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Did you know that this week is National Small Business Week? It is a time dedicated entirely to acknowledging the positive impact small businesses have on our economy. So let’s take a moment to recognize the contributions that millions of entrepreneurs and small business owners have made to our local communities. Whether it’s creating jobs or providing our favorite products and services at convenient locations, here’s to Small Business - they are truly the backbone of our nation’s economy.

In honor of Earth Day, Experian Automotive released findings from an analysis comparing electric and hybrid* vehicles. Findings from the analysis showed that in 2013, more than 45 percent of hybrid car buyers were 56 years old or older, while roughly 26 percent of electric car buyers were of the same age. The greater percentage (55 percent) of electric buyers were between the ages of 36 years old and 55 years old. Additionally, nearly 21 percent of consumers purchasing an electric car had an average household income of $175,000 or more. Conversely, only 12 percent of consumers purchasing a hybrid had an average household income of the same level.

Santander, one of the UK's leading providers of current accounts, mortgages, loans and savings products, has signed a five year contract for the deployment of Experian’s Originations and Customer Management products on their PowerCurve™ platform, to support its customer acquisitions and portfolio monitoring processes. The PowerCurve Originations and PowerCurve Customer Management solutions will help Santander support customer acquisitions and portfolio review processes across their retail and business banking products The PowerCurve platform allows Santander the ability to create unique profiles for each of its customers, encompassing each customer’s entire relationship with the business. This includes scores and metrics for risk, affordability, profitability, propensity to pay and lifetime value. Mark Staveley, Chief Credit Officer at Santander UK, comments: "The ability to share strategies across products, portfolios and lifecycle stages was pivotal to our software selection and partner of choice. We were looking for a partner with proven experience of delivering highly complex, large scale credit risk infrastructure projects under demanding timescales, and to work in an integrated manner with the business.  We selected Experian because of the business’ ability to meet our requirements and experience in undertaking platform hosting solutions." You can read the full Santander press release here: http://bit.ly/1jDyHYR

Whether you own the largest pickup or the smallest hybrid on the market, one thing remains clear – folks in the U.S. love their vehicles. In the recently released Loyalty and Market Trends Report by Experian Automotive, we looked at several key trends that highlight who is buying what, and which auto makers received highest marks in loyalty in Q2.

A recent Experian Automotive credit trends study revealed that vehicle history can have a major impact on loan performance. The study found that more than 2 percent of the late-model used vehicles (model year 2005 and newer) had a negative vehicle history event (frame damage, salvage, odometer rollback, etc.), which can significantly impact the vehicle's value.

Many consumers simply do not understand what a credit report, credit score or id theft is until they have either been denied a loan or fallen victim to fraud. As part of Experian’s Live Credit Smart program, the company offers consumers information on the specific areas that they need to live credit smart.