Experian Launches Precise ID(SM) for Customer Management

COSTA MESA, Calif., June 30, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Experian^®, the global information services company, today announced the launch of Precise ID(SM) for Customer Management, the latest addition to the Experian Precise ID suite of authentication and fraud detection services. The new capabilities bring a higher level of sophistication to effectively detect identity fraud in existing accounts.  

Fraud in existing accounts occurs when an identity thief gains access to; manipulates; and ultimately misuses a victim's existing credit, debit, bank, credit union, trading, retirement or other account. According to Javelin Strategy & Research, $37 billion in identity fraud occurred last year in the United States, including some $20 billion in existing accounts.

"In today's challenging credit environment, fraudsters are attacking organizations from many different angles. These strategies include using stolen identities to fraudulently establish new credit relationships or taking over existing accounts," said Charles Chung, president of Decision Analytics North America at Experian. "Solely checking identities at the time of application is no longer enough to protect customers and institutions themselves from the losses generated by existing account fraud. This makes fraud prevention tools such as Precise ID for Customer Management critical in a comprehensive strategy to uncover and prevent fraud at all phases of the customer account life cycle."

Experian's Precise ID for Customer Management helps organizations reduce fraud losses by applying a point-in-time fraud risk assessment that incorporates recent account activity that may have occurred since the original account opening. Through a risk-based approach, the tool evaluates and scores identities and associated identity elements via a vast identity transaction network to reveal up-to-date identity usage and associated fraud threats. This network adds more than 2 million identity transactions per day, revealing up-to-date fraud threats associated with inconsistent or high-risk use of numerous identity elements.

Identity-fraud risk scores and attributes  

Precise ID for Customer Management's identity-fraud risk score assesses the likelihood that a customer's identity has been compromised and poses a risk of fraud loss. This score ranges from 1 to 999, allowing for segmentation of risky accounts, and enables reviewers to alter decision thresholds and account treatments over time. Reviewers can use this score at any point in time to evaluate identity risk associated with questionable accounts and customers. Scores are accessed on demand and processed in batches, allowing reviewers to quickly and cost-effectively categorize and rank-order millions of accounts.

"Manually reviewing accounts to detect fraud can be time-consuming and resource-intensive, especially for organizations with limited resources," said George Tubin, senior research director, TowerGroup's Retail Banking & Cards. "Financial services institutions should seek out solutions that automate the review process to help reviewers identify high-risk accounts more quickly and accurately with fewer false positives. This leads to improved productivity, higher customer service levels and faster ROI."  

The product also features score factors and more granular predictive attributes that offer concise descriptions and variables that accompany each score to explain the factors most prominently impacting results. This insight improves operational efficiency by speeding review cycles and enhances customer satisfaction through a reduction in the amount of time reviewers spend investigating a customer's high-risk accounts. It also simultaneously allows lower-risk, well-intentioned customers to seamlessly transact without disrupting their service.

Availability

Precise ID for Customer Management is available now. For additional information about the product, go to www.experian.com/customer-management.

About Experian

Experian is the leading global information services company, providing data and analytical tools to clients in more than 80 countries. The company helps businesses to manage credit risk, prevent fraud, target marketing offers and automate decision making. Experian also helps individuals to check their credit report and credit score and protect against identity theft.

Experian plc is listed on the London Stock Exchange (EXPN) and is a constituent of the FTSE 100 index. Total revenue for the year ended 31 March 2011 was $4.2 billion. Experian employs approximately 15,000 people in 41 countries and has its corporate headquarters in Dublin, Ireland, with operational headquarters in Nottingham, UK; California, US; and São Paulo, Brazil.

For more information, visit http://www.experianplc.com.

Experian and the Experian marks used herein are service marks or registered trademarks of Experian Information Solutions, Inc. Other product and company names mentioned herein are the property of their respective owners.

Contact:
Michael Troncale
Experian Public Relations
1 714 830 5462
[email protected]

SOURCE Experian