Experian 2013 Annual Report Download - page 20
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Please find page 20 of the 2013 Experian annual report below. You can navigate through the pages in the report by either clicking on the pages listed below, or by using the keyword search tool below to find specific information within the annual report.Consumer Services provides credit monitoring, fraud
protection and identity management to 12.8 million
consumers in the US and UK. We enable consumers to
monitor the accuracy of their credit report, to check their
credit score and to protect against fraud and identity theft.
Business lines:
Consumer Services
Description
We provide consumers with secure,
online, unlimited access to their
complete credit history and scores. We
also help them to manage fraud and
protect their identity.
Using our interactive tools a consumer
may subscribe with us to monitor their
credit and to help identify ways they
can actively improve their credit rating.
Consumers also subscribe when they
have a major life event, such as when
making a one-off purchase that is credit-
dependent, like for a car, appliance or
home, and they want to monitor their
credit and negotiate the best deal for
that purchase. Email or text alerts
keep consumers informed about any
significant changes to their credit report.
Our direct-to-consumer channels
in the US, CreditReport.com and
freecreditscore.com, and in the UK,
CreditExpert.co.uk, allow consumers
to see the same information that is
available to lenders. New markets are
also opening up for us in countries such
as Brazil, Colombia and South Africa.
Another significant channel for us is
through affinity marketers. This is where
institutions with large membership
bases, such as retail banks, financial
institutions, insurance companies and
member associations, take our products
and repackage them under their own
branding. Institutions offer these
services in response to demand from
their customers. About half of our 12.8
million members subscribe through the
affinity channel.
Our identity protection services in the
US and the UK, ProtectMyID.com and
ProtectMyID.co.uk, help provide identity
theft detection, protection and fraud
resolution to consumers. In the event
of fraud, we provide consumers with
access to a dedicated fraud resolution
service together with insurance against
financial loss. We help parents monitor
their children’s online activity with
our SafetyWeb.com services and our
DataPatrol product provides real-
time wider web and social network
monitoring to help prevent identity fraud
before it happens.
Financial characteristics
Consumer credit reports, scores
and identity protection are provided
to consumers for a regular monthly
subscription fee. Depending on the size
and nature of the contract, affinity deals
may be on a revenue or profit share
basis. Typically, affinity contracts are
multi-year agreements.
Competitive environment
Our competitive advantage lies in us
taking the assets and capabilities from
our three other global business lines and
bringing them together. We take data
from Credit Services, analytical tools,
monitoring and alerts from Decision
Analytics and multi-channel digital
marketing capabilities from Marketing
Services to help us to serve and market
to consumers.
We are the clear market leader in both
the US and UK. In the US, competition
is provided by Equifax, TransUnion,
Fair Isaac and other smaller specialists,
but we are over four times the size of
any of these competitors. In the UK,
competition is provided by Equifax and
smaller niche players such as CallCredit.
Market influences
Consumers are becoming increasingly
aware of the need to manage and
control their financial circumstances,
and protect their identity. They are
more conscious of how their personal
information and credit history is
employed by lenders, and are more
focused on managing their credit
relationships. Consumers want to
proactively manage their identity when
they are online and mobile. They want
to protect their identities and minimise
the risk of identity theft, as well as
protecting their children while they are
online and using mobile devices. Large
institutions want to meet the needs of
their customer base, whilst attracting
and retaining new customers.
Contribution to
Group revenue
22%
CREDIT SERVICES
DECISION ANALYTICS
MARKETING SERVICES
CONSUMER SERVICES
18 Experian Annual Report 2013 Business overview