Financial Services

Join us as we dive into the world of decisioning and optimization during our upcoming tech showcase, where we’ll be demoing our innovative debt management solutions, Experian® Optimize and PowerCurve® Customer Management. Discover how you can leverage these tools to not only increase profitability but also improve your operational efficiency. We'll show you how our debt collection solutions can enable you to:  Turn insight into action with a more holistic consumer view.  Increase right-party contact with the best channel and time.  Reduce bad debt levels and manage overall exposure.  Leading this tech showcase will be Experian’s Matthew Baltzer, Senior Director of Collections Product Management, and Holly Deason, Senior Director of Solution Engineering. Watch on-demand

Spoiler alert: Gen AI is everywhere, including the top of Experian’s list of fraud trends 2024. “The speed and complexity of fraud attacks due to new technology and sophisticated fraudsters is leaving both businesses and consumers at risk in 2024,” said Kathleen Peters, chief innovation officer at Experian Decision Analytics in North America. “At Experian, we’re constantly innovating to deliver data-driven solutions to help our customers fight fraud and to protect the consumers they serve.” To deter fraudulent activity in 2024, businesses and consumers must get tactical for their fraud fighting strategies. And for businesses, the need for more sophisticated fraud protection solutions leveraging data and technology is greater than ever before. Experian suggests consumers and businesses watch out for these big five rounding out our fraud trends 2024. Generative AI: Generative AI accelerates DIY fraud: Experian predicts fraudsters will use generative AI to accelerate “do-it-yourself” fraud ranging from deepfake content – think emails, voice and video – as well as code creation to set up scam websites. A previous blog post of ours highlighted four types of generative AI used for fraud, including fraud automation at scale, text content generation, image and video manipulation and human voice generation. The way around it? Fight AI fraud with AI as part of a multilayered fraud prevention solution. Fraud at bank branches: Bank branches are making a comeback. A growing number of consumers prefer visiting bank branches in person to open new accounts or get financial advice with the intent to conduct safer transactions. However, face-to-face verification is not flawless and is still susceptible to human error or oversight. According to an Experian report, 85% of consumers report physical biometrics as the most trusted and secure authentication method they’ve recently encountered, but the measure is only currently used by 32% of businesses to detect and protect against fraud. Retailers, beware: Not all returns are as they appear. Experian predicts an uptick in cases where customers claim to return their purchases, only for the business to receive an empty box in return. Businesses must be vigilant with their fraud strategy in order to mitigate risk of lost goods and revenue. Synthetic identity fraud will surge: Pandemic-born synthetic identities may have been dormant, but now have a few years of history, making it easier to elude detection leading to fraudsters using those dormant accounts to “bust out” over the next year. Cause-related and investment deception: Fraudsters are employing new methods that strike an emotional response from consumers with cause-related asks to gain access to consumers’ personal information. Experian predicts that these deceptive cause-related methods will surge in 2024 and beyond. How businesses and consumers feel about fraud in 2024 According to an Experian report, over half of consumers feel they’re more of a fraud target than a year ago and nearly 70% of businesses report that fraud losses have increased in recent years. Business are facing mounting challenges – from first-party fraud and credit washing to synthetic identity and the yet-to-be-known impacts generative AI may have on fraud schemes. Synthetic identity fraud has been mentioned in multiple Experian Fraud Forecasts and the threat is ever growing. As technology continues to enhance consumers’ connectedness, it also heightens the stakes for various fraud attacks. As highlighted by this list of fraud trends 2024, the ways that fraudsters are looking to deceive is increasing from all angles. “Now more than ever, businesses need to implement a multilayered approach to their identity verification and fraud prevention strategies that leverages the latest technology available,” said Peters. Consumers are increasingly at risk from sophisticated fraud schemes. Increases in direct deposit account and check fraud, as well as advanced technologies like deepfakes and AI-generated phishing emails, put consumers in a precarious position. The call to action for consumers is to remain vigilant of seemingly authentic interactions. Experian can help with your fraud strategy To learn more about Experian’s fraud prevention solutions, please visit https://www.experian.com/business/solutions/fraud-management.  Download infographic Watch Future of Fraud webinar

As a community bank or credit union, your goal is to provide personalized care and attention to your customers and members while effectively managing regulatory requirements and operational efficiency. By incorporating tools such as income and employment verification, you can streamline the approval process for both account holders and prospects. With the ability to validate their information in seconds, you'll be able to make well-informed decisions faster and accelerate conversion. In this blog post, we will explore the empowering impact of income and employment verification on financial institutions. Better Data, Better Decisions Choosing a verification partner with an instant employer payroll network allows financial institutions to access reliable and up-to-date income and employment information for confident decision-making. With accurate and timely data at their fingertips, you can gain a deeper understanding of your account holders’ capacity to pay, a critical component to assessing overall financial health. This not only helps mitigate risk but also helps you serve your customers and members more effectively. There are additional benefits to partnering with a verification solution provider that is also a Credit Reporting Agency (CRA) offering FCRA-compliant technologies. These organizations are well versed in compliance matters and can help you more effectively mitigate risk. Streamline Approval Times and Remove Friction When developing your verification process, it is advantageous to adopt a waterfall or multi-step approach that encompasses instant verification, permissioned verification, and, as a last resort, manual verification. This tiered approach will significantly reduce approval times, manage costs effectively, and streamline the approval process. Instant verification relies on advanced technology to provide swift and efficient results. In cases where instant verification is unavailable, the process seamlessly transitions to permissioned verification, where explicit consent is obtained from individuals to access their payroll data directly from their respective providers. Lastly, manual verification involves collecting payroll and employment documents, which is a more time-consuming and costly process. By implementing this comprehensive approach, you can enhance the efficiency and effectiveness of your verification process while maintaining the integrity of the results. A Flexible Solution Community banks and credit unions are integral to the lending industry. It is crucial for them to select a versatile verification solution that can keep pace with the approval speed of both regional and large banks. Given that community banks and credit unions operate in smaller geographic regions compared to larger institutions, it is imperative for them to have a verification solution that is versatile and can be applied across their entire spectrum of loan offerings, including mortgage loans, automotive loans, credit cards, home equity loans, and consumer loans. This adaptability enables community banks and credit unions to consistently serve their account holders and enhances their ability to compete effectively with larger financial institutions. With a robust verification solution in place, community banks and credit unions can confidently navigate the complexities of the lending landscape and deliver exceptional results for their valued account holders. World-Class Service and Support To ensure a seamless verification journey, community banks and credit unions should choose a solution provider that delivers exceptional service and support. From the initial onboarding process and comprehensive training to ongoing troubleshooting and guidance, a dedicated and knowledgeable support team becomes indispensable in establishing a successful verification process. Having hands-on training and support not only instills peace of mind but also empowers community-focused financial institutions to consistently provide a high level of personalized service, fostering trust and loyalty among their customers and members. By investing in a robust support system, community banks and credit unions can confidently navigate the verification landscape and stay ahead in an ever-evolving financial industry, reinforcing their commitment to delivering an outstanding experience to their communities. As a longstanding leader in the financial industry, Experian understands the unique challenges faced by community banks and credit unions. Our verification solution, Experian VerifyTM, provides accurate, efficient, and compliant income and employment verification services. With Experian Verify, community focused financial institutions can navigate the complexities of income and employment verification with ease, achieving new levels of efficiency and success. To learn more about how Experian Verify can benefit your bank or credit union, we invite you to visit our website and schedule a personalized demo. Together, let's unlock the potential of income and employment verification and elevate your financial institution to new heights of success. Learn more

