Experian is a business information company. Its principal line of business is consumer credit rating. It also holds other information which enables its clients to make business decisions, for example company records, insurance information, vehicle details and lifestyle data. Experian employs approximately 13,000 worldwide and as of 2005 had clients in 60 countries. It has headquarters in Nottingham in the UK and Costa Mesa in California. According to its website Experian's annual sales exceed $2.2 billion. Experian is owned by the British company GUS plc.
Experian North America's core business is providing consumer credit information to businesses so that they can in turn extend credit to consumers. It is one of the 'big three' credit reporting agencies in the United States. Like its main competitors, Trans Union and Equifax, it has also begun marketing credit reports directly to consumers. Its databases contain credit information on 215 million consumers in the U.S.
Experian acquired its credit reporting business from TRW in 1995, and it now employs approximately 4500 people in North America. Its annual sales exceed $1.3 billion.
In addition to providing credit reports, it maintains a database of over 450 million vehicles containing title and registration data from North American governments and provides address information for more than 20 billion promotional mail pieces to more than 100 million households every year.
Experian handles its credit disputes in its "National Consumer Assistance Center" (NCAC) in Allen, Texas. It has its headquarters in Costa Mesa, California. It is frequently sued for violating the Federal Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA)and uses the large national law firm of Jones Day to defend these lawsuits. Its litigation and settlement decisions are made by its in-house attorneys based in California.
Experian's credit reporting business, like the other major credit reporting bureaus, is chiefly regulated by the Fair Credit Reporting Act. The Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act signed into law on December 1, 2003, amended the FCRA to require the credit reporting companies to provide consumers with one free copy of their credit report per 12 month period.
