Latest Financial Forum Survey Reveals Consumer Behavior and Attitude Changes

Covers Timely Topics, from Supermarket Banking to Insurance by Mail

SAN DIEGO, California, October 2, 1996 - Marketers of financial services now can access the most current and comprehensive information about American households' financial behavior and attitudes with the release of Equifax National Decision Systems' newest Financial Forum® survey results.

The annual in-depth survey covers virtually every product and service in the banking, investments and insurance arena, from deposit accounts to ATMs, credit cards to auto leasing, mutual funds to municipal bonds, insurance policies to annuities and more. In response to industry needs, the survey covers such timely topics as supermarket and home computer banking, direct response for insurance and investment products and attitudes about acquiring life insurance and mutual funds through banks, consumer finance companies and brokerage houses.

"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 what financial services people use and how they acquire them, but also serves as a gauge of future needs of consumers as their lifestyles change." Using Financial Forum data, the financial service companies can learn many things about their markets, including:

• Savings and investment patterns by lifestyle segment.
• Usage by high net worth, high investible asset households.
• Profiles of households owning specific combinations of services.
• Who people turn to for advice when making financial decisions.
• Impact of age, income and other factors on financial decisions.
• Which delivery channels consumers prefer.
• Who buys products through the mail or by telephone and which products they buy.

The latest Financial Forum survey contains responses from more than 25,000 households. It was fielded to a geographically and demographically balanced sample of households across the United States drawn from a database of voluntary panelists from all age groups, income brackets and lifestyle segments. To further ensure accuracy, the panel was balanced using Equifax National Decision Systems' consumer segmentation system, MicroVision®.

The Financial Forum data, all coded with MicroVision, is available in a variety of formats for maximum flexibility. More than 175 banking and finance profiles, 143 insurance and investments profiles and 51 attitude profiles also are available for integration with Infomark®, Equifax National Decision Systems' desktop marketing tool. Individual reports or data sets can be obtained by calling the company's toll-free hotline, (800) 866-6510. To give marketers broad flexibility in analyzing Financial Forum data and easily produce reports and charts, the company offers a Windows7-based cross-tab software package called ForumView®.

The Financial Forum information also is used in Equifax National Decision Systems' MicroVision-Banking and MicroVision-Insurance segmentation systems to create groups of households that are homogeneous in the way they use financial products and services. These systems can be used to develop targeted marketing programs, including cross-selling, media placement, direct marketing and branch or agency planning.

More information on Financial Forum data is available from Equifax National Decision Systems, 5375 Mira Sorrento Place, Ste. 400, San Diego, Calif. 92121. Telephone: (800) 250-7817. E-Mail: prodinfo@ends.com. Internet Home Page: http://www.ends.com.

Equifax National Decision Systems is the nation's leading marketing information company, specializing in marketing decision support services, delivery systems and quality data. In addition to banking, insurance, and investments the company services businesses in real estate, retail, restaurant, utilities, telecommunications, cable, consumer products, publishing and other industries. The company is a subsidiary of Equifax Inc. (NYSE:EFX), a leading provider of information services to businesses around the world.