This article was updated on February 13, 2024. Traditional credit data has long been a reliable source for measuring consumers' creditworthiness. While that's not changing, new types of alternative credit data are giving lenders a more complete picture of consumers' financial health. With supplemental data, lenders can better serve a wider variety of consumers and increase financial access and opportunities in their communities. What is alternative credit data? Alternative credit data, also known as expanded FCRA-regulated data, is data that can help you evaluate creditworthiness but isn't included in traditional credit reports.1 To comply with the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA), alternative credit data must be displayable, disputable and correctable. Lenders are increasingly turning to new types and sources of data as the use of alternative credit data becomes the norm in underwriting. Today, lenders commonly use one or more of the following: Alternative financial services data: Alternative financial services (AFS) credit data can include information on consumers' use of small-dollar installment loans, single-payment loans, point-of-sale financing, auto title loans and rent-to-own agreements. Consumer permission data: With a consumer's permission, you can get transactional and account-level data from financial accounts to better assess income, assets and cash flow. The access can also give insight into payment history on non-traditional accounts, such as utilities, cell phone and streaming services. Rental payment history: Property managers, electronic rent payment services and rent collection companies can share information on consumers' rent payment history and lease terms. Full-file public records: Local- and state-level public records can tell you about a consumer's professional and occupational licenses, education, property deeds and address history. Buy Now Pay Later (BNPL) data: BNPL tradeline and account data can show you payment and return histories, along with upcoming scheduled payments. It may become even more important as consumers increasingly use this new type of point-of-sale financing. By gathering more information, you can get a deeper understanding of consumers' creditworthiness and expand your lending universe. From market segmentation to fraud prevention and collections, you can also use alternative credit data throughout the customer lifecycle. READ: 2023 State of Alternative Credit Data Report Challenges in underwriting today While unemployment rates are down, high inflation, rising interest rates and uncertainty about the economy are impacting consumer sentiment and the lending environment.2 Additionally, lenders may need to shift their underwriting approaches as pandemic-related assistance programs and loan accommodations end. Lenders may want to tighten their credit criteria. But, at the same time, consumers are becoming accustomed to streamlined application processes and responses. A slow manual review could lead to losing customers. Alternative credit data can help you more accurately assess consumers' creditworthiness, which may make it easier to identify high-risk applicants and find the hidden gems within medium-risk segments. Layering traditional and alternative credit data with the latest approaches to model building, such as using artificial intelligence, can also help you implement precise and predictive underwriting strategies. Benefits of using alternative data for credit underwriting Using alternative data for credit underwriting — along with custom credit attributes and automation — is the modern approach to a risk-based credit approval strategy. The result can offer: A greater view of consumer creditworthiness: Personal cash flow data and a consumer's history of making (or missing) payments that don't appear on traditional credit reports can give you a better understanding of their financial position. Improve speed and accuracy of credit decisions: The expanded view helps you create a more efficient underwriting process. Automated underwriting tools can incorporate alternative credit data and attributes with meaningful results. One lender, Atlas Credit, worked with Experian to create a custom model that incorporated alternative credit data and nearly doubled its approvals while reducing risk by 15 to 20 percent.3 Increase financial inclusion: There are 28 million American adults who don't have a mainstream credit file and 21 million who aren't scoreable by conventional scoring models.4 With alternative credit data, you may be able to more accurately assess the creditworthiness of adults who would otherwise be deemed thin file or unscorable. Broadening your pool of applications while appropriately managing risk is a measurable success. What Experian builds and offers Experian is continually expanding access to expanded FCRA-regulated data. Our Experian RentBureau and Clarity Services (the leading source of alternative financial credit data) have long given lenders a more complete picture of consumers' financial situation. Experian also helps lenders effectively use these new types of data. You can also incorporate the data into your proprietary marketing, lending and collections strategies. Experian is also using alternative credit data for credit scoring. The Lift Premium™ model can score 96 percent of U.S. adults — compared to the 81 percent that conventional models can score using traditional data.5 The bottom line Lenders have been testing and using alternative credit data for years, but its use in underwriting may become even more important as they need to respond to changing consumer expectations and economic uncertainty. Experian is supporting this innovation by expanding access to alternative data sources and helping lenders understand how to best use and implement alternative credit data in their lending strategies. Learn more 1When we refer to “Alternative Credit Data," this refers to the use of alternative data and its appropriate use in consumer credit lending decisions, as regulated by the Fair Credit Reporting Act. Hence, the term “Expanded FCRA Data" may also apply and can be used interchangeably. 2Experian (2024). State of the Economy Report 3Experian (2020). OneAZ Credit Union [Case Study] 4Oliver Wyman (2022). Financial Inclusion and Access to Credit [White Paper] 5Ibid.

