. And if you struggle with numbers, making successful financial decisions about the money that going to work generates will be very challenging.

    But this is the reality for many adults today. In the UK, almost half of us possess the maths skills expected of an 11 year old. This is according to National Numeracy, a charity that champions the importance of good numeracy and provides tools to help people improve.

    So when National Numeracy asked Experian to support the UK’s first National Numeracy Day on 16 May we were delighted to say yes. I’m certainly looking forward to working alongside a number of other big brands as well as numeracy ambassadors Rachel Riley and Martin Lewis.

    It’s a great fit for Experian, a company with a long track record of supporting initiatives designed to help people make successful decisions, particularly around personal finances. Our learning resource Values, Money & Me is already used in primary-school classrooms around the country to help cement good financial habits from an early age. Similarly, millions of adults track the health of their credit with the help of a free Experian account, and use the built-in eligibility features to secure better deals on financial products.

    Like others, we firmly believe that maths skills and financial success are closely linked, so we’re delighted to be helping support and promote National Numeracy Day. We’ll be encouraging as many people as possible to tackle the National Numeracy challenge and, where necessary, to take follow-up steps to brush up on their maths skills and, as a result we hope, improve their financial futures.

    Written by: James Jones, Head of Consumer Affairs, UK&I

  • Empowering Local Communities to Fight Fraud #ExperianStories

    Identity fraud is at an all-time high, and it can have devastating consequences on a person’s life.

    Victims of identity fraud may have to file for bankruptcy or deal with debt, which can sometimes cause personal relationships to suffer. Elderly people in particular are at the greatest risk of fraud out of any age group, as they tend to more trusting of phone calls, house calls and email scams. It’s my job at Experian to arm them with the tools they need to prevent identity fraud.

    The number one challenge in helping prevent identity fraud is lack of awareness. People simply don’t know all the risks, so education is a paramount priority.

    At Experian, we conducted research on the best way to educate different age groups, and found that it varied widely. While younger people are best reached online, older people are more responsive to face-to-face activities, which is part of the reason they are more susceptible to doorstep scams. To help educate elderly people, we found we needed to go out into the community and literally put useful information into people’s hands.

    As part of these efforts, my team at Experian first worked with the Outreach Solutions organization to help older people in Nottinghamshire, England, understand the dangers of fraud.

    The pilot campaign, “Tackling Fraud,” reached 15,000 U.K. residents over age 55, teaching them how to tackle the threat of fraud. We armed these individuals with expert advice on how to spot suspicious activity and stop it from happening to them or the people they care about.

    Given the success and great reception we had in Nottinghamshire, it was clear that this movement could continue growing. According to Experian research, Glasgow is one of the areas with the highest number of identity fraud cases in Scotland.

    We’d been testing a new television advertisement in Glasgow – marking the first time that identity fraud has ever been advertised on TV in the U.K. – so I made the case to run the next iteration of our Tackling Fraud campaign there, too.

    In partnership with the Glasgow Council for the Voluntary Sector, we worked with a range of individuals and community groups to provide fraud prevention training to more than 30,000 elderly people in the city.\

    We’re dedicated to helping the elderly with our Tackling Fraud campaign, putting people in control of their lives by giving them the information they need to help them protect themselves. I hope that one day we can take this project throughout the U.K.

    Written by: Phil Rance, Director of Product Identity, Experian Consumer Services

     

    id-theftFIN

  • Experian donation to InCharge Debt Solutions helps consumer financial challenges

    Experian donation to InCharge Debt Solutions helps consumer financial challenges

    In-kind donation of IntelliView data helps businesses plan and implement consumer programs

    Consumers will be empowered to repay debt and increase financial literacy

    One of our core brand beliefs at Experian is how we are using our data and analytics to help businesses and consumers. Once you can unlock the potential of that data for those involved, everyone around you can achieve even more. We strive to make a positive impact to consumers by getting involved with different charitable organizations in communities where we live and work through our Corporate Social Responsibly program to create success.

    With that as our backdrop, we are proud to announce a gift in kind of our IntelliViewSM data solution to InCharge Debt Solutions, a non profit financial counseling company that helps consumers get financial access.

    InCharge Debt Solutions will use Experian IntelliView data in their strategic planning process to help them gain a better understanding of macro industry trends and identify services that will most benefit the people they serve.

    “We really appreciate the IntelliViewSM data access from Experian. If we didn’t have this access we would have to do strategic planning in a much more blind way,” said Chris Henningsen, V.P. Consumer Awareness & IT at InCharge.  “The insight IntelliView brings helps us plan and implement programs that the people we serve most need to restore and improve their financial well-being.””

    “We’re happy to offer InCharge access to our Intelliview solution to enable a proactive approach in providing advice to their clients to achieve greater financial success,” said Alan Ikemura, Experian senior product manager for Intelliview.

    InCharge Debt Solutions is a nonprofit organization offering confidential and professional credit counseling, debt management services, bankruptcy education, housing counseling and educational initiatives since 1997. With the assistance of certified credit counselors, the organization has helped over three million people repay a staggering $3 billion in debt and provided more than 10,000 free financial literacy community workshops.

    The $58,000 contribution is just one of the many ways Experian supports financial literacy and unlocks the power of data to transform lives and create opportunities for consumers, businesses, and society.

    Learn more about how Experian’s Corporate Social Responsibly team is helping Experian make a real impact in our communities.

