Callcredit

Callcredit Information Group

Type	Private
Industry	Business Services
Founded	2000 (2000)
Headquarters	Leeds, United Kingdom
Key people	Mike Gordon, CEO
Products	Credit Risk Fraud Solutions Consumer Marketing Solutions Collection & Recovery Solutions Retail Network Planning Digital Marketing Consumer Services
Website	www.callcredit.co.uk

Callcredit Information Group is a data business, a consumer marketing business and a credit reference agency. Credit reference agencies collect and store details about consumers and their personal credit history. There are three consumer Credit Reference Agencies in the UK: Callcredit, Equifax, and Experian. National Hunter is an application fraud data sharing system. A number of business credit report companies exist, the longest-standing of which is Dun & Bradstreet, but new companies like Checkit and Creditsafe have popped up as the internet has made lower cost, direct access easier.

Callcredit was created by Skipton Building Society. The credit division supplies information to lenders and other organisations to enable them to establish an individual's credit history, confirm application addresses and monitor significant events which may be indicators of credit risk. In 2009, Skipton sold its interest in the company to Vitruvian Partners, a UK-based private equity firm. In 2014 they sold to Chicago based PE GTCR.

Callcredit's areas of business are Credit Risk, ID Verification/Fraud & Anti-money laundering, Collections & Recoveries, Consumer Marketing Data, Retail Network Planning and Digital Marketing. They also have a significant international presence.

The company's client base includes banks, building societies, finance houses, mail order, insurance, telecoms, retail, travel and leisure and utility companies, as well as solicitors, estate/letting agents and accountants. Many of these typically use Callcredit’s services to support applications for consumer credit, however shared financial data from consumers' credit accounts is used to underpin a variety of services including Fraud, Anti-Money Laundering and Identity Verification products, debtor tracing and over-indebtedness tracking.

History

2001 saw the launch of Callcredit's first credit referencing service, “CallReport”, an online service that allows subscribers to check the identity and creditworthiness of potential customers.

In 2002 Callcredit launched its “SHARE” database of consumer credit account information. Created by monthly contributions from a closed user group of lenders, SHARE includes records from banks, building societies, and telecom companies.

In 2003 Callcredit, EuroDirect (est. 1992) and GMAP (est. 1997) were brought together under the name Skipton Information Group

Callcredit also introduced a range of products for credit risk, Anti-Money Laundering and marketing in the same year.

In 2004 the Skipton Information Group (SIG) was formed, bringing Callcredit together with EuroDirect and GMAP.

In 2005 Callcredit launched MyCallcredit, its online credit file monitoring and identity theft alert service for consumers. Also during the year Callcredit introduced a new range of debt management tools, credit monitoring and tracing solutions to aid responsible lending.

In 2006 Callcredit launched its consumer indebtedness initiative in association with the UK’s leading high street banks: HBOS, HSBC, Lloyds TSB, Barclays and RBS. The initiative uses income data along with consolidated debt data to give an understanding of customer indebtedness and ability to pay. Throughout 2007, Callcredit further developed its Over-Indebtedness Initiative (OII) and continued to roll it out across the major UK banks, building societies and credit card companies. It has also created the Callcredit Consultancy team, which supplies expertise throughout the customer lifecycle, from customer acquisition to collection and recoveries.

In 2007, Skipton Information Group acquired two additional businesses which directly complement Callcredit’s activities. Legatio build complex online systems that present data for government, blue chip and SME's. Legatio have also developed an online fraud detection service called CallValidate that verifes a bank accounts or credit / debit cards owners name and address. Legatio was started with a PDF based tax return service for individuals and agents (ftax.co.uk). The second acquisition in 2007 was DecisionMetrics, who undertake advanced analytical projects for the credit risk market, covering credit scoring, affordability assessment, Basel II modelling and ongoing performance monitoring.

In 2007 Callcredit opened a regional office in Japan for its GMAP Consulting business.

In January 2008, Skipton Information Group announced its third acquisition in six months. Broadsystem are specialists in both database and marketing services, with additional skills in communications management.

In 2009, the Management team led a MBO backed by Vitruvian Partners, a private equity business.

In 2010, Callcredit acquired process benchmarking limited (est.1994)

2011 saw a lot of activity:

• Acquisition of The Trading Floor (est. 2006)
• Acquisition of Latitude Digital Marketing Limited (est. 2009)
• Acquisition of TenantID (est. 2011)
• Noddle Limited was formed
• GMAP Japan KK was formed
• Callcredit Operations UAB was formed in Lithuania

2013 saw: The

• acquisition of Lifestyles Online (est. 2005)

• Sale of the Bristol Contact Centre to Echo Managed Services Ltd (Echo)

• The formation of GMAP Marketing Consulting (Shanghai) with a new regional office in China

In 2014 came:

• The acquisition of Coactiva (est. 2001)

• A change of investors from Vitruvian Partners to GTCR

CIG 2008 Rebrand

In May 2008 the Skipton Information Group rebranded to the Callcredit Information Group (CIG).

Noddle

In December 2011, Noddle (credit report service) was launched. Noddle is a free for life credit report service from Callcredit Information Group. Customers can also see credit card and loan products based on their credit rating and their likelihood of being accepted for each product with Noddle’s confidence rating.

Callcredit Check & Credit Compass

Callcredit Check is the consumer arm of Callcredit, providing consumers with personal credit reports. Callcredit, Equifax and Experian gain information about consumers’ credit records from various sources including banks, building societies and lenders that have granted the consumer credit.

This information is used to generate a personal credit report. All three credit reference agencies allow consumers to access their credit report. This can be done in one of two ways.

Under the Data Protection Act of 1998, Callcredit, Equifax and Experian are required by law to offer a statutory credit file, which is sent out in the post and takes around seven working days. All three credit reference agencies however also offer an online credit report which can be accessed instantly.

In 2014 the Credit Compass product was introduced which provides added value monitoring and Identity Theft services.

External links

• Callcredit website
• Callcredit companies grouped at OpenCorporates