This article was updated on February 12, 2024. The Buy Now, Pay Later (BNPL) space has grown massively over the last few years. But with rapid growth comes an increased risk of fraud, making "Buy Now, Pay Never" a crucial fraud threat to watch out for in 2024 and beyond. What is BNPL? BNPL, a type of short-term financing, has been around for decades in different forms. It's attractive to consumers because it offers the option to split up a specific purchase into installments rather than paying the full total upfront. The modern form of BNPL typically offers four installments, with the first payment at the time of purchase, as well as 0% APR and no hidden fees. According to an Experian survey, consumers cited managing spending (34%), convenience (31%), and avoiding interest payments (23%) as main reasons for choosing BNPL. Participating retailers generally offer BNPL at point-of-sale, making it easy for customers to opt-in and get instantly approved. The customer then makes a down payment and pays off the installments from their preferred account. BNPL is on the rise The fintech and online-payment-driven world is seeing a rise in the popularity of BNPL. According to Experian research, 3 in 4 consumers have used BNPL in 2023, with 11% using BNPL weekly to make purchases. The interest in BNPL also spans generations — 36% of Gen Z, 43% of Millennials, 32% of Gen X, and 12% of Baby Boomers have used this payment method. The risks of BNPL While BNPL is a convenient, easy way for consumers to plan for their purchases, experts warn that with lax checkout and identity verification processes it is a target for digital fraud. Experian predicts an uptick in three primary risks for BNPL providers and their customers: identity theft, first-party fraud, and synthetic identity fraud. WATCH: Fraud and Identity Challenges for Fintechs Victims of identity theft can be hit with charges from BNPL providers for products they have never purchased. First-party and synthetic identity risks will emerge as a shopper's buying power grows and the temptation to abandon repayment increases. Fraudsters may use their own or fabricated identities to make purchases with no intent to repay. This leaves the BNPL provider at the risk of unrecoverable monetary losses and can impact the business' risk tolerance, causing them to narrow their lending band and miss out on properly verified consumers. An additional risk lies with fraudsters who may leverage account takeover to gain access to a legitimate user's account and payment information to make unauthorized purchases. READ: Payment Fraud Detection and Prevention: What You Need to Know Mitigating BNPL risks Luckily, there are predictive credit, identity verification, and fraud prevention tools available to help businesses minimize the risks associated with BNPL. Paired with the right data, these tools can give businesses a comprehensive view of consumer payments, including the number of outstanding BNPL loans, total BNPL loan amounts, and BNPL payment status, as well as helping to detect and apply the relevant treatment to different types of fraud. By accurately identifying customers and assessing risk in real-time, businesses can make confident lending and fraud prevention decisions. To learn more about how Experian is enabling the protection of consumer credit scores, better risk assessments, and more inclusive lending, visit us or request a call. And keep an eye out for additional in-depth explorations of our Future of Fraud Forecast. Learn more Future of Fraud Forecast

Companies depend on quality information to make decisions that move their business objectives forward while minimizing risk exposure. And in today’s modern, tech-driven, innovation-led world, there’s more  information available than ever before. Expansive datasets from sources, both internal and external, allow decision-makers to leverage a wide range of intelligence to fuel how they plan, forecast and set priorities. But how can business leaders be sure that their data is as robust, up-to-date and thorough as they need — and, most importantly, that they’re able to use it to its fullest potential? That’s where the power of advanced analytics comes in. By making use of cutting-edge datasets and analytics insights, businesses can stay on the vanguard of business intelligence and ahead of their competitors. What is advanced analytics? Advanced analytics is a form of business intelligence that takes full advantage of the most modern data sources and analytics tools to create forward-thinking analysis that can help businesses make well-informed, data-driven decisions that are tailored to their needs. Simply put, advanced analytics is an essential component of any proactive business strategy that aims to maximize the future potential of both customers and campaigns. These advanced business intelligence and analytics solutions  help leaders make profitable decisions no matter the state of the current economic climate. They use both traditional and non-traditional data sources to provide businesses with actionable insights in the formats best suited to their needs and goals. One key aspect of advanced analytics is the use of AI analytics solutions. These efficient and effective tools help businesses save time and money by harnessing the power of cutting-edge technologies and deploying them in optimal use-case scenarios. These AI and machine-learning solutions use a wide range of tools, such as neural network methodologies, to help organizations optimize their allocation of resources, expediting and automating some processes while creating valuable insights to help human decision-makers navigate others. Benefits of advanced analytics Traditional business intelligence tends to be limited by the scope and quality of available data and ability of analysts to make use of it in an effective, comprehensive way. Modern business intelligence analytics, on the other hand, integrates machine learning and analytics to maximize the potential of data sets that, in today's technology-driven world, are often overwhelmingly large and complex: think not just databases of customer decisions and actions but behavioral data points tied to online and offline activity and the internet of things. What's more, advanced analytics does this in a way that's accessible to an entire organization — not just those who know their way around data, like IT departments and trained analysts. With the right advanced analytics solution, decision-makers can access convenient cloud-based dashboards designed to give them the information they want and need — with no clutter, noise or confusing terminology. Another key advantage of advanced analytics solutions is that they don't just analyze data — they optimize it, too. Advanced analytics offers the ability to clean up and integrate multiple data sets to remove duplicates, correct errors and inaccuracies and standardize formats, leading to high-quality data that creates clarity, not confusion. The result? By analyzing and identifying relationships across data, businesses can uncover hidden insights and issues. Advanced analytics also automate some aspects of the decision-making process to make workflows quicker and nimbler. For example, a business might choose to automate credit scoring, product recommendations for existing customers or the identification of potential fraud. Reducing manual interventions translates to increased agility and operational efficiency and, ultimately, a better competitive advantage. Use cases in the financial services industry Advanced analytics gives businesses in the financial world the power to go deeper into their data — and to integrate alternative data sources as well. With predictive analytics models, this data can be transformed into highly usable, next-level insights that help decision-makers optimize their business strategies. Credit risk, for instance, is a major concern for financial organizations that want to offer customers the best possible options while ensuring their credit products remain profitable. By utilizing advanced analytics solutions combined with a broad range of datasets, lenders can create highly accurate credit risk scores that forecast future customer behavior and identify and mitigate risk, leading to better lending decisions across the credit lifecycle. Advanced analytics solutions can also help businesses problem-solve. Let's say, for instance, that uptake of a new loan product has been slower than desired. By using business intelligence analytics, companies can determine what factors might be causing the issue and predict the tweaks and changes they can make to improve results. Advanced analytics means better, more detailed segmentation, which allows for more predictive insights. Businesses taking advantage of advanced analytics services are simply better informed: not only do they have access to more and better data, but they're able to convert it into actionable insights that help them lower risk, better predict outcomes, and boost the performance of their business. How we can help Experian offers a wide range of advanced analytics tools aimed at helping businesses in all kinds of industries succeed through better use of data. From custom machine learning models that help financial institutions assess risk more accurately to self-service dashboards designed to facilitate more agile responses to changes in the market, we have a solution that's right for every business. Plus, our advanced analytics offerings include a vast data repository with insights on 245 million credit-active individuals and 25 million businesses, as well as the industry's largest alternative data set from non-traditional lenders. Ready to explore? Click below to learn about our advanced analytics solutions. Learn more

