news release
Contact:
Donald Girard
Vice President, Public Affairs
714 830 5647 Telephone
Donald.girard@experian.com Email
Experian launches new credit scoring system, VantageScoreSM
Costa Mesa, Calif. — March 14, 2006
— Experian®, the global
information solutions company, today announced the launch of VantageScoresm
, the credit reporting industry’s first credit score developed jointly by
the three national credit reporting companies to deliver consistent, objective
credit scores across their respective databases. This innovative new approach
to credit scoring simplifies the credit granting process for businesses and
consumers alike by providing a consistent, objective score to the marketplace.
“For many
decades, Experian has built its business by providing clients with the highest
quality data management, scoring and analytics,” said Kerry Williams, group
president of Experian’s Credit Services. “This new approach to scoring is a
further progression of our efforts to satisfy client and consumer needs, and we
are looking forward to presenting the proven value of VantageScore to the
marketplace.”
VantageScore was
developed by the three national credit reporting companies as a direct result
of market demand for a more consistent and objective approach to credit scoring
methodology. As a score is a representation of the underlying data, Experian
will leverage data from its FileOnesm consumer credit database, the
industry’s most frequently updated source of consumer credit data.
By combining
cutting-edge, patent-pending analytic techniques with a highly intuitive scale
for scoring, VantageScore will provide consumers and businesses with a highly
predictive, consistent score that is easy to understand and apply. VantageScore
uses score ranges from 501 to 990. Consumers and credit grantors alike will
recognize the logical score groupings that approximate the familiar academic
scale:
·
901-990 A
·
801-900 B
·
701-800 C
·
601-700 D
·
501-600 F
As consumers
increase their awareness of the importance of credit scores and credit
reporting, the consistency of VantageScore will provide the type of information
they need to evaluate their credit standing and make sound financial decisions.
“For many years
Experian has been providing consumers with credit education materials and
credit scoring is the hottest topic on their list,” said Maxine Sweet, vice
president of public education for Experian. “This new score provides consumers
with a clear, consistent picture of their credit standing that leads to
knowledgeable consumers working in concert with credit grantors to accomplish
their financial objectives.”
The new scoring
system addresses the potential weaknesses in existing scoring solutions in the
marketplace because any variances in credit scores between credit reporting
companies will be attributed to data differences within each of the three
consumer credit files and not to the structure of the scoring model or
interpretation of the data. VantageScore is commercially available beginning
today.
About Experian
Experian is the global
leader in providing value-added information solutions to organizations and
consumers. It has an unrivaled understanding of individuals, markets and
economies around the world. Experian provides information, analytics,
decision-making solutions and processing services. It assists organizations in
understanding their markets and customers and helps them find, develop and manage
profitable customer relationships to make their businesses more profitable.
Experian promotes greater financial health and opportunity among consumers by
enabling them to understand, manage and protect their personal information,
helping them control financial aspects of key life events and make the most
advantageous financial decisions. Experian
works with more than 50,000 clients across diverse industries, including
financial services, telecommunications, health care, insurance, retail and
catalog, automotive, manufacturing, leisure, utilities, e-commerce, property
and government. A subsidiary of GUS plc with headquarters in Nottingham,
UK, and Costa Mesa, Calif.,
Experian employs 12,000 people in 31 countries who support clients in more than
60 countries. Annual sales exceed $2.5 billion.
For more information, visit the company’s Web
site at http://www.experian.com.
The word “Experian” is a registered trademark in
the EU and other countries and is owned by Experian Ltd. and/or its associated
companies.
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