Since 1981 Intersections Insurance Services Inc., located in Arlington Heights, IL, has provided end-to-end marketing solutions across multiple channels for a majority of the country's largest financial institutions and premier insurance companies.

Formerly Chartered Marketing Services, Inc., the company was acquired in June 2006 by Intersections Inc., a leading provider of branded and fully-customized identity management solutions. In April 2007, Chartered Marketing Services officially became Intersections Insurances Services Inc.

Intersections, headquartered in Chantilly, Va., was founded in 1996. Our founders envisioned an innovative company that would assist consumers in managing their credit information like they would any other asset – at a time when most consumers had never seen their credit report or credit score. They foresaw a consumer lending marketplace that would put more emphasis on credit scoring and risk modeling to predict consumer credit-seeking and payment behavior. This evolving marketplace would make a consumer’s credit one of his most valuable long-term investments.

Since that time, consumer demand for financial information services has grown exponentially, fueled by these changes in the consumer lending marketplace, widespread automation of data and increased awareness of identity theft, which have necessitated, encouraged and supported a higher level of involvement by consumers in their financial lives.

Consumer Services

Intersections’ aim is simple: to provide consumers the most comprehensive credit management and identity theft prevention solutions at the best value. We strive to continually update, enhance and innovate our services, taking advantage of marketplace, legislative and technological changes that make it possible to give consumers greater knowledge of and control over their credit and personal information.

Our consumer products and services are backed by the exceptional customer service for which we have always been known and delivered with an attention to privacy and security that is unmatched in the industry.

We reach millions of consumers through long-standing partnerships with their trusted financial institutions and directly through consumer outreach and alliances with other companies whose businesses support our dual message of better credit management and identity theft prevention.

Credit Management

The information in consumers’ credit reports has a direct effect on how much they will have to pay to borrow money or obtain insurance. It can even impact whether they will be able to rent an apartment or get a job. Yet many consumers have never seen their credit report or credit score – a numerical representation of their creditworthiness based on the information in their credit files. An increasing number of lenders and other businesses are using this information to determine whether a consumer is a good or bad credit risk. So, a consumer who doesn’t know where he stands financially is essentially navigating without a compass.

Intersections’ Credit Management solutions give consumers access to the same credit information lenders see and provides them with tools to analyze and monitor changes to that information over time.

Identity Theft Prevention

Identity theft, the fraudulent takeover or opening of new accounts using another’s personal identifying information, is one of the fastest-growing crimes in North America. Notoriously hard to prevent, consumers are increasingly turning to strategies to actively protect themselves against financial loss should they become victims.

The good news is that the costs to victims of identity theft – both in terms of out-of-pocket expense and in time resolving problems – are substantially smaller if the misuse is discovered quickly. And according to the Federal Trade Commission, a majority of victims first detected the fraudulent activity by actively monitoring their accounts.

Intersections’ Identity Theft Prevention solutions help consumers protect against financial harm caused by criminals who may tamper with their credit and steal their identities.

Enterprise Services

Intersections understands that businesses must manage risk in a variety of ways. One of those ways is by engaging consumers in protecting against fraud by providing them tools to identify fraudulent activity and to recover if they should become victims. Another is to employ business practices that help reduce fraud and its impact on consumers, such as stand-by response plans and recovery services in case of data compromise and pre-employment background screening of employees. Intersections provides its pre-employment background screening services through American Background Information Services Inc., a wholly-owned subsidiary. For more information, visit www.americanbackground.com.

INTERSECTIONS INC. TO HELP CONSUMERS FIGHT IDENTITY THEFT WITH FIRST THREE-BUREAU MONITORING SERVICE
FTC Study Confirms Monitoring Most Important Factor in Detecting Fraud

CHANTILLY, Va. – Intersections Inc. announced today that, for the first time, consumers will have a single source of daily monitoring of their credit information from all three major credit bureaus. The announcement comes as a new study shows that regular monitoring of accounts is the most effective way for consumers to identify fraud. The new three-bureau monitoring feature will help consumers avoid the potentially devastating effects of identity theft by allowing them to spot fraudulent activity on their credit files and act swiftly to address it.

Three-bureau monitoring will provide consumers with unprecedented protection against losses associated with identity theft by monitoring their credit files from all three major credit bureaus on a daily basis and alerting them of activity, such as new accounts, inquiries and address changes. These changes, if unrecognized, serve as red flags for potential identity fraud. The feature will be part of Intersections’ new premium credit-monitoring service, which is set to launch in November.

As a benefit to consumers, new subscribers to Intersections’ Identity Guard? CreditProtect? credit-monitoring service, will receive free automatic upgrades to the premium version, which will include three-bureau monitoring, a consolidated three-bureau credit report, three-bureau score, enhanced identity theft insurance, a credit analyzer and unlimited access to its Consumer Fraud Specialists. To learn more about CreditProtect or to enroll, visit www.identityguard.com or call 1-866-354-6915. Intersections Inc. currently provides credit monitoring and identity theft protection products and services to more than 2 million consumers in the U.S. and Canada.

In the past year alone, approximately 5 million Americans – or 52 percent of all identity theft victims – discovered they were victims by monitoring their accounts, according to the study released last week by the Federal Trade Commission, meaning the task of detecting identity theft is still falling mostly to consumers.


“Time and again, identity theft victim advocates have pointed to periodic monitoring of credit reports as one the most effective ways for consumers to protect themselves against major financial loss and clearly consumers are beginning to get the message,” said Michael R. Stanfield, Intersections’ CEO. “But the process of ordering, sorting through and cleaning up individual credit reports on a regular basis is an arduous, expensive and time consuming task for many.”

“Fraud happens fast,” said Stanfield. “And undetected fraud is money out of consumers’ pockets. Consumers need to have their credit files monitored every day. Fraud victims, advocates and the media have said we need three-bureau monitoring and we’ve delivered. Once again, private industry has demonstrated that it is willing to make the investment in bringing the best fraud detection solutions to consumers. We are meeting this need in the most comprehensive way possible with a strong, consumer friendly response to this continuing problem.”

Identity theft is a colossal problem. The FTC estimates nearly 10 million Americans have been victims of identity theft in the past year alone. This new statistic is consistent with two other major studies released separately in the past three months by Gartner, Inc. and Privacy & American Business that indicate a fast growing crime wave affecting at least 7 million Americans each year.

Monitoring is the most effective, but not the only way to detect fraud, noted Stanfield. Credit card issuers and banks are doing a good job discovering and alerting consumers to potential fraud as well. Another 26 percent of victims, or nearly 2.5 million people, said they were first alerted to suspicious activity on their accounts by companies, such as lenders or financial institutions, according to the FTC.

“The combination of regular monitoring by consumers and lender fraud detection efforts could help identify nearly three-quarters of fraudulent activity before it causes a major financial burden to the victim,” said Stanfield. Despite broad liability protections for consumers, victims reported out-of-pocket losses of $5 billion last year alone, the FTC study found. “That is why consumers ultimately must take steps to protect their identities, just as they protect their home, car and other possessions,” Stanfield concluded.

About Intersections Inc.
Chantilly, Va.-based Intersections Inc. is a leader in providing consumers with comprehensive credit management and identity theft protection products, backed with service unmatched in the industry today. The company’s IdentityGuard? brand comprises a variety of features that give consumers the power to monitor, manage, assess and protect their personal credit. Founded in 1996, the company currently serves 2 million customers through active relationships with ten of the largest financial institutions in the United States, strategic marketing partnerships and direct consumer outreach. Learn more about Intersections at www.intersections.com.
Identity Guard and CreditProtect are registered trademarks of Intersections Inc.