Experian Statistics 2026
By Axis Intelligence Research
Co-author: Sarah Davis | Last updated: October 25, 2026 | License: CC BY 4.0
Experian closed 99.6% of the 1,390,979 complaints U.S. consumers filed about it with the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau in 2025 with an explanation only. Axis Intelligence Research finds that Experian’s Bureau Dispute Relief Rate (BDRR) fell to 0.44% in 2025, against 63.4% at Equifax and 64.4% at TransUnion, then climbed back to 31.2% in Q3 2026.
Quick Answer
Experian is the largest of the three U.S. credit bureaus by revenue: $8,445 million in fiscal 2026 (year to March 31, 2026), up 12%, with 8% organic growth, according to its FY26 results. It serves over 215 million free consumer members and employs 25,200 people in 33 countries. In 2025 it resolved 6,148 CFPB complaints with relief, down 95.6% from 140,654 in 2024, an Axis Intelligence Research calculation from CFPB data.
Key Findings
- Experian reported statutory revenue of $8,445 million for the year ended March 31, 2026, up from $7,523 million, with Benchmark EBIT of $2,407 million and a 28.6% margin, per its FY26 results release.
- Axis Intelligence Research finds that Experian’s Bureau Dispute Relief Rate (BDRR) was 0.44% for CFPB complaints received in 2025, against 63.42% for Equifax and 64.43% for TransUnion.
- Axis Intelligence Research finds that Experian’s BDRR rose from 0.19% in Q1 2026 to 13.42% in Q2 2026 and 31.18% in Q3 2026, based on complaints already closed in the CFPB database as of October 25, 2026.
- Axis Intelligence Research estimates that Experian earned up to $20.16 of Consumer Services revenue per free North American member in fiscal 2026, almost five times the $4.18 it earned per member elsewhere.
- Consumers filed 1,517,980 CFPB complaints about Experian between January 1 and September 30, 2026, already 109.1% of the full-year 2025 total, per Axis Intelligence Research’s analysis of the CFPB database.
How Much Revenue Does Experian Make?
Experian plc generated $8,445 million of statutory revenue in fiscal 2026, the year ended March 31, 2026, up 12.3% from $7,523 million in fiscal 2025 (Experian FY26 results, RNS 9859E, May 20, 2026). Revenue from ongoing activities was $8,425 million. Organic growth, which strips out currency moves and acquisitions in their first year, was 8% for the year and 9% in the fourth quarter.
Profit grew faster than sales. Benchmark EBIT from ongoing activities, Experian’s adjusted operating profit measure, rose 15% to $2,407 million. Statutory profit before tax rose 26% to $1,951 million, helped by $101 million of financing fair value gains, mostly currency gains on Brazilian intra-group funding. Benchmark EPS was 179.8 US cents, up 15%.
Experian reports in US dollars but is listed on the London Stock Exchange and headquartered in Dublin. Its fiscal year ends March 31, so its FY26 overlaps nine months of calendar 2025.
Experian annual results, FY25 vs FY26
| Metric | FY25 | FY26 | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Statutory revenue | $7,523M | $8,445M | Experian FY26 RNS |
| Revenue, ongoing activities | $7,475M | $8,425M | Experian FY26 RNS |
| Benchmark EBIT, ongoing | $2,102M | $2,407M | Experian FY26 RNS |
| Benchmark EBIT margin | 28.1% | 28.6% | Experian FY26 RNS |
| Statutory operating profit | $1,793M | $2,045M | Experian FY26 RNS |
| Profit before tax | $1,549M | $1,951M | Experian FY26 RNS |
| Profit for the year | $1,170M | $1,508M | Experian FY26 RNS |
| Benchmark EPS | 156.9¢ | 179.8¢ | Experian FY26 RNS |
| Basic EPS | 127.6¢ | 164.5¢ | Experian FY26 RNS |
| Benchmark operating cash flow | $2,025M | $2,221M | Experian FY26 RNS |
| Benchmark free cash flow | $1,411M | $1,583M | Experian FY26 RNS |
| Full-year dividend per share | 62.50¢ | 69.25¢ | Experian FY26 RNS |
| Post-tax return on capital employed | 16.6% | 17.2% | Experian FY26 RNS |
What is Experian’s guidance for fiscal 2027?
