Equifax's Financial Forum Shows U.S. FINANCIAL HABITS EVOLVING

SAN DIEGO, Dec. 26, 1996-- Traditional attitudes about how, where and from whom Americans acquire banking and insurance services are changing and newer financial instruments like ATM and debit cards are moving into common use, a new survey shows.

The survey, conducted annually by Equifax National Decision Systems, found that 19% of American households now say they are willing to consider purchasing life insurance from full-service brokerage firms. Roughly 16% say they are willing to consider purchasing life insurance from a bank or savings and loan.

The Financial Forum survey also found that 62% of American households now have an ATM or debit card; that roughly 9% of U.S. households are using on-line services for a variety of applications, and that about 32% of the households say they now are ready to consider banking through a personal computer. Some 23% of all U.S. households say they would consider opening a banking account through a supermarket banking facility.

"The Financial Forum is the best data source available for marketers of financial services," said Stephen Nye, general manager of Equifax National Decision Systems. "The information shows not only which financial services people use and how they acquire them, but also serves as a gauge of future needs of consumers as their lifestyles change."

The Financial Forum survey is conducted every year by Equifax National Decision Systems to augment and expand the various marketing databases that it builds from Census Bureau, econometric forecasting and other data. Financial institutions and insurance companies then use the data to analyze the needs of their customers for product and marketing planning. The latest survey reflects responses from members of more than 25,000 U.S. households and addresses virtually every product and service in the banking, investments and insurance arenas -- from deposit accounts to ATMs, credit cards to auto leasing, mutual funds to municipal bonds, insurance policies to annuities.

The latest edition of the survey found that 34% of the respondents rely on family or friends for financial advice, compared to 19% who rely on a banker, 11% who rely on financial planners and 10% on financial publications. The remainder say they rely on brokers, attorneys, insurance agents or -- in the case of 1% -- on-line services.

Ties to traditional sales outlets are weakening in several ways. For example, while 19% of those surveyed said they would be willing to buy life insurance from a brokerage, some 27% said they would be willing to buy stocks from banks or S&L's.

While some 33% of U.S. households surveyed actually have a net worth of at least $100,000, the dollars being saved for investment are not great. A total of 76% of the households saved less than $10,000 -- and 61% saved less than $5,000 -- during the 12 months before the survey.

When they are banking, American consumers are increasingly embracing the idea of using bank branches inside supermarkets. Two key age groups -- 30-to-39 and 40-to-49 -- are leading this trend, accounting for 42% of all the bank customers who make a stop at the branch inside their grocery store. And of all consumers polled, some 23% said they would consider opening their bank account inside a supermarket banking facility in the future.

Turning to a different sector of the technology front, the Financial Forum found that 42.5% of those surveyed had used an ATM or debit card within the past 12 months. Almost two thirds of those respondents were able to use the ATM or debit card without paying a fee, and 15% said they had used their ATM or debit card more than 51 times during the last 12 months.

Some 32% of those surveyed said they would do their home banking through a personal computer if the technology were made available to them.

Among other interesting notes, 5.5% of the households said they now lease a car; 10% said they had a loan with a consumer finance company, and 53% said they did have some type of life insurance policy in force.

Equifax National Decision Systems is the nation's leading marketing information company, specializing in marketing decision support services, delivery systems and quality data. It is a subsidiary of Equifax Inc. (NYSE: EFX), the source for business solutions that help grant credit, authorize and process credit card and check transactions and insure lives and property. Established in 1899 in Atlanta, Equifax today employs 14,000 people around the world and posted revenues for the 12 months ended Sept. 30, 1996, exceeding $1.7 billion.