Experian Plc.
Type	Public (LSE:EXPN)
Founded	1980 as Information Services Company
Headquarters	Dublin, Ireland
Key people	John Peace, Chairman Don Robert, CEO Paul Brooks, CFO
Industry	Business Services
Revenue	$3,481 million USD (2007)
Operating income	$473 million USD (2007)
Net income	$463 million USD (2007)
Employees	15,500
Website	www.experiangroup.com

Experian plc (LSE:EXPN), formerly known as CCN Systems, is a global credit information group, with operations in 36 countries. A public company usually refers to a company that is permitted to offer its registered securities ( Stock, bonds, etc The London Stock Exchange or LSE is a Stock exchange located in London, England. Year 1980 ( MCMLXXX) was a Leap year starting on Tuesday (link displays the 1980 Gregorian calendar) Dublin (ˈdʌblɨn/ /ˈdʊblɨn or /ˈdʊbəlɪn/, bˠalʲə aːha klʲiəh or cliə(ɸ is both the largest city and capital of Ireland. Ireland (pronounced /ˈaɾlənd/ Éire) is the third largest island in Europe, and the twentieth-largest island in the world A chief executive officer ( CEO) or chief executive is typically the highest-ranking corporate officer ( executive) or administrator For other uses of this term see Industry (disambiguation An industry (from Latin industrius, "diligent industrious" In business revenue or revenues is Income that a company receives from its normal business activities usually from the sale of goods and services The United States dollar ( sign: $; code: USD) is the unit of Currency of the United States; it has also been Year 2007 ( MMVII) was a Common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar in the 21st century. In financial and business Accounting, earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT is a measure of a firm's profitability that excludes interest and income tax expenses The United States dollar ( sign: $; code: USD) is the unit of Currency of the United States; it has also been Year 2007 ( MMVII) was a Common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar in the 21st century. Net income is equal to the Income that a firm has after subtracting costs and Expenses from the total Revenue. The United States dollar ( sign: $; code: USD) is the unit of Currency of the United States; it has also been Year 2007 ( MMVII) was a Common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar in the 21st century. Employment is a Contract between two parties, one being the employer and the other being the employee. A website (alternatively web site or Web site, a back-construction from the Proper noun World Wide Web) is a collection of Web pages The London Stock Exchange or LSE is a Stock exchange located in London, England.

The company employs 15,500 people. Founded in 1980 in Nottingham UK, Experian's corporate headquarters are in Dublin, Ireland with operational headquarters in Nottingham, England and Costa Mesa, California, U.S.. Year 1980 ( MCMLXXX) was a Leap year starting on Tuesday (link displays the 1980 Gregorian calendar) Dublin (ˈdʌblɨn/ /ˈdʊblɨn or /ˈdʊbəlɪn/, bˠalʲə aːha klʲiəh or cliə(ɸ is both the largest city and capital of Ireland. Ireland (pronounced /ˈaɾlənd/ Éire) is the third largest island in Europe, and the twentieth-largest island in the world Nottingham ( is a city in the Ceremonial county of Nottinghamshire, England. England is a Country which is part of the United Kingdom. Its inhabitants account for more than 83% of the total UK population whilst its mainland Costa Mesa is a Suburban city in Orange County California, United States. California ( is a US state on the West Coast of the United States, along the Pacific Ocean. The United States of America —commonly referred to as the

The company's largest operation is Experian North America, a consumer credit reporting agency that is considered one of the big three US credit agencies along with Equifax and TransUnion. A credit bureau (US or credit reference agency (UK is a company that collects information from various sources and provides consumer Credit information on individual Equifax Inc ( is a Consumer credit reporting agency in the United States, considered one of the three largest American credit agencies along with Experian TransUnion ( Trans Union LLC) is a Consumer credit reporting agency, considered one of the three largest in the United States, which offers credit-related As well as the US, Experian has operations in most European countries, Argentina, Brazil, Chile, South Africa, China, Japan and Australia.

Contents 1 Activities 2 Cheetahmail 3 QAS 4 Other countries 5 Controversies 6 References 7 See also 8 External links

Activities

Experian's principal lines of business are credit services, marketing solutions, decision analytics and interactive services. The company collects information on people, businesses, motor vehicles and insurance. It also collects 'lifestyle' data from through on- and off-line surveys. Access to much of the information Experian holds is subject to regulatory control, depending on the regulations in each country it operates.

Experian acquired its US credit reporting business from TRW in 1995. TRW Incorporated was an American Corporation involved in a number of businesses mostly defense-related but including Automotive, Aerospace and Its databases contain credit information on 215 million people in the United States and 450 million vehicles, including title and registration data. It provides address information for more than 20 billion promotional mail items to more than 100 million households every year. . Experian also provides credit reports on businesses. This business unit partnered with eCredit (now Cortera) in June 2007. Cortera, headquartered in Boca Raton Florida, USA, is a leading provider of credit information on businesses and corporations