This article was updated on February 5, 2024. Identity management can refer to how a company creates, verifies, stores, and uses its customers' digital identities. Traditionally, many large organizations relied on a highly segmented and siloed approach. For example, marketing, risk, and support departments might each have a limited view of a customer, and the tools and systems that support their specific purpose. Organizations are now shifting to a more holistic approach to enterprise identity management. By working together, departments help contribute to building a more complete, single view of a customer. Some companies have renewed or increased their focus on the transformation during the pandemic, and the transition to an enterprise-wide identity management strategy can have long-lasting benefits. But it isn't always easy. Challenges of an enterprise-wide identity management strategy Gathering the initial momentum needed to break out of a siloed approach can be particularly challenging for large organizations when each business unit has an ingrained identity system that meets the unit's needs. Smaller organizations might have an easier time gathering consensus, but budget or technological limitations may be serious constraints. Even after a decision is made and the budget gets set aside, organizations need to think through how they'll create and manage a new enterprise-wide identity management system. It's not a one-and-done upgrade. For the strategy to succeed, you'll need to have processes in place to onboard, verify, secure, and activate the new digital identities. READ: What is Effective Multifactor Identity Authentication? Why use an enterprise-wide approach? Motivations and specifics can vary depending on an organization's size and structure, but some companies find a more holistic approach to customer identity management helps them: Improve customer experiences Save money by removing redundancies Boost sales with better-targeted marketing Better understand customers' needs Provide faster and more relevant support Make more informed decisions Detect and prevent fraud These benefits can play out across the entire customer lifecycle, and identity management systems are able to achieve this by pulling in data from various sources to build robust consumer identities and systems. Your internal, first-party data will be the most valuable and insightful, but you can append multidimensional data from third-party sources, such as consumer credit databases, demographic data or device data. And second-party data from partner brands or organizations. READ: Experian 2023 Identity and Fraud Report Consider the regulatory and security challenges An enterprise identity data management approach can also mean re-evaluating the applicable regulations and security challenges. The passage of the E.U.'s General Data Protection Regulation and California Consumer Privacy Act marked an important shift in how companies need to handle consumers' personal information — but that was only the start. Some U.S. states have also passed or are currently considering data privacy laws. Industry-specific regulations can apply as well, particularly in the healthcare and financial services industries. It's not as if a siloed approach lets an organization avoid regulation, but keeping current and upcoming laws in mind can be important during a large digital transformation. Additionally, consider how going beyond the minimum requirements could be beneficial. In a 2023 Experian white paper, we found that 61 percent of consumers want complete control over how companies use their personal data.1 Security also needs to be top of mind for any organization that collects and stores consumers' personal information. An enterprise-wide identity management system may make managing increasing amounts of data easier, which could help decrease fraud risks. And your customers may be willing to help — 67 percent are open to sharing data if it will increase security and help prevent fraud.2 Keeping customers' desires front and center Experian partnered with Aite-Novarica to study enterprise-wide identity management. All but one of the 12 executives interviewed said client experience is a primary or predominant driver in the transformation of their identity management programs.3 Once implemented, a holistic view of customers can increase the experience in many ways: Meaningful engagement: You can deliver relevant and timely offers if you understand when, where and why consumers are interested in your products and services. Similarly, you'll know who isn't a good fit and won't bother them (or waste money) by showing them ads. Verification: Using a single, persistent identity could make the initial and ongoing identity verification an easier process that doesn't disrupt consumers' lives or lead to frustration. Ongoing recognition: Nearly 70 percent of all consumers want businesses to recognize them across multiple visits.3 But you'll need to study your customers to determine how much friction is acceptable. Some people prefer security over convenience and are willing to trade a little time to use extra verification methods. Customer service: Having more insight into a customer's entire history and interactions with your organization can help you quickly respond when an issue arises, or even anticipate and solve potential problems. Security: Nearly two-thirds (64 percent) of consumers say they're very or somewhat concerned with online security.4 Companies that can quickly and accurately identify consumers can also help keep them safe from fraud and identity theft. While these may be some consumers' top concerns today, continue listening to your customers to better understand their wants and needs. WATCH: Webinar: Identity Evolved — Building consumer trust and engagement Implementing an enterprise-wide identity management strategy Identity management can become a daunting task, particularly as new data sources begin to flow. As a result, many organizations turn to outside partners who can help manage part, or all, of the process. For example, an identity management solution may offer identity resolution and help create and host an identity graph (the database that stores the unique digital identities). A more robust offering may also help with other parts of identity management, including ongoing data hygiene and helping you turn your unique customer insights into actionable marketing campaigns. Experience managing vast amounts of data is also important, as is access to additional offline and online data sources. In 2023, Experian found that 85 percent of companies said poor quality customer contact data negatively impacted their operation's processes and efficiency.5 An enterprise-wide system that allows business units to update a single customer profile with the latest contact information might help. But working with a data provider that appends the latest info from outside databases could be a better way to ensure you have customers' latest contact info. When researching potential partners, also consider how their offerings and approach align with your goals. If, like others, improving the customer experience is a priority, make sure the solution provider also has a customer-first approach. In turn, this means security is a top priority — it's what customers want and it's important for protecting you and your reputation. Learn more about Experian's identity management solutions and how you can benefit from working with a company that understands identities are personal. Learn more 1Experian (2023). White paper: Making identities personal 2Ibid. 3Aite-Novarica and Experian (2022). Enterprise Identity Management: Evolving Aspirations and Improved Collaboration Are Transforming the Discipline 4Experian (2023). Identity and Fraud Report 5Experian (2023). White paper: Making identities personal

