Market Trends

Despite low demand and a shrinking pool of qualified candidates, loan growth priorities continue to rank high for most small-business lenders – both for small to midsize banks and large financial institutions. Between 2006 and 2010, overall loan applications were down 5 percent where large financial institutions saw small-business loan applications rise 36.5 percent. Banks and credit unions with assets less than $500 million showed the most significant increase of 65 percent. Read more of the blog series: "Getting back in the game – Generating small business applications." Source: Decision Analytics' Blog: Relationship and Transactional Lending Best Practices

The strongest growth in new bankcard accounts is occurring in the near-prime and subprime segments of VantageScore® credit score C, D and F. Year-over-year (Q1 2011 over Q1 2010) growth rates of 20 percent, 46 percent and 53 percent were observed for each of the respective tiers. Listen to our recent webinar featuring bankcard credit trends Source: Experian-Oliver Wyman Market Intelligence Reports

VantageScore® Solutions LLC polled risk professionals about how they are measuring score performance, and 60 percent of respondents said they are now using metrics beyond the Kolmogorov-Smirnov (KS) statistic value. One new metric is score consistency, which is defined as the ability to provide near-identical risk assessment of a consumer across multiple credit reporting agencies. In other words, this means having confidence that when a consumer gets a 700 from one agency, he or she is likely to get a 700 from another agency. The other metric that risk managers referenced was stability, which is defined as the ability of a model to retain its predictive accuracy across an extended time frame. Learn more about the VantageScore credit score® Source: VantageScore newsletter, April 2011 VantageScore® is owned by VantageScore Solutions, LLC

Experian® QAS®, a leading provider of address verification software and services, recently released a new benchmark report on the data quality practices of top online retailers. The report revealed that 72 percent of the top 100 retailers are using some form of address verification during online checkout. This third annual benchmark report enables retailers to compare their online verification practices to those of industry leaders and provides tips for accurately capturing email addresses, a continuously growing data point for retailers. To find out how online retailers are utilizing contact data verification, download the complimentary report 2012 Address Verification Benchmark Report: The Top 100 Online Retailers. Source: Press release: Experian QAS Study Reveals Prevalence of Real-Time Address Verification Increasing Among Top Online Retailers.

A recent Experian credit trends study showcases the types of debts Americans have, the amounts they owe and the differences between generations. Nationally, the average debt in the United States is $78,030 and the average VantageScore® credit score is 751. The debt and VantageScore® credit score distribution for each group is listed below, with the 30 to 46 age group carrying the most debt and the youngest age group (19 to 29) carrying the least: Age group Average debt Average VantageScore® credit score 66 and older $38,043 829 47 to 65 $101,951 782 30 to 46 $111,121 718 19 to 29 $34,765 672   Get your VantageScore® credit score here Source: To view the complete study, please click here VantageScore® is owned by VantageScore Solutions, LLC

In Q3 2011, $143 billion – or nearly 44 percent of the $327 billion in new mortgage originations – was generated by VantageScore® A tier consumers. This represents an increase of 35 percent for VantageScore A tier consumers when compared with originations for the quarter before ($106 billion, or 39 percent of total originations). Watch Experian's Webinar for a detailed look at the current state of strategic default in mortgage and an update on consumer credit trends from the Q4 2011 Experian-Oliver Wyman Market Intelligence Reports Source: Experian-Oliver Wyman Market Intelligence Reports. VantageScore® is owned by VantageScore Solutions, LLC.

While retail card utilization rates decreased slightly in Q3 2011, retail card delinquency rates increased for all performance bands (30-59, 60-89 and 90-180 days past due) in Q3 2011 after reaching multiyear lows the previous quarter. Listen to our recent Webinar on consumer credit trends and retail spending. Source: Experian-Oliver Wyman Market Intelligence Reports

Experian's recently released study on the credit card and mortgage payment behaviors* of consumers both nationally and in the top 30 Metropolitan Statistical Areas yielded interesting findings. Nationally, since 2007, 20 percent fewer credit card payments are 60 days late, but 25 percent more consumers are paying their mortgage 60 days late. The cities that showed the most improvements to bankcard payments include Cleveland, Ohio; San Antonio, Texas; Cincinnati, Ohio; Dallas, Texas; and Houston, Texas. Cities that have made the least improvements to their credit card payments include Riverside, Calif.; Seattle, Wash.; Tampa, Fla.; Phoenix, Ariz.; and Miami, Fla.  Additionally, the data shows only four cities that improved in making mortgage payments: Cleveland, Ohio; Minneapolis, Minn.; Denver, Colo.; and Detroit, Mich. *All payment data is based on 60-day delinquencies. Learn more about managing credit.  

Findings from the Q2 Experian Business Benchmark Report showed that the amount of delinquent debt has increased significantly for the largest and smallest businesses. Very large businesses (those with more than 1,000 employees) had the greatest shift in percentage of dollars delinquent, shifting from 11.6 percent in June 2010 to 18.2 percent in June 2011, and very small businesses (those with one to four employees) had the greatest shift in percentage of dollars considered severely delinquent, increasing from 9.9 percent to 11.7 percent year over year. Conversely, the Q2 report indicated that mid-size businesses (those with 100 to 249 employees) have shown the greatest improvement in percentage of dollars delinquent and severely delinquent, reducing their debt by as much as 7.3 percent and 35.8 percent, respectively, year over year. Download previous reports and view a visual representation of this data broken down by state in an interactive map. Source: Download the current Business Benchmark Report