PrivacyGuard®

Revenue for you, identity theft protection for your customers

A growing market

In a radio interview in February 2006, Home Office Minister Andy Burnham pointed out that identity theft is costing the UK an estimated £1.7bn per annum, which equates to £35 per person.

Moreover, with the ever increasing amount of headlines and news stories concerning identity theft, it is no surprise that we have seen a substantial level of consumer interest in our product since its UK launch in 2005. Furthermore, 15 years' experience promoting the product in the US meant we were well equipped to offer expert solutions to the UK market.

We would like to offer you an opportunity to share in this success. By leveraging the strength of your brand and the unlocked value within your customer database, we can deliver a new revenue stream and deeper customer loyalty for your business. Under the umbrella of our parent company Affinion Group, a leader in this area with 3,500 employees, Affinion International is helping brands build a more profitable relationship with close to 117 million customers worldwide. This huge depth of experience has allowed us to build an extraordinary fund of marketing knowledge and to continue to develop new products and services that are perfectly suited to changing customer needs and channel usage. Our PrivacyGuard® product is one of a range of solutions that we can offer to help you deliver more income from your customers and to extend your brand relationship with them.

A compelling product proposition, PrivacyGuard® offers your customers a highly competitive set of benefits. That’s because our approach is not simply to provide the back-stop of insurance cover. We can also help educate consumers as to the nature of credit management, giving them tools to spot any unusual activity, as well as providing comprehensive identity theft insurance. As a general overview, there are four key aspects to the product:

Full details of your credit status as supplied by one of the UK's leading credit bureaux, including a clear summary of key factors and an analysis of your credit score.
Personal alerts, when and if your key credit indicators change on your file.
The ability to query and check such changes to ensure that no suspicious activity is indicated.
Protection against identity theft of up to £10,000, along with an identity Fraud Resolution Service to minimise problems arising from any crime.

This multi-faceted approach, backed by our unique and close relationship with the credit bureau, ensures a class-leading and highly reassuring product for your customers - adding value to your brand and to your bottom line.

What do we deliver for our partners?

Our way of working is very simple and transparent. Our track record means
we are able to offer you a substantial commission and take the financial risk out of any partnership through our investment in marketing, maintaining and delivering the PrivacyGuard® product. In essence, all we require is for you to give us an understanding of your customer data – we will do the rest. Moreover, we do not ask for any financial commitment from you.

Our clear goal is to build your brand in a profitable way so as to deliver a revenue stream to both our businesses. All communications to customers are from your brand; they have a relationship with you and not with us. Guidelines and standards are always agreed upon and signed off. The same goes for any telephone or online contact; we have a contact team of over 600 skilled agents. If required we can also help you to use your own customer touchpoints to drive cross-sell and upsell opportunities.

How do we do it?

Our greatest area of expertise, alongside innovative product development, is in marketing. By using our wealth of experience and our powerful data models, we are able to select those customers on your file who are most likely to take up the PrivacyGuard® product. Indeed, our marketing results since the launch of this product last year have shown extremely high levels of response, conversion and ROI, delivering a very substantial revenue stream to our clients and to ourselves.

The identity theft market is clearly set to continue to both grow and become more complex. Through a partnership with Affinion International, you can be confident that your customers have access to the appropriate products for their needs and that you are able to build both a new revenue stream and greater customer loyalty. Clearly, the opportunity exists for a highly beneficial partnership in this important new area.

Summary

With Affinion International's PrivacyGuard®, we have created a product that adds significant value to your brand. Our close relationship with one of the UK’s leading credit bureaux has enabled us to produce a first class offering for your customers, with the kind of reassurances they need to counteract the growing problem of identity theft.

Key market facts

Ongoing news coverage of identity theft continues to grow, raising both consumer awareness and concern. This is hardly surprising given that it is costing the
UK an estimated £1.7bn per annum, which equates to £35 per person.

25% of adults know someone who has been a victim.
Affinion International research shows that 71% of consumers are aware of and concerned about the issue.

With 15 years' experience in this area, Affinion International can offer your customers a highly appealing identity theft solution and you a highly appealing revenue stream.

Affinion International PrivacyGuard® main benefits

There are four key aspects to the product which provide useful and educative consumer tools as well as the back-stop of comprehensive insurance:

Full details of your credit status as supplied by one of the UK’s leading credit bureaux, including a clear summary of key factors and an analysis of your credit score.
Personal alerts, when and if your key credit indicators change on your file.
The ability to query and check such changes to ensure that no suspicious activity is indicated.
Protection against identity theft of up to £10,000, along with an identity Fraud Resolution Service to minimise problems arising from any crime.