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As part of Credit Awareness Week, Experian and Credit Strategy are launching a new credit refusal pathfinder to help people understand the lending process and how they can tackle a credit refusal. It can be a real pain when you make an unsuccessful credit application, especially when you can’t see why you were refused. “But I’ve got a good credit score!”, “But I pay all my bills on time!”, “But I don’t even have a credit card!” people may say. When you apply for a credit card, loan or even a mobile phone contract, it’s up to the lender to decide whether or not to offer you credit – and they have varying methods to work out if you’re eligible. New research from Credit Strategy, Experian and the CFA* has found a whopping 86% say that they should be offered a clearer explanation about why they have been declined credit. Many people completely misunderstand the credit-decision-making process; 26% of UK adults wrongly think the credit reference agency makes the decision to turn down applications for a loan, while 32% think credit reference agencies decide to approve credit cards. The reality is that lenders decide which customers to accept and refuse, with one or more credit reference agency simply providing information to help the decision. In fact, industry guidelines require lenders to tell people the main reason for refusing credit, but only if they ask. Does being refused credit affect your credit score? The research also found that 75% of the population think that being refused credit affects your credit score. Being refused for credit is not, in itself, hazardous for your credit score. While your credit report will show that you applied for a credit card – it stays on for a year - it won’t actually show whether or not you were accepted. However, credit refusal can often lead to more attempts to get credit – and making a lot of applications in a short space of time could have a serious impact on your credit score, and your ability to get credit in the future. Some common reasons to be refused credit: You’ve missed or made late credit payments recently, which show up on your credit report You’ve had a default or a CCJ in the past six years, which will show up on your credit report You’ve made too many credit applications in a short space of time in the past six months There are mistakes such as incorrect addresses or other errors on your application form You may not fall into the target bracket for the type of credit you’ve applied for Your Experian UK Credit Score tells you how lenders may view you, which is useful when you apply for credit – and is FREE FOREVER. The higher your credit score, the more chance of being accepted for credit, at the best rates. * Conducted by YouGov on behalf of Credit Strategy, Experian and the Consumer Finance Association (CFA), 10th – 13th March 2017

Experian and Finicity are announcing a partnership that promises to transform the consumer and lender experience and bring it into the 21st century. By partnering with Finicity, we are leveraging our combined capabilities – their industry-leading 16,000 connections throughout the financial services field and Experian’s Decisioning as a Service platform, to be the first credit bureau that can digitize the loan asset and income verification steps of the underwriting process for consumers and lenders.

I’m a Senior Vice President of Sales, responsible for leading Experian Health’s teams as they assist hospitals, physicians, labs and pharmacies across the U.S. We provide technology for providers and patients to help keep the costs and payment processing component of healthcare easy and transparent. The part of my work I am most passionate about, however, is our efforts to decrease identity theft in healthcare. Medical identity theft is one of the fastest growing areas of identity fraud in the world. With everything moving online at a fast pace, health care providers may not always keep up with the protections needed with new technologies. Unfortunately, that means hackers can sometimes acquire a patient’s personal information – name, Social Security number, health insurance number – to illegally obtain medical services or devices, insurance reimbursements or prescription drugs. One of the biggest issues with this type of fraud is that it leaves its victims with little to no recourse for recovery. They often experience financial repercussions and discover that faulty information has been added to their personal medical files as a result. To address this issue, my team and I partnered with Experian’s Decision Analytics team to create a new tool that protects patients’ online portals in much the same way that banks have protected their online clients for years. Additionally, our team is the in process of launching a Universal Identity Matching solution – a unique PIN which acts like the Social Security Number for your health care information. As more health care companies begin to adopt it, this PIN will be the one thing you will need to carry with you, as it will be your unique identifier for all your health care experiences. A lot of processes in hospitals today are still manual, but I want to change that. I want to automate systems so hospital staff can focus on where they are most needed. I am proud to work at a company that’s at the forefront of solving the major problems in healthcare IT. Being able to provide technological solutions in an industry where you can directly see the benefit is both personally and professionally rewarding. Read more #ExperianStories from our colleagues around the world.

  I’m an Analyst for Serasa Experian’s O2C department. I first met Patricia — a fellow Experian employee — over a video call, using sign language. She had been struggling with parts of her job and wanted to learn about a new training course I was setting up through Serasa Experian’s inclusion program. You see, Patricia and I are both deaf, which can bring many challenges to our jobs. The new Excel training I’d created was aimed at helping people like us with disabilities. Patricia and I met face-to-face on the first day of training. There were 18 other students joining her, all eager to learn the formulas and tricks that would help them in their daily activities. Most of them were hearing-impaired like Patricia and I, but some were visually-impaired as well. We all sat down together to talk through the challenges we had with Excel. As I led this discussion, I used sign language for my deaf students and a “speak aloud” computer feature for those who were visually-impaired. Our goal was for everyone to learn something. We took the time to understand each participant’s unique issues with Excel and share potential solutions. Patricia shared how each week she spends hours creating a department performance report for her manager. It took a long time because she could only put the numbers in one by one. She didn’t know the formulas and functions that would speed up her process or how to depict the numbers on a chart or a graph, like her boss needed. As a group, we shared ideas of ways to make Patricia’s work more efficient. My students left the class inspired and full of new ideas they couldn’t wait to put into practice and share with their colleagues. A few weeks after the class, Patricia told me she could do her job much faster and better, giving her time to learn more sophisticated formulas to enhance her presentations. And the inspiring part was that because of the training, she had been promoted. It’s amazing to see the tangible impact my volunteer work through Experian is having for people with disabilities. I feel inspired to do more. Read more #ExperianStories from our colleagues around the world.  