  • Experian Partners With Orange County Rescue Mission, Fosters Financial Literacy in the Local Community

    ocrm_logo2

    With the objective of supporting the local community and helping Orange County residents overcome financial issues, we have partnered with the Orange County Rescue Mission (OCRM) to spread financial literacy by providing residents with the insight and resources to guide them on a journey to independence.

    As part of this program, Experian is offering at no charge its Experian Credit EducatorSM product, a tool designed to provide consumers with one-on-one telephone-based education sessions and guide them through important information related to their credit lives. This innovative tool helps prepare consumers for career exploration, future employment opportunities, home rentals and other important financial decisions.

    We were eager to strengthen our partnership with OCRM because our company strongly supports its goal of providing the homeless with the skills and resources to become self-sufficient.

    Within 30–60 days of entering OCRM, residents will work with an Experian volunteer to schedule their session. An agent will provide individuals with a copy of their credit report and help them review, understand and improve their credit score. This session enables the resident to identify any potential issues with their credit report or score, while learning the fundamentals of credit reporting from a reputable resource.

    The phone-based sessions usually take 35 minutes. A significant number of OCRM members have been empowered with in-depth information to take important steps toward improving their financial literacy. The initiative is part of Experian’s broader mission to promote data for good by leveraging insights from the use of Big Data into actionable solutions that benefit consumers, businesses and government organizations.

    Experian already has provided more than 25 sessions to the OCRM’s members and is on schedule to deliver 15–20 a month as new OCRM members become integrated into the independent-living and job-training programs.

    OC Register Coverage:
    New O.C. program helps homeless people fix their credit
    By Theresa Walker

    Back when she was living on the streets and panhandling to buy food and drugs, a good credit score was the last thing Jody Puckett figured she needed.

    “Credit wasn’t even something on my mind because we were living day to day,” Puckett said of the way she and her husband had existed for six years, mostly living in his truck.

    “We were thinking about how we were going to get a roof over our heads. And food. And dope.”

    It took nearly two years with Orange County Rescue Mission’s live-in Village of Hope rehabilitation program for Puckett, 46, and her husband, Devin, 47, to shed that sketchy old life and start anew.

    Now, good credit does matter to the Pucketts. They are clean and sober, working and hope to buy a home someday for themselves and their 7-year-old daughter.

    Read full article here.

    Experian Consumer Counsel: Volunteers Helping People Manage Their Credit

  • Championing Consumers to Financial Literacy

    Financial Education

    Are you in the dark with your finances? Take control this April during Financial Literacy Month and join Experian as we provide education and resources to help light the way to financial literacy.

    Experian is a long-time advocate for financial education and empowerment for consumers.  As a result, we are teaming with the Jump$tart Coalition® this month to encourage people to take time to think and talk about their own money matters.  We want to encourage people to take full advantage of all of the available resources designed to improve their financial literacy and well-being.

    “To make true progress in financial literacy, it takes an army of willing and relentless partners to come together for a shared goal of making a brighter financial future for consumers of all ages. From the very beginning, Experian has advocated and committed to be part of the journey to financial literacy.”

    – Laura Levine, president and CEO of the Jump$tart Coalition for Personal Financial Literacy®

    To support this year’s initiative, Experian created a program with activities and education materials to help financial educators and consumers improve their understanding of credit principles and practices. Join in all month long for exciting activities created to help guide consumers on their financial journeys:

    Chat with the experts in the #CreditChat

    We are passionate about educating consumers all year round and that’s why we host our Plutus award–winning #CreditChat on Twitter, accompanied with a Google+ hangout every Wednesday at 3 p.m. Eastern time.  Each week in April we will discuss hot topics in personal finance to help you become more financially capable.

    • April 1: Ways to make Smarter Money Decisions with New York Times columnist Carl Richards and the Jump$tart Coalition.
    • April 8: How to Protect Yourself From Identity Theft featuring Experian’s public-education experts Rod Griffin and Becky Frost.
    • April 15: How to Rebuild and Raise Your Credit Scores with Jeanne Kelly, journalist and nationally recognized voice in credit counseling.
    • April 22: How to Get Financially Ready for College with Wells Fargo and reporter Liz Weston.
    • April 29: Financial Inclusion: Ideas to Help the Underbanked with Operation Hope, the nation’s leading nonprofit social-investment-banking and financial-literacy-empowerment organization on a mission to eradicate poverty.

    Empowering financial education throughout the country

    • On April 1, 2015, at the Annual Conference on Financial Education in San Antonio, Griffin will discuss the characteristics necessary to become a credit-score superstar and provide an update on credit reporting to financial professionals.
    • Hosted by the National Consumers League on April 17–20, Experian — a longtime supporter — will be on the judging panel for the Lifesmarts competition championship in Seattle.

    Check out these consumer education resources

    • Visit Experian’s help site for answers to common questions, advice and education about consumer credit.
    • Consumers are welcome to ask their credit questions on our Facebook page at https://facebook.com/ExperianUS.
    • Join the Credit & Finance Talk with Experian on its iHeart Radio show to get the inside scoop on how to live credit-confident with expert interviews, credit information and steps to protect your identity.
    • Search the Jump$tart website for engaging resources available to help introduce children to personal finance.

    Turning insights into action is at the core of everything Experian does and why we have worked so diligently through our credit education program over the past 20 years — to be a champion for consumer financial literacy.