Like the other major credit reporting bureaus, Experian is chiefly regulated in the United States by the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA). The Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA is an American federal Law (codified at et seq The Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act, signed into law in 2003, amended the FCRA to require the credit reporting companies to provide consumers with one free copy of their credit report per 12 month period. The Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act of 2003 ( FACT Act or FACTA,) is a United States federal law, passed by the United States Like its main competitors, TransUnion and Equifax, Experian markets credit reports directly to consumers. TransUnion ( Trans Union LLC) is a Consumer credit reporting agency, considered one of the three largest in the United States, which offers credit-related Equifax Inc ( is a Consumer credit reporting agency in the United States, considered one of the three largest American credit agencies along with Experian This article deals with the general concept of the term credit history Experian heavily markets its for-profit credit reporting service, FreeCreditReport. com, and all three agencies have been criticized and even sued for selling credit reports that can be obtained at no cost. ^[1][2]

Experian US handles its credit disputes in its National Consumer Assistance Center (NCAC) in Allen, Texas. Allen is a City in Collin County, Texas, United States, and a northern suburb of Dallas. Texas ( is a state geographically located in the South Central United States and is also known as the Lone Star State. You may contact the NCAC once you have a copy of your personal credit report by calling the number that is located on the personal credit report itself. Experian announced that it would be opening a second NCAC in Santiago, Chile during the summer of 2007. Santiago ( (litteraly in spanish Saint James) is the Capital of Chile, and the center of its largest Conurbation ( Greater Santiago Many divisions of the Allen NCAC will be relocated to the Chile location. Chile, officially the Republic of Chile ( Spanish:) is a country in South America occupying a long and narrow Coastal strip wedged between the

Experian was demerged from the British company GUS plc in October 2006 and listed on the London Stock Exchange. Demerger is the converse of a merger or acquisition. It describes a form of restructure in which Shareholders or unitholders in the parent company gain direct GUS plc ( was a FTSE 100 retailing group based in the United Kingdom The London Stock Exchange or LSE is a Stock exchange located in London, England. ^[3] The company is part of the FTSE 100 Index. The FTSE 100 Index (ˈfʊtsiː footsie, abbreviated Financial Times Stock Exchange Index) is a Share index of the 100 most highly capitalised

In April 2007, Experian acquired Hitwise, an internet monitor that collects data directly from information service provider networks. Hitwise is an Internet monitor which collects data directly from ISP networks ^[4]

Experian provides regional data at nationalscoreindex. com which shows average credit scores by region and zipcode as well as various other measures of household debt. The site does not indicate if it uses a FICO based credit score, the new VantageScore, or some other scoring model. A credit score is a numerical expression based on a statistical analysis of a person's credit files to represent the Creditworthiness of that person VantageScore is the name of a Credit rating product that is offered by the three major credit bureaus ( Equifax, Experian and TransUnion)

In December 2005 Experian acquired FootFall Ltd, an information provider to the retail and retail property industries^[5]. FootFall is now a product of Experian's marketing solutions division. FootFall Ltd was founded in 1991 by John Gallagher and Brian Barnes

Cheetahmail

CheetahMail, an e-mail marketing company providing e-mail marketing software and services was acquired by Experian in 2004. E-mail marketing is a form of Direct marketing which uses Electronic mail as a means of communicating commercial or fundraising messages to an audience CheetahMail was founded in 1998

QAS

QAS, an Experian company, is an international provider of data quality solutions. QAS software uses data secured from national postal authorities and other leading data sources to verify and clean name and address records. QAS was acquired by Experian in 2004.

Other countries

Experian announced its purchase of Northern Credit Bureaus, located in Quebec, Canada on September 26, 2006. Experian now has access to NCBs database of consumer credit information and has made the entry into the Canadian market to compete with Trans Union and Equifax (http://www.lexdon.com/article/experian_expands_operations_in_canada/57418.html). It should be noted that none of the Big 5 Banks in Canada have acknowledged that they use (or even know of) NCB/Experian, but they openly acknowledge their use of Equifax & Trans Union.

Controversies

The Florida state attorney general is currently conducting a civil (not criminal) investigation of Experian for possible violations of Florida's Deceptive and Unfair Trade Practices Act. [1] Possible violations include misleading advertising, misleading domain name, failure to honor cancellations, and failure to disclose a negative option enrollment. [2] The Federal Trade Commission had previously cited Experian for not making clear to consumers they would be charged an annual subscription for signing up at FreeCreditReport. com. Experian settled this matter without admitting guilt. [3]

In December 2006, Experian, along with the two other major credit bureaus, had earned a grade of "F" in an appraisal of corporate customer services. Experian fared worse than the others, however, as it did not even provide customers with their customer service telephone number. ^[6]

In 2008, Experian violated the Federal Trade Commission rules relating to the provision of free credit reports by mandating members provide credit card information before a request is fulfilled. The Federal Trade Commission's fraud unit received several complaints regarding this tactic and is now investigating the company practices

In 1999 Experian was named in campaigning group Privacy International's Big Brother Awards as Britain's most invasive company ^[7]

In January 2008 Experian announced that over 200 jobs would go at its Nottingham office as it would move development work to India in a cost cutting move, causing concern amongst UK consumers over the security of personal data being moved overseas ^[8]

References

See also

• Credit rating agency
• Intelliscore
• Identity theft

External links

• Official website
• National Score Index

A credit rating agency ( CRA) is a company that assigns Credit ratings for Issuers of certain types of Debt obligations as well as the debt instruments An Intelliscore is a term used in business for a numerical score granted by Experian to Business as a credit score for the promptness of their payments to creditors Identity theft is a term used to refer to Fraud that involves stealing money or getting other benefits by pretending to be someone else

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