Experian guided to 6% to 8% organic revenue growth and 8% to 11% total growth for the year to March 31, 2027, with Benchmark EBIT margin expansion of about 50 basis points at constant currency (FY26 results). It expects net interest of $250 million to $260 million, up from $185 million in FY26, reflecting acquisition financing.
The first quarter landed in the middle of that range. Q1 FY27 revenue, for the three months to June 30, 2026, rose 10% at actual exchange rates, 8% at constant currency and 7% organically (Q1 FY27 trading update, July 16, 2026). Experian kept its full-year outlook unchanged and reports half-year results on November 18, 2026.
Sarah Davis, Digital Finance: The margin number deserves more attention than the growth number. Labour costs fell to 32% of revenue, and Experian says that is more than 300 basis points below two years ago. Revenue per employee works out to about $335,100. A bureau’s cost base is mostly people and data, and the data is already paid for, so every point of labour productivity drops almost straight into Benchmark EBIT. That is why FY27 guidance asks for slower growth and a wider margin at the same time.
How Does Experian Make Money? Revenue by Business Line and Region
Experian sells to two kinds of customer. Business-to-Business (B2B), 73% of FY26 revenue, sells credit data, analytics, fraud and identity checks to lenders (Financial Services) and to automotive, health and marketing clients (Verticals). Consumer Services, 27% of revenue, sells credit monitoring, identity protection and product referrals directly to consumers.
Experian revenue by business line, FY26
| Business line | FY25 revenue | FY26 revenue | Organic growth | Share of group | Benchmark EBIT margin FY26 | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Financial Services | $3,874M | $4,463M | 9% | 53% | — | Experian FY26 RNS |
| Verticals (Automotive, Health, Marketing) | $1,547M | $1,705M | 7% | 20% | — | Experian FY26 RNS |
| Business-to-Business total | $5,421M | $6,168M | 8% | 73% | 30.9% | Experian FY26 RNS |
| Consumer Services | $2,054M | $2,257M | 9% | 27% | 29.6% | Experian FY26 RNS |
| Ongoing activities | $7,475M | $8,425M | 8% | 100% | 28.6% | Experian FY26 RNS |
Consumer Services margins rose 220 basis points to 29.6%, closing most of the gap with B2B at 30.9%. Benchmark EBIT for Consumer Services was $668 million, up from $562 million.
Experian revenue by region, FY26
| Region | FY26 revenue | Organic growth | Share of group | Benchmark EBIT | EBIT margin | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| North America | $5,587M | 10% | 67% | $1,912M | 34.2% | Experian FY26 RNS |
| Latin America | $1,297M | 8% | 15% | $399M | 30.8% | Experian FY26 RNS |
| UK and Ireland | $942M | 2% | 11% | $220M | 23.4% | Experian FY26 RNS |
| EMEA and Asia Pacific | $599M | 5% | 7% | $40M | 6.7% | Experian FY26 RNS |
Region by business line: where growth came from
| Region | Financial Services | Verticals | B2B | Consumer Services | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| North America | $2,363M (+14%) | $1,510M (+8%) | $3,873M (+12%) | $1,714M (+6%) | Experian FY26 RNS |
| Latin America | $949M (+4%) | $25M (−4%) | $974M (+3%) | $323M (+23%) | Experian FY26 RNS |
| UK and Ireland | $595M (+1%) | $127M (−7%) | $722M (0%) | $220M (+12%) | Experian FY26 RNS |
| EMEA and Asia Pacific | $556M (+5%) | $43M (+1%) | $599M (+5%) | — | Experian FY26 RNS |
Growth rates are organic. North America produced 66.3% of ongoing revenue, an Axis Intelligence Research calculation ($5,587M ÷ $8,425M), and 75.9% of all Consumer Services revenue ($1,714M ÷ $2,257M).
Q1 FY27: the consumer business stalled
| Q1 FY27 organic growth | B2B | Consumer Services | Total | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| North America | 11% | −2% | 7% | Experian Q1 FY27 update |
| Latin America | 9% | 22% | 12% | Experian Q1 FY27 update |
| UK and Ireland | 5% | 7% | 5% | Experian Q1 FY27 update |
| EMEA and Asia Pacific | 1% | — | 1% | Experian Q1 FY27 update |
| Global | 9% | 2% | 7% | Experian Q1 FY27 update |
North American Consumer Services revenue fell 2% organically after Experian began winding down two long-term contracts that supplied credit monitoring to victims of large data breaches. Excluding data breach services, the unit grew 3%.