This article was updated on January 31, 2024. Debt. For many, it’s a struggle – and a constant one. In fact, total consumer debt balances have increased year-over-year.1 High inflation and fears of a recession aren't letting up either. Successful third-party debt collections can be achieved by investing in the right data and technologies. Overcoming debt collections challenges While third-party debt collectors may take a more specialized approach to collections, they face unique challenges. Debt collectors must find the debtor, get them to respond, collect payment, and stay compliant. With streamlined processes and enhanced strategies, lending institutions and collection agencies can recoup more costs.  Embrace automationAutomation, artificial intelligence, and machine learning are at the forefront of the continued digital transformation within the world of collections. When implemented well, automation can ease pressure on call center agents and improve the customer experience. Automated systems can also help increase recovery rates while minimizing the risk of human error and the corresponding liability. READ: Three Tips for Successful Automated Debt CollectionsMaximize digitalizationIntegrating and expanding digital technologies is mandatory to be successful in the third-party debt collections space. Third-party debt collectors must be at the forefront of adopting digital communication tools (i.e., email, text, chatbots, and banking apps), to connect more easily with debtors and provide a frictionless customer experience. A digital debt recovery solution helps third-party debt collectors streamline processes, maintain debt collection compliance, and maximize collections efforts. READ: The Ultimate Guide to Successful Debt Collection TechniquesLeverage the best data Consumer data is ever-changing, especially during times of economic distress. Capturing accurate consumer information through a combination of data sources — and continually evaluating the data’s validity — is key to reducing risk throughout the consumer life cycle. By gaining a fresher, more complete view of existing and potential customers, third-party debt collectors can better determine an individual’s propensity to pay and enhance their overall decisioning. Keep pace with changing regulations With increasing scrutiny on the financial services industry and ever-evolving consumer protection and privacy regulations, remaining compliant is a top priority for third-party debt collections departments and agencies. The increased focus on regulations and compliance has also brought to the surface the need for teams to include debt collectors with soft skills who can communicate effectively with indebted consumers. With the right processes and third-party debt collections tools, you can better develop a robust compliance management strategy that works to prevent reputational risk and minimize costly violations. Finding the right debt collections partner In today's climate, it's never been more important to build the right third-party debt collections strategies for your business. By creating a more effective, consumer-focused collections process, you can maximize your recovery efforts, make more profitable decisions and focus your resources where they’re needed most. Our third-party debt management solutions empower your organization to see the complete behavioral, demographic, and emerging view of customer portfolios through extensive data assets, debt collection predictive analytics innovative platforms. For more insights to strengthen your debt collection strategy, download our tip sheet. Access tip sheet

This article was updated on January 30, 2024. Income verification is a critical step in determining a consumer’s ability to pay. The challenge is verifying income in a way that’s seamless for both lenders and consumers. While many businesses have already implemented automated solutions to streamline operations, some are still relying on manual processes built on older technology. Let’s take a closer look at the drawbacks of traditional verification processes and how Experian can help businesses deliver frictionless verification experiences. The drawbacks of traditional income verification Employment and income verification provides lenders with greater visibility into consumers’ financial stability. But it often results in high-touch, high-friction experiences when done manually. This can be frustrating for both lenders and potential borrowers: For lenders: Manual verification processes are extremely tedious and time-consuming for lenders as it requires physically collecting and reviewing documents. Additionally, without reliable income data, it can be difficult for lenders to accurately determine a consumer’s ability to pay, leading to higher origination risk. For borrowers: Today’s consumers have grown accustomed to digital experiences that are fast, simple, and convenient. A verification process that is slow and manual may cause consumers to drop off altogether. How can this process be optimized? To accelerate the verification process and gain a more complete view of consumers’ financial stability, lenders must look to automated solutions. With automated income verification, lenders obtain timely income reports to accurately verify consumers’ income in minutes rather than days or weeks. Not only does this allow lenders to approve more applicants quickly, but it also enables them to devote more time and resources toward improving their strategies and enhancing the customer experience. The right verification solution can also capture a wider variety of income scenarios. With the click of a button, consumers can give lenders permission to access their financial accounts, including checking, savings, 401k, and brokerage accounts. This creates a frictionless verification experience for consumers as their income information is quickly extracted and reviewed. Retrieving data directly from financial accounts also provides lenders with a fuller financial picture of consumers, including those with thin or no credit files. This helps increase the chances of approval for underserved communities and allows lenders to expand their customer base without taking on additional risk.1 Learn more 1 Experian Income Verification Product Sheet (2017).

This series will dive into our monthly State of the Economy report, providing a snapshot of the top monthly economic and credit data for those in financial services to proactively shape their business strategies.  As 2024 unfolds, the economy is beginning to shift from last year’s trends. Instead of focusing on rate hikes, we’re looking at the potential for rate cuts. Our labor market is beginning to ease, and inflation is moving closer to the Federal Reserve’s 2% mark. Each month’s data gives us a clearer picture of our economic trajectory and the Federal Reserve’s (Fed) policy moving forward, as well as new and direct implications on credit metrics. Data highlights from this month’s report include: The U.S. economy added 216,000 jobs in December, but after November and October levels were revised, three-month average job creation now sits below the pre-pandemic level. While there was no change in November, annual core inflation, which excludes the volatile food and energy components, cooled in December from 4.0% to 3.9%. Consumer sentiment rose 14% in December, reversing the past four monthly declines, driven by increased optimism toward the trajectory of inflation. Check out our report for a deep dive into the rest of this month’s data, including student loans, consumer spending, the housing market, and delinquencies. To have a holistic view of our current environment, we must understand our economic past, present, and future. Keep an eye out for this year’s chartbook for a comprehensive view of the past year and download our latest forecast for a view of what’s to come. Download report View forecast For more economic trends and market insights, visit Experian Edge.

