TRMA’s recent Summer 2011 Conference in San Francisco was another great, insightful event. Experian’s own Greg Carmean gave a presentation regarding the issues involved in providing credit to small-business owners. I recently interviewed Greg to get his impressions about last month’s conference.
KM: I’m speaking with Experian Program Manager, Greg Carmean, who spoke at TRMA’s Summer Conference. Hi, Greg.
GC: Hi, Kathy.
KM: Greg, I know I’ve interviewed you before, but can you please remind everyone what your role is here at Experian?
GC: Sure, I’m a Program Manager on the Small Business Credit Share side. I work with small- and medium-size companies, including telecom and cable companies, to reduce credit risk and get more value from their data.
KM: Thanks, Greg. So last month, you spoke at TRMA’s Summer Conference. What did you discuss?
GC: My presentation was entitled, “Beyond Consumer Credit – Providing a More Comprehensive Assessment of Small-Business Owners.” I talked about how traditional risk management tools can provide a point-in-time look at a business owner, but often fail to show the broader picture of the risk associated with all of their current and previous businesses.
There is 3-4 times more fraud in small business than in consumer. Business identity theft has become a bigger issue, Tax ID verification is a common problem, and there’s a lot of concern about agents bringing in fraudulent accounts.
KM: Why did you choose this particular topic?
GC: Well, Kathy, small business is seen as a large area of opportunity, but there can be a lot of difficulty involved in validation, especially when it comes to remote authentication and new businesses.
KM: Would you say there’s more fraud in small business than on the consumer side?
GC: Believe it or not, there is 3-4 times more fraud in small business than in consumer. Business identity theft has become a bigger issue, Tax ID verification is a common problem, and there’s a lot of concern about agents bringing in fraudulent accounts.
Many telecom and cable companies are beginning to adopt more aggressive, manual processes to lower the risk of fraud. Unfortunately, that usually results in lower activation.
KM: What can be done about it?
GC: Many telecom and cable companies are beginning to adopt more aggressive, manual processes to lower the risk of fraud. Unfortunately, that usually results in lower activation.
KM: Sounds like it can be frustrating!
GC: It can be, especially for the salespeople who bring in an account, and then find it’s not approved for service. Sometimes clients will pass a fraud check, but not a credit check. One of the topics I touched on is better tools that more accurately identify a small business owner’s risk across all of their current and previous businesses to alleviate some of these problems.
KM: Is there anything else telecom and cable companies should be doing?
GC: I think the best risk-mitigation tool when it comes to account acquisition is leveraging information about both the small business and its owner. As they say, knowledge is power.
KM: Definitely! Thanks again for your time today, Greg.
Share your thoughts!
If you attended TRMA’s Summer Conference, and especially if you attended Greg Carmean’s session, we’d love to hear from you. Please share your thoughts by commenting on this blog post. All of us at Experian look forward to seeing you at TRMA’s Fall Conference in Dallas, Texas, on September 20 – 21, 2011.