Experian Launches New Credit Scoring System, VantageScore (SM)

*** From Experian's Press Release ***

Costa Mesa, Calif. — Experian®, an information solutions company, today announced the launch of VantageScore ^sm , 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 FileOne ^sm 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 a global provider offering value-added information solutions to organizations and consumers. 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.