Consumer education partnerships

Trusted third parties have a very important role to play in consumer education, and our policy is to work co-operatively wherever possible. Our consumer education teams are speakers and presenters at a wide range of events and are regularly asked to work with journalists in preparing and commenting on consumer articles. In the US alone we assisted more than 200 financial writers last year with articles on credit reporting and financial management, including major newspapers, periodicals, online newsletters, and books. Our experts also took part in radio and television programmes focused on educating consumers about credit. In the UK, Jill Stevens is regularly invited to appear on the BBC TV’s Breakfast and Working Lunch programmes, among others, as a knowledgeable expert on consumer credit and identity fraud issues and our fact sheets are often featured on BBC and other respected and well-visited advice sites.

We work closely with consumer organisations, providing expertise, advice and even direct sponsorship enabling them to better educate and support consumers. Examples from the last year include:

Continuing sponsorship of the activities of the UK Citizens Advice service exhibition at the major political parties’ autumn conferences, involving us in this consumer group’s work informing UK politicians and government on consumer and credit issues.
Ongoing support for several money and consumer advice organisations including the annual conferences of the Institute of Money Advisers and Money Advice Scotland.
Three-year support, in cash and in kind, of the National Debtline - an independent service providing free, confidential debt advice.
Sponsorship of the Young Consumers of the Year quiz competition run by the UK’s Trading Standards Institute in schools across the UK.
Sponsorship of the similar LifeSmarts consumer knowledge contest run for high school students by the National Consumers League in the US. Personal finance is a key subject area and more than 20,000 students participate.
Service on the board of directors of Call For Action, a national US consumer assistance organization that aides people in resolving various consumer issues.
Sponsorship of the JumpStart Coalition for Financial Literacy, of which Experian is a founding partner. The organisation now is active in 46 US states and the District of Columbia, and urges legislators to require financial education in the school curriculum, providing guidelines and materials to help teachers be most effective.
Experian continues to produce Personal Credit Index research with Gallup in the US and Ipsos MORI in the UK. In the US the monthly, nationwide survey measures four key areas: level of debt, monthly payment burden, credit rating and debt extension capability. Consumers visiting www.PersonalCreditIndex.com can therefore access information about how others throughout the US view their credit circumstances.

In the US Experian is a member of, and currently chairs, the Consumer Data Industry Association (CDIA), an industry group of credit reporting businesses and related companies. Collectively, its members provide educational information to consumers to help them understand how credit reporting works and how they can better manage their financial matters. The CDIA and its members also work with legislators to help them understand how proposed bills may impact consumers, and to strike a balance in providing quality data to credit grantors and clear information to consumers.

Image of Jill Stevens and winners of the Young Consumers of the Year 2006 award at Boroughmuir High School, Edinburgh

Jill Stevens with the Young Consumers of the Year 2006 winners from Boroughmuir High School, Edinburgh

The Times 100 resource is a Consumer Affairs project and this year we used the development of the UK's CreditExpert product as the basis for a marketing case study.