This article was updated on January 24, 2024. Online identity verification has become a basic necessity for everyday life. Consumers today might even expect to upload a picture of their driver's license or answer security questions before creating a new account. But once they've made contact, consumers also expect companies to quickly and accurately identify them across multiple visits.1 While 82 percent of organizations have a consumer recognition strategy, moving from strategy to action and then getting the desired result isn't easy.2 That's particularly true when you're working to create seamless experiences for customers while fighting increasingly sophisticated fraudsters. Why is online identity verification challenging? Identity verification in the physical world might be as simple as checking a government-issued ID card — and perhaps an additional form of identification (or two) when the stakes are higher. Verification becomes more complicated as you move into the digital realm, especially when you need to automate decisions. There are many specific challenges to overcome, but some of the main ones fall into four categories. Finding the right friction: In an ideal world, every legitimate user will flow through your verification checks with ease. In reality, you may need to introduce some roadblocks to comply with know your customer (KYC) rules and prevent fraud. Finding the friction-right balance can be tricky. Accessing and using data: Using expanded data sources, such as behavior and device info, can improve outcomes without adding friction. But simply having more data isn't the goal. You need to be able to organize, process and use the data in a compliant manner to quickly and accurately verify identities. Fighting fraud: You're up against formidable foes who consistently test your systems for weaknesses and share the results with other fraudsters. You have to be able to spot first-party fraud, identity thieves and synthetic identities. Securing the data: Accessing and storing customer data is vital for a successful identity verification system, but it's your responsibility to securely protect customers' data. It also may be a legal requirement, and you need to be mindful of all the applicable regulations. READ MORE: How to Build a Know Your Customer Checklist These aren't fixed challenges that you can overcome in a single hurdle. Consumer preferences, fraud tactics and regulations are continually evolving, and your identity verification platform needs to keep up. Potential benefits throughout the customer lifecycle Companies that want to create, manage and continuously identify consumers are starting to take an enterprise-wide approach that relies on creating a single-customer view. The idea is to have a single identity that you can expand as you learn more about a person's preferences and behavior. Otherwise, business units can wind up with fragmented views that lead to jumbled messaging, errors and missed opportunities. While it can be difficult to implement well, the single-view approach can also be powerful in action: Targeting and onboarding: Marketing, acquisition and onboarding aren't necessarily handled by the same teams, but a smooth process can create a lasting good impression. There are also recent developments that can provide pre-fill capabilities with their identification verification solutions, which can create a nearly friction-free onboarding process.3 Prevent fraud: The single-view approach also lets you leverage cross-device and real-time data to detect and prevent fraud, and determine the right-size verification method. Using identity graphs to verify identities in real-time can also help you detect fraud, including account takeovers and first-party fraud. Customer experience: Consistently identifying customers can improve their experience — particularly when different departments can easily access and update the same identification material. In turn, this can lead to brand loyalty and the potential to upsell and cross-sell customers. The need for accurate verification is growing as people spend more time living and shopping online. Only a third of consumers are confident businesses can consistently recognize them online, which also means there's an opportunity to surprise and delight the skeptics.4 READ MORE: White paper: Making identities personal What do consumers want? Most people want to be recognized as they move throughout their digital lives. But data breaches and identity theft continuously make headlines, and people aren't ignorant of the dangers of sharing their personal information. Consumers continually rank security and privacy above personalization or convenience as the most important factors in their online experiences. Some are willing to help — 57 percent of consumers say they will share their data if doing so increases security and prevents fraud. But even more (almost 75 percent) expect that the businesses will protect them online.5 Finding the right balance of privacy, security and due diligence is important for earning customers' trust. However, the best approach to online identity verification may depend on who your customers are and how they interact with your products and services. WATCH: Webinar: Identity Evolved — Building consumer trust and engagement Finding a great online identity verification partner Knowing how important online identity verification can be for the success of your business, you need to be sure that the digital identity solutions providers you partner with can meet your current and future needs. A good fit can: Give you access to multidimensional data: You can use online and offline data to support your digital identity verification systems. Some vendors can also help you use internal data, deterministic data and outputs from probabilistic models to improve your results. Scale to meet future challenges: Many businesses are exploring how to use machine learning and artificial intelligence for identity resolution and verification. These can be especially powerful when combined with robust data sources and may become more important as additional data sources come online. Protect your business: Identity verification solutions need to help you comply with the regulatory requirements and detect fraud with low false-positive rates to protect your business. First and foremost, you want to work with a partner who knows that identity is personal. Your customers are more than data points, and putting their needs and wants first will ultimately help you earn their trust and business. Learn more about Experian's customer-centric identity verification solutions. Learn more 1Experian (2022). 2022 Global Identity and Fraud Report2Experian (2021). 2021 Global Identity and Fraud Report 3Experian (2022). 2022 Global Identity and Fraud Report 4Ibid. 5Experian (2022). Global Insights Report: April 2022

