Experian, APACS and credit card providers announce enhanced data sharing initiative

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Experian, APACS and credit card providers announce enhanced data sharing initiative

Nottingham, UK,
24 November 2008 – Experian the global information services company, today announced enhancements to its established data sharing processes designed to enable lenders to more closely monitor consumers' use of credit and store cards for signs of over-indebtedness. To make this initiative possible, Experian has worked closely with credit card providers and APACS, the UK payments association.

The initiative will help improve lending decisions across the financial industry by enhancing the amount of data available to lenders via Experian's credit account information sharing (CAIS) service.  This will enable lenders to identify, at an earlier stage, those customers at risk of being financially over-committed. New information shared includes:

  • How much a customer has paid against their last statement
  • If such payments were equivalent to the minimum requested amount
  • The number and value of cash advances within the month
  • Whether there have been any changes to a customer's credit limit


Sandra Quinn, Director of Communications at APACS, comments: "This initiative, developed by the credit industry, is an important component of the industry's broader commitment to responsible lending. Not only will lending decisions be more tailored to the individual customer's needs, but it will also help lenders to spot and assist, at an earlier stage, those who are showing signs of experiencing debt stress."

Gavin Snell, General Manager – Consumer Credit Services at Experian, comments: "Lenders will now benefit from considerably more insight into their customers to enable them to make better informed credit risk and customer management decisions. The move signals further innovation to our work in promoting data sharing best practice."

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