Trans union credit services

In response to rising consumer privacy concerns, TRW, Equifax and Trans Union are making an effort to let consumers know their names can be removed from their direct mail rental lists and credit prescreen lists. And all three bureaus are sharing the names of consumers who want to "opt out."

Although Equifax no longer rents its lists, both TRW--which in December settled lawsuits over its credit reporting practices in 19 states--and Trans Union continue to rent their lists to direct mailers. "We are still very much a part of the list business," says Mary Wall, TRW communications manager. "However, we want consumers to know they don't have to be a part of the process if they don't want to be."

All three credit bureaus offer "prescreening" of direct mail financial offers in which lists are run against credit files to identify those people who meet the mailer's financial profile.

Each credit bureau maintains a list of consumers who have asked that their names not be used for either prescreening or list rental. To increase consumer awareness of these opt-out opportunities, all three send consumers information about the programs with their credit reports. "A separate ionsert explaining the program and how to use it is included in the envelope with the credit report," explains John Ford, Equifax's vice president of corporate public affairs. TRW includes a brochure titled "Understanding Your TRW Credit Report" in its mailings.

According to Wall, TRW's opt-out file contains close to 2.5 million names, although that number includes 2 million names from the Direct Marketing Assn.'s Mail Preference Service suppression list. According to Equifax's Ford, "Equifax Options," the bureau's opt-out list, contains about the same number of names as the TRW file, since the three credit bureaus share all opt-out names each quarter.

Equifax also offers mailers a consumer name suppression program via Buyer's Market. Designed as an "opt-in" program in which consumers respond to a questionnaire about which direct mail offers they want, it maintains lists of consumers who have indicated they don't want certain categories of direct mail.

Buyer's Market is a dual option questionnaire, meaning consumers must check off either a "yes" or a "no" response to each of the 90 categories or product offers. According to Keith Wardell, vice president, few consumers leave any categories blank, therefore a 40% "yes" response in a category represents a 60% "no" response. "With the Buyer's Market database at 1 million names, a 60% negative response to gardening offers, for example, amounts to 600,000 consumers," he explains. "A big garden cataloger would save a lot of wasted postage by using a suppression file of that size."

And Equifax is encouraging the use of Buyer's Market for suppression by offering the files free. Product category files are released only to valid mailers of the category and mailers are required to sign a written agreement that the file will be used only for suppression.

About 20 mailers have taken advantage of the suppression files. Wardell attributes the small number to low match rates with mailer lists. "The suppression files haven't been effective for many mailers because] of their small size."