In today’s highly competitive landscape, credit card issuers face the challenge of optimizing portfolio profitability while also effectively managing their overall risk. Financial institutions successfully navigating the current market put more focus on proactively managing their credit limits. By appropriately assigning initial credit limits and actively overseeing current limits, these firms are improving profitability, reducing potential risk, and creating a better customer experience. But how do you get started with this important tool? Let’s explore how and why proactive credit limit management could impact your business. The importance of proactive credit limit management Enhanced profitability: Assigning the optimal credit limit that caters to a customer’s spending behavior while also considering their capacity to repay can stimulate increased credit card usage without taking on additional risk. This will generate higher transaction volumes, increase interest income, promote top-of-wallet use, and improve wallet share, all positively impacting the institution’s profitability. Mitigating risk exposure: A proactive review of the limits assigned within a credit card portfolio helps financial institutions assess their exposure to overextended credit usage or potential defaults. Knowing when to reduce a credit limit and assigning the right amount can help financial institutions mitigate their portfolio risk. Minimizing default rates: Accurately assigning the right credit limit reduces the likelihood of customers defaulting on payments. When an institution aligns their credit limits with a cardholder's financial capability, it reduces the probability of customers exceeding their spending capacity and defaulting on payments. Improving the customer experience: A regular review of a credit card portfolio can help financial institutions find opportunities to proactively increase credit limits. This reduces the need for a customer to call in and request a higher credit limit and can increase wallet share and customer loyalty. Strategies for effective credit limit management Utilizing advanced analytics: Leveraging machine learning models and mathematically optimized decision strategies allows financial institutions to better assess risk and determine the optimal limit assignment. By analyzing spending patterns, credit utilization, and repayment behavior, institutions can dynamically adjust credit limits to match evolving customer financial profiles. Regular review and adjustments: As part of portfolio risk management, implementing a system for a recurring review and adjustment of credit limits is crucial. It ensures that credit limits are still aligned with the customer's financial situation and spending habits, while also reducing the risk of default. Customization and flexibility: Personalized credit limits tailored to individual customer needs improve customer satisfaction and loyalty. Proactively increasing limits based on improved creditworthiness or income reassessment can foster stronger customer relationships. Protect profitability and control risk exposure  Using the right data analytics, processing regular reviews, and customizing limits to individual customer needs helps reduce risk exposure while maximizing profitability. As the economic landscape evolves, institutions that prioritize proactive credit limit management will gain a competitive edge by fostering responsible customer spending behavior, minimizing default rates, and optimizing their bottom line. With Experian, automating your credit limit management process is easy Experian’s Ascend Intelligence ServicesTM Limit provides you with the optimal credit limits at the customer level to generate a higher share of plastic spend, reduce portfolio risk, and proactively meet customer expectations. Let us help automate your credit limit management process to better serve your customers and quickly respond to the volatile market. To find out more, please visit our website. Ready for a demo? Contact us now!

Financial institutions, merchants, and e-commerce platforms are no strangers to fraud, especially in the realm of payments. With the rise of digital currency, fraudsters are becoming more inventive, making it increasingly difficult to detect and prevent payment fraud. In this blog post, we discuss payment fraud and ways to protect your organization and your customers. What is payment fraud? Payment fraud occurs when someone uses false or stolen payment information to make a purchase or transaction. The most common types of payment fraud include: Phishing: Through emails or text messages, scammers disguise themselves as trustworthy sources to lure recipients into sharing their personal information, such as account passwords and credit card numbers. Card not present fraud: This type of fraud is one of the most challenging forms of payment fraud to detect and prevent. It occurs when a criminal uses a stolen or compromised credit card to make a purchase online, in-person, or by other means where the card is not physically present at the time of the transaction. Account takeover fraud: This type of fraud occurs when fraudsters gain unauthorized access to an individual’s account and carry out fraudulent transactions. They take over accounts by gathering and using personal or financial details to impersonate their victims. The rise of online payment fraud Online payments have become a prime destination for fraudsters as more consumers choose to store card details and make purchases digitally. As a result, consumers believe that it’s the responsibility of businesses to protect them online. If there’s a lack of trust and safety, consumers will have no problem switching providers, leading to declines in customer loyalty and monetary losses for organizations. No matter the type of payment fraud, it can result in devastating consequences for your organization and your customers. According to Experian’s 2023 U.S. Identity and Fraud Report, nearly 70% of businesses report an increase in fraud losses in recent years, while consumers listed stolen credit card information (61%) and online privacy (60%) as top concerns when conducting activities online. Given these findings, it’s more important than ever to implement robust payment fraud detection and prevention measures. How can payment fraud be detected and prevented? Approaches to payment fraud detection and prevention have evolved over time. Some of the current and emerging trends include: Additional layers of security: Security measures like two-factor authentication, a CVV code, and a billing zip code can help verify a customer’s identity and make it more difficult for fraudsters to complete a transaction. Enhanced identity verification: A credit card owner verification solution, like Experian LinkTM, matches the customer identity with the credit card being presented for payment, allowing businesses to make better decisions, reduce false declines, and protect legitimate customers. Artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning: AI-powered models and machine learning algorithms can identify patterns consistent with fraudulent activity in real time, resulting in proactive fraud prevention and reduced financial losses. How Experian can help As the payments landscape continues to evolve, so do fraudsters. Experian offers a wide range of account takeover fraud prevention and fraud management solutions that allow you to better detect and prevent payment fraud. Your organization’s reputation and your customers’ trust shouldn’t be compromised. To learn more, visit us today. Learn more   This article includes content created by an AI language model and is intended to provide general information.

