The industry challenge
The retail finance sector is one of the most demanding credit markets. Lenders must meet the increasing demands from the account holder for customer service and third-party providers for account-opening service levels.
In origination, the speed of account opening is crucial to both the customer and the retailer where the application is made. This means it is critical that a decision needs to be made as soon as possible, with costs kept to a minimum.
The average lifespan of a revolving retail finance account is much lower than for other forms of revolving credit, so regular and appropriate customer communication is important. Largely because of the younger demographic, losses on portfolios are typically higher than average. Therefore, appropriate and timely customer management and collections action is essential.
The answer
Experian offers Decision Analytics to meet the challenges of retail finance. Instant decisions can be offered through every customer channel with a decision requested at several stages of the process to allow a decision to be made at the earliest opportunity. With an accurate assessment of customers, organisations can distinguish between high and low value customers and set appropriate management, communication and collections strategies to maximise return from the potentially short relationship.