Sarah Davis, Digital Finance: Breach-response contracts are a strange line of business for a bureau. When another company leaks millions of records, it pays a bureau to monitor the victims’ credit, and the bureau collects a per-head fee for years. Two of those contracts ending was enough to turn the whole North American consumer segment negative. The new multi-year deal with a large U.S. bank, which Experian says becomes material in FY28, is the same model in a better jacket: a partner pays for monitoring its customers did not buy themselves.
How Many Members Does Experian Have?
Experian had over 215 million free consumer members globally at the end of fiscal 2026, including over 85 million in North America, up 8% year on year, according to its FY26 results. Members are consumers who opened a free account on Experian’s apps or websites in the USA, Brazil, the UK, Colombia or Peru. Experian earns from them through premium subscriptions, referral fees when a member takes a card, loan or insurance policy shown in its marketplace, and partner contracts.
The Free Member Revenue Yield (FMRY)
The Free Member Revenue Yield (FMRY) is an Axis Intelligence Research calculation. It divides Consumer Services revenue by the number of free members to show how much revenue each member account supports:
FMRY = Consumer Services revenue ÷ free members
| Market | Consumer Services revenue, FY26 | Free members | FMRY | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| North America | $1,714M | 85M+ | $20.16 | Axis Intelligence Research calculation; inputs Experian FY26 RNS |
| Outside North America (Brazil, UK, Colombia, Peru) | $543M | 130M+ | $4.18 | Axis Intelligence Research calculation |
| Global | $2,257M | 215M+ | $10.50 | Axis Intelligence Research calculation |
Experian reports member totals as “over” figures, so each FMRY is a ceiling: more members would lower it. The non-North American line combines regions because Experian does not publish member counts for Brazil or the UK separately.
Sarah Davis, Digital Finance: A North American member is worth almost five times a member elsewhere, and the reason is the economics of U.S. credit card and loan referrals, not a better app. A lender will pay a marketplace far more for an applicant it has already pre-screened than for a click. In Brazil, Experian monetizes differently: Limpa Nome, its debt renegotiation service, renegotiated $19.4 billion of consumer debt in FY26 across more than 30 million agreements, with demand driven by Brazil’s major banks. That model grew Latin American Consumer Services 23% in FY26 and 22% in Q1 FY27, while North America went negative. Watch the Brazil FMRY, not the U.S. one, if you want to see where the next dollar comes from.
Experian Boost and consumer-permissioned data
More than 19 million U.S. consumers have connected bank accounts to Experian through Experian Boost or its personal finance tools, according to the 2026 Annual Report. Experian Boost lets members add data from their connected accounts to their Experian file, which can produce a higher, “boosted” score. Since 2019, over 360,000 Boosts have given previously unscorable U.S. consumers a credit score, per the FY26 results.
For national credit score averages built on Experian data, see Axis Intelligence Research’s credit score statistics.
How Much Data Does Experian Hold?
Experian says it holds proprietary, permissioned data on over 1.5 billion consumers and 175 million businesses worldwide. Its U.S. consumer credit database alone holds more than 250 million credit records, fed by about 12,000 furnishers, the lenders and servicers that report account data, per the 2026 Annual Report.
| U.S. data asset | Value | As of | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Consumer credit records | 250M+ | FY26 | Experian Annual Report 2026 |
| Data furnishers | c. 12,000 | FY26 | Experian Annual Report 2026 |
| Displayable trades (accounts) | 3.3 billion | FY26 | Experian Annual Report 2026 |
| Updates per month | 1.3 billion | FY26 | Experian Annual Report 2026 |
| U.S. businesses on file | 35.2M | FY26 | Experian Annual Report 2026 |
| Clarity alternative-credit consumers | 68M+ | FY26 | Experian Annual Report 2026 |
| RentBureau rental files | 30M+ | FY26 | Experian Annual Report 2026 |
| Active income and employment verification records | 66M | FY26 | Experian FY26 RNS |
| U.S. hospitals served | Over 60% | FY26 | Experian Annual Report 2026 |
| Coverage of top 50 U.S. auto lenders | 96% | FY26 | Experian Annual Report 2026 |
In employment verification, Experian is still far behind Equifax. Its 66 million active records equal 31.6% of the 209 million active records in Equifax’s The Work Number, an Axis Intelligence Research calculation using the figure on our Equifax statistics page.
