Experian to Sell Credit Reports to Consumers
in Britain and Canada

Like the other major U.S. credit repositories, Experian, Inc. has been selling credit reports online to consumers in the United States since 1996. This growing market has generated 1.6 million subscriptions for online credit report products for the company. Now it will try to build a market for similar services in the United Kingdom. The UK market is about one-third the size of the U.S. market. Products in the U.K. will include text messaging services to cellular phones that will notify consumers when information is added to their files.

Experian also announced that it will begin selling consumer credit reports in Canada this year, through an arrangement with the Canadian credit bureau Northern Credit Bureaus Inc. Experian does not operate a bureau in Canada. Northern Credit Bureaus told the American Banker that it chose Experian to deliver its online products to consumers because of the company's expertise in the consumer marketplace, saying "There is quite a difference between making data available to creditor financial institutions and to consumers who want to check their credit reports."