Press Release

APPLICATION FRAUD INCREASES BY 47% - BUT WHAT CAN CONSUMERS DO IF THEY ARE TARGETED BY ID FRAUDSTERS?

New low cost monitoring service could provide the answer

www.equifax.co.uk

London - 30th July 2008 - The latest figures from CIFAS, the UK's Fraud Prevention Service, have revealed that cases of application fraud, where new finance was granted, increased by 47% in the first half of 2008. In many of these cases, the identities of innocent individuals may well have been used. The fear for consumers is that they may not find out their details have been used in this sort of fraud until it's too late - then there will be many hours of work to get their credit status corrected. Addressing this concern, leading ID fraud specialist, Equifax, has launched Equifax Identity Watch Lite which, for just £2.99 per month, monitors an individual's credit file and sends them email or SMS alerts within seven days of any key changes to their data.

"The problem is that ID fraud is an unseen crime. More often than not you don't know you have been a victim until you are rejected for credit or you receive a letter from a debt collector", confirmed Neil Munroe, External Affairs Director, Equifax "With such a staggering increase in application fraud, we think it's vital for consumers to make sure their credit information is being monitored on an on-going basis. But we know for some consumers price can be a barrier to taking these sorts of precautions. We have therefore introduced a low cost version of our ID fraud monitoring service - Identity Watch Lite."

Following a recent Equifax survey of its customers, it appears that there is a greater awareness of ID fraud, as well as the precautions that can be taken to protect an individual's identity. 37% of consumers who responded to the survey* said they are very concerned about ID fraud, with 63% saying they have changed the way they look after their personal information as a result of what they have seen in the media in the last few months. In particular monitoring and on-going vigilance is becoming more commonplace, with 35% checking their bank accounts and statements daily and 43% doing the same on a weekly basis.

However, whilst monitoring and vigilance appear to be higher on the agenda of many consumers, they are still doing some pretty silly things with their personal details. 46% of respondents to our survey said that they store bank details on their mobile, blackberry, laptop or desktop computer, with 16% admitting they do the same with the PINs. According to Neil Munroe, this is madness - if these items are stolen the thieves will have pretty much all of the data they need to commit identity fraud.

On-going monitoring of credit information is crucial to protect against identity fraud and Equifax Identity Watch Lite makes this as simple and cost-effective as possible. For just £2.99 per month, Equifax Identity Watch Lite takes the worry away from the individual - they just need to check their credit file if there's an alert of changes to their file that doesn't match their own known purchasing and payment activity. This could be a search of their credit file - when they haven't made any new applications for credit. Or details of a new credit account opened in their name that they know nothing about.

"The majority of consumers know when they are searching for new credit or setting up a new loan or credit account. So if they get an alert that coincides with this activity they will recognise this as genuine and know they don't need to check their credit file", confirmed Neil Munroe. "But if they receive an alert from Identity Watch Lite when they haven't been credit active, then this could be just the sort of warning they need to ensure they don't suddenly find themselves being chased for debts they know nothing about."

Visit www.equifax.co.uk to order the Equifax Credit Report or Equifax Identity Watch instantly online.

END

*Survey conducted amongst 608 Equifax customers, April 2008

For further press information please contact: Elinor Puzey, Louise Fowler, Cecile Stearn or Wendy Harrison at HSL on 020 8977 9132 / Fax: 020 8977 5200 or Email: elinor@harrisonsadler.com