I’m a Senior Director of Experian’s Decision Analytics Global Consulting Practice. That means I help banks manage their credit and fraud risk to help drive profits forward. Many of my clients are banks that need help across multiple business units, including credit cards, auto loans and mortgages. What I love about my job is how it constantly challenges me to expand my imagination of what data is capable of achieving. I’m always finding new ways to use data to keep banks’ revenue flowing, save them money, improve underwriting criteria for people seeking auto loans and help banking customers get a better rate on their mortgage. For example, I was recently approached by a major bank that needed a way to collect on delinquent credit card accounts that had previously been written off. The bank needed a way to collect on these accounts that would work within their budget and strict pricing structures while providing the maximum amount of revenue. Using data, I was able to show the bank a solution that not only improved delinquency rates on their numerous credit card accounts, but also provided a significant reduction in operational expenses. Technology has enabled us to do so much more for banks like this. I began working for Experian in the 1970s, when credit reporting was a highly manual process where clients would call us and we would read their credit report back to them over the phone. I’ve held a number of positions within the company over the years and have seen it undergo tremendous growth and change. Some things, however, never change. After having worked at Experian for 46 years, I am proud to say data still powers everything we do here. Read more #ExperianStories from our colleagues around the world.

The benefits of financial education are clear — higher economic growth, lower poverty rates and greater consumer confidence. This is why we put education as a top priority.

  I’m a Senior Product Strategy Manager in Experian’s Consumer Services department. I help banks connect people to the loans and credit cards they need, but my role is always changing because the world around us is changing. My team and I noticed how a whole generation is now thinking differently from other generations about the way they work and live. Rather than joining a large corporation, they make a living through a variety of platforms, like Uber, Airbnb and others — stringing together multiple jobs to make their income on their own timetable. The challenge for these people comes when they go to a bank to take out a loan, apply for a credit card or try to finance a car. The banks have difficultly gauging their risk or creditworthiness because they don’t have a traditional income source or because their credit footprint is difficult to trace. Banks refer to those types of individuals as “credit invisibles.” That’s where my team and I come in. We brainstorm ideas and create concepts for Experian to implement that will enable us to aggregate data from alternative sources — like utility bills or phone bills — to give banks a more accurate, robust view of each individual. Additionally, we create useful tools that help people manage their multiple income streams to ensure they’re able to meet their financial obligations each month. As the wealth of data in the world continues to grow, I see myself as an innovator who turns data into utility that works for people. I am constantly dreaming up new ways to connect banks with people who need a loan to feed their family, send their kids to college or buy a car for work. I want to help people take the guesswork out of taking each of life’s biggest steps. I want to empower them — through their data — to realize their dreams. Read more #ExperianStories from our colleagues around the world.  

At Experian, we unlock the power of data to create opportunities for consumers, businesses and society. Every day, we help millions of people navigate key life moments, helping them to protect, manage and make the most of their data

  I’m a Regional Sales Strategy Director for Experian in France. While Experian provides grants for entrepreneurs, we are always looking for ways to support new businesses beyond financial support. I had discovered an avenue for employees to volunteer as coaches to train budding entrepreneurs, so I brought the opportunity to Experian’s attention. Eight colleagues and I ended up bringing together entrepreneurs from the Ainée Business Incubator and a charity supporting young entrepreneurs from low-income areas in Paris for a day-long workshop in our Experian Paris office. The workshop was focused on helping entrepreneurs build elevator pitches, digital marketing plans and data protection strategies. I was running the elevator pitch session when I met an entrepreneur named Jocelyne. She wanted to set up a business importing Jamaican fruit and vegetables to the top restaurants in Paris. During the session, I coached Jocelyne and her peers through the basics of an elevator pitch, giving them opportunities to practice together in pairs before presenting to the group. Jocelyne had never given a pitch before, but she did an amazing job. She decided to pretend she was pitching Alain Ducasse – one of the big three Michelin star chefs in Paris. She talked as though he was in the room, which brought her pitch to life. She made her business sound so tasty, I was hungry myself by the end. Jocelyne had been quiet at the start of the workshop, but after giving that pitch, you could see this fresh sense of confidence in her as a new light came into her eyes. By helping one entrepreneur in Paris nail her business pitch, I got to help inspire a small amount of confidence to help Jocelyne turn her business dream into a reality. It was amazing and touching to see that kind of transformation. Read more #ExperianStories from our colleagues around the world.