It is a New Year and a new start. How about a new job? That is what thousands of employees will consider over the next month. It is also a time for employers to attract new talents, but they must be aware of different types of employment fraud. The rise of remote work has significantly increased the prevalence of remote hiring practices, from the initial job application to the onboarding process and beyond. Unfortunately, this shift has also opened the door to a surge in imposter employees, also known as ‘candidate fraud,’ posing a significant concern for organizations.  How does employment identity theft happen?  Instances of potential job candidates utilizing real-time deepfake video and deepfake audio, along with personally identifiable information (PII), during remote interviews to secure positions within American companies have been on the rise. The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) reports that fraudulent individuals often acquire PII through fake job opening posts, which enable them to gather candidate information and resumes. Surprisingly, the tools necessary for impersonation on live video calls do not require sophisticated or expensive hardware or software. Employment identity theft can occur in several ways. Here are a few examples:  Inaccurate credentials: Employers may inadvertently hire someone with false or stolen credentials if they fail to conduct comprehensive background checks. When the employer discovers the deception, it can be challenging to trace the true identity of the person they unknowingly hired.  Limited-term job offers: Some industries offer temporary job opportunities in distant locations. Individuals with criminal backgrounds may steal victims' identities to apply for these jobs, hoping that their crimes will go unnoticed until after the job is complete.  Perpetrated by colleagues: In rare instances, jealous colleagues or coworkers can commit employment identity theft. They may steal a coworker's information during a data breach and sell it on the dark web or use the victim's credentials to frame them for fraudulent workplace actions.  Preventing employment identity theft  In addition to the reported cases of imposter employee fraud, it is crucial to acknowledge the potential for other scams that exploit new technologies and the prevalence of remote work. Malicious cyber attackers could secure employment using stolen credentials, enabling them to gain unauthorized access to sensitive data or company systems. A proficient hacker possessing the necessary IT skills may find it relatively easy to leverage social engineering techniques during the hiring process. Consequently, the reliability of traditional methods for employee verification, such as face-to-face interactions and personal recognition, is diminishing in the face of remote work and the technological advancements that enable individuals to manipulate their appearance, voice, and identity. To mitigate risks associated with hiring imposters, it is imperative to incorporate robust measures into the recruitment process. Here are some key considerations:  Establish clear policies and employment contracts: Clearly communicate your organization's policies regarding moonlighting in employment contracts, employee handbooks, or other official documents.   Confidentiality and non-compete agreements: Implement confidentiality and non-compete agreements to protect your company's sensitive information and intellectual property.   Monitoring: Automate employment and income verification of your employees.  Provide training on cybersecurity best practices: Educate employees about cyber-attacks and identity scams, such as phishing scams, through seminars and workplace training sessions.  Implement robust security measures: Use firewalls, encrypt sensitive employee information, and limit access to personal data. Minimize the number of employees who have access to this information.  Thoroughly screen new employees: Verify the accuracy of Social Security numbers and other information during the hiring process. Conduct comprehensive background checks, including checking bank account information and credit reports and fight against synthetic identities.  Offer identity theft protection as a benefit: Consider providing identity theft protection services to your employees as part of their benefits package. These services can detect and alert victims of potential identity theft, facilitating a fast response.  The new era of remote work necessitates a fresh perspective on the hiring process. It is crucial to reevaluate HR practices and leverage AI fraud detection technologies to ensure that the individuals you hire, and employ are who they claim to be, guarding against the infiltration of imposters.  Navigating employment fraud with effective solutions  Employment fraud presents significant risks and challenges for employers, including conflicts of interest, reputation damage, and breaches of confidentiality. By taking the right preventative measures, you can safeguard your organization and employees.  Streamlining the hiring process is essential to remain competitive. But how do you balance the need for speed and ease of use with essential ID checks?  By combining the best data with our automated ID verification processes, Experian helps you protect your business and onboard new talents efficiently. Our best-in-class solutions employ device recognition, behavioral biometrics, machine learning and global fraud databases to spot and block suspicious activity before it becomes a problem.  Learn more about preventing employement fraud *This article includes content created by an AI language model and is intended to provide general information.

Meeting Know Your Customer (KYC) regulations and staying compliant is paramount to running your business with ensured confidence in who your customers are, the level of risk they pose, and maintained customer trust. What is KYC?KYC is the mandatory process to identify and verify the identity of clients of financial institutions, as required by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA). KYC services go beyond simply standing up a customer identification program (CIP), though that is a key component. It involves fraud risk assessments in new and existing customer accounts. Financial institutions are required to incorporate risk-based procedures to monitor customer transactions and detect potential financial crimes or fraud risk. KYC policies help determine when suspicious activity reports (SAR) must be filed with the Department of Treasury’s FinCEN organization. According to the Federal Financial Institutions Examinations Council (FFIEC), a comprehensive KYC program should include:• Customer Identification Program (CIP): Identifies processes for verifying identities and establishing a reasonable belief that the identity is valid.• Customer due diligence: Verifying customer identities and assessing the associated risk of doing business.• Enhanced customer due diligence: Significant and comprehensive review of high-risk or high transactions and implementation of a suspicious activity-monitoring system to reduce risk to the institution. The following organizations have KYC oversight: Federal Financial Institutions Examinations Council (FFIEC), Federal Reserve Board, Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), national Credit Union Administration (NCUA), Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB). How to get started on building your Know Your Customer checklist 1. Define your Customer Identification Program (CIP) The CIP outlines the process for gathering necessary information about your customers. To start building your KYC checklist, you need to define your CIP procedure. This may include the documentation you require from customers, the sources of information you may use for verification and the procedures for customer due diligence. Your CIP procedure should align with your organization’s risk appetite and be comply with regulations such as the Patriot Act or Anti-money laundering laws. 2. Identify the customer's information Identifying the information you need to gather on your customer is key in building an effective KYC checklist. Typically, this can include their first and last name, date of birth, address, phone number, email address, Social Security Number or any government-issued identification number. When gathering sensitive information, ensure that you have privacy and security controls such as encryption, and that customer data is not shared with unauthorized personnel. 3. Determine the verification method There are various methods to verify a customer's identity. Some common identity verification methods include document verification, facial recognition, voice recognition, knowledge-based authentication, biometrics or database checks. When selecting an identity verification method, consider the accuracy, speed, cost and reliability. Choose a provider that is highly secure and offers compliance with current regulations. 4. Review your checklist regularly Your KYC checklist is not a one and done process. Instead, it’s an ongoing process that requires periodic review, updates and testing. You need to periodically review your checklist to ensure your processes are up to date with the latest regulations and your business needs. Reviewing your checklist will help your business to identify gaps or outdated practices in your KYC process. Make changes as needed and keep management informed of any changes. 5. Final stage: quality control As a final step, you should perform a quality control assessment of the processes you’ve incorporated to ensure they’ve been carried out effectively. This includes checking if all necessary customer information has been collected, whether the right identity verification method was implemented, if your checklist matches your CIP and whether the results were recorded correctly. KYC is a vital process for your organization in today's digital age. Building an effective KYC checklist is essential to ensure compliance with regulations and mitigate risk factors associated with fraudulent activities. Building a solid checklist requires a clear understanding of your business needs, a comprehensive definition of your CIP, selection of the right verification method, and periodic reviews to ensure that the process is up to date. Remember, your customers' trust and privacy are at stake, so iensuring that your security processes and your KYC checklist are in place is essential. By following these guidelines, you can create a well-designed KYC checklist that reduces risk and satisfies your regulatory needs. Taking the next step Experian offers identity verification solutions as well as fully integrated, digital identity and fraud platforms. Experian’s CrossCore & Precise ID offering enables financial institutions to connect, access and orchestrate decisions that leverage multiple data sources and services. By combining risk-based authentication, identity proofing and fraud detection into a single, cloud-based platform with flexible orchestration and advanced analytics, Precise ID provides flexibility and solves for some of financial institutions’ biggest business challenges, including identity and fraud as it relates to digital onboarding and account take over; transaction monitoring and KYC/AML compliance and more, without adding undue friction. Learn more *This article includes content created by an AI language model and is intended to provide general information.