CHICAGO, IL — (Marketwire) — 11/12/12 — While Thanksgiving may be a couple weeks away, many Americans are already gearing up for this year-s holiday shopping season. As shoppers prepare to hunt for the best deals, TransUnion today launches the first online tool that not only combines their credit information and identity theft protection services, but also allows them to better manage and budget their money.
According to a new Zogby Analytics survey commissioned by TransUnion, nearly one-third (31.3 percent) of Americans surveyed said one of their New Year-s financial resolutions for 2013 is to develop and stick to a monthly budget. Furthermore, nearly half (48.7 percent) of Americans surveyed said they would like to spend less money on unnecessary expenses and more than half (53.5 percent) reported wanting to save more money in 2013. The TransUnion Plus new money management feature makes managing and budgeting money simpler by providing members with a dashboard with all their pertinent financial information all in one place.
“So many consumers make a goal of sticking to a budget and saving more money each year,” said Heather Battison, senior director at TransUnion responsible for consumer education. “Now with TransUnion Plus, consumers can stay on top of not only their credit information and identity, but they can manage their day-to-day spending as well — during the holiday season — and all year round. TransUnion Plus pairs a member-s credit report, credit score and critical change alerts with other financial accounts, such as their checking and 401k accounts — all in a single online dashboard.”
TransUnion Plus provides members with the following to help them achieve their financial goals:
Provides members a comprehensive view on how an account is being reported on their “Smart Credit Report” and allows them to view account transactions in detail for that account. They can also easily add accounts that are not on their credit report such as savings, checking, investments, mortgages and even household accounts to provide them with a comprehensive view of their finances. TransUnion compiles and updates all the data online so members can manage and track their spending, savings and net worth every time they log in. TransUnion will even notify members of any upcoming payments so they will never need to be late again.
Allows members to quickly know when their identity is potentially being misused. TransUnion Plus provides email alerts of critical changes to a member-s credit and identity information to help safeguard them against identity theft. The service will notify them when there have been critical changes by sending timely email alerts.
Delivers alerts from other sources such as new accounts, credit cards, in-store credit, wireless, utility, auto and mortgage loans derived principally from new applications for credit and services using a member-s name, Social Security number, date of birth or address. In some cases, these identity theft and credit alerts will not appear on all their credit reports.
Consumers can try , free for 7 days. Signing up is free and only takes a few minutes.
The good news for consumers is they do not need to wait until 2013 to start saving money — or to win it. To celebrate the launch of TransUnion Plus and the holiday shopping season, TransUnion also announced today the start of their “Season for Saving” Facebook Video Contest, where one lucky winner will receive $10,000 for their creative money management story.
To enter, individuals need to visit the ” on the TransUnion Facebook page between November 6 and November 30 and upload a video essay explaining how they creatively plan to or have saved money during the holiday shopping season. Submissions will be accepted until 12:00 Noon Eastern Time on November 30, 2012.
TransUnion will select up to 10 finalists to be voted on by fans on Facebook. The finalist with the most eligible votes on their video submission at the end of the contest on December 7 will receive $10,000 in cash as a reward for their creative budgeting/saving plan. The first runner-up will receive $500 in cash and the second runner-up will receive $250 in cash. The three finalists with the most eligible votes will also receive a year subscription to TransUnion products.
For more information on the contest and for complete rules, visit the “.
Zogby Analytics conducted an online survey of 1000 U.S. adults for TransUnion.
Using information based on census data, voter registration figures, CIA fact books and exit polls, we use complex weighting techniques to best represent the demographics of the population being surveyed. Weighted variables may include age, race, gender, region, party, education, and religion.
Based on a confidence interval of 95%, the margin of error for 1000 is +/- 3.2 percentage points. This means that all other things being equal, the identical survey repeated will have results within the margin of error 95 times out of 100.
For three decades, the Zogby companies have produced polls with an unparalleled record of accuracy and reliability. Zogby telephone and interactive surveys have generally been the most accurate in U.S. Presidential elections since 1996.
Zogby Analytics is composed entirely of senior level executives from Zogby International. Zogby Analytics, along with renowned pollster John Zogby, have continued in the tradition of conducting telephone and interactive surveys, while keeping an eye on the future by incorporating social media tracking and analysis into our work.
Zogby Analytics conducts a wide variety of surveys internationally and nationally in industries, including banking, IT, medical devices, government agencies, colleges and universities, non-profits, automotive, insurance and NGOs.
TransUnion Interactive, Inc. is a consumer subsidiary of . As a global leader in credit and information management, TransUnion creates advantages for millions of people around the world by gathering, analyzing and delivering information. For businesses, TransUnion helps improve efficiency, manage risk, reduce costs and increase revenue by delivering comprehensive data and advanced analytics and decisioning. For consumers, TransUnion provides the tools, resources and education to help manage their credit health and achieve their financial goals. Through these and other efforts, TransUnion is working to build stronger economies worldwide. Founded in 1968 and headquartered in Chicago, TransUnion employs associates in more than 32 countries on five continents. Follow us on .
John Branham
512.351.3512
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