Experian vs Equifax vs TransUnion: Who Is Biggest?
Experian is the largest of the three nationwide credit bureaus by revenue. Its FY26 revenue of $8,445 million is 1.39 times Equifax’s 2025 revenue of $6,074.5 million (Equifax Q4 2025 8-K) and 1.85 times TransUnion’s 2025 revenue of $4,576.3 million (TransUnion Q4 2025 release).
| Bureau | Latest fiscal-year revenue | Fiscal year | Employees | CFPB complaints, 2025 | BDRR, 2025 | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Experian | $8,445.0M | Apr 2025–Mar 2026 | 25,200 | 1,390,979 | 0.44% | Experian FY26 RNS; CFPB database |
| Equifax | $6,074.5M | Calendar 2025 | ~15,000 | 1,683,210 | 63.42% | Equifax 8-K; CFPB database |
| TransUnion | $4,576.3M | Calendar 2025 | ~13,500 | 1,604,549 | 64.43% | TransUnion release; CFPB database |
On those figures Experian accounts for 44.2% of the big three’s combined revenue, an Axis Intelligence Research calculation. The fiscal years differ by three months, and all three bureaus earn part of their revenue outside the U.S., so the share is a scale comparison rather than a market share.
How Many Complaints Does Experian Get?
U.S. consumers filed 1,390,979 complaints about Experian with the CFPB in 2025, up 84.3% from 754,851 in 2024, according to the CFPB Consumer Complaint Database. Experian had the fewest complaints of the three nationwide bureaus in 2025, 29.7% of the big-three total.
That changed in 2026. Between January 1 and September 30, 2026, consumers filed 1,517,980 complaints about Experian, already more than in all of 2025, and Experian’s share of big-three complaints rose to 31.4%.
What do consumers complain about at Experian?
| Issue or sub-issue (CFPB taxonomy), 2025 | Complaints | Share of Experian total | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Incorrect information on your report (issue) | 802,552 | 57.7% | CFPB database |
| — Information belongs to someone else (sub-issue) | 568,656 | 40.9% | CFPB database |
| Improper use of your report (issue) | 295,214 | 21.2% | CFPB database |
| — Credit inquiries you don’t recognize (sub-issue) | 58,581 | 4.2% | CFPB database |
| Problem with a company’s investigation into an existing problem (issue) | 262,784 | 18.9% | CFPB database |
| — Investigation did not fix an error (sub-issue) | 154,200 | 11.1% | CFPB database |
| — Investigation took more than 30 days (sub-issue) | 87,002 | 6.3% | CFPB database |
Shares are Axis Intelligence Research calculations against Experian’s 1,390,979 total. Sub-issues sit inside their parent issue. Of the total, 1,364,024 complaints concerned credit reporting or other consumer reports, Experian responded on time to 1,390,947, and 1,387,523 arrived through the CFPB website.
The share of complaints alleging that data on the file belongs to someone else, a so-called mixed file, rose from 30.4% in 2024 to 40.9% in 2025 and 41.5% in the first nine months of 2026.
Does Experian Fix Errors When You Complain? The Bureau Dispute Relief Rate (BDRR)
When the CFPB forwards a complaint, the company picks a closing category: “closed with explanation,” “closed with non-monetary relief” (for example, a corrected or deleted item) or “closed with monetary relief.” The Bureau Dispute Relief Rate (BDRR) is an Axis Intelligence Research metric that measures how often a bureau closes a complaint with any relief:
BDRR = (complaints closed with non-monetary relief + complaints closed with monetary relief) ÷ (complaints received − complaints still in progress)
Bureau Dispute Relief Rate by bureau, 2024 to 2026
| Bureau | BDRR 2024 | BDRR 2025 | BDRR Jan–Sep 2026 | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Experian | 18.63% | 0.44% | 13.78% | Axis Intelligence Research calculation; CFPB database |
| Equifax | 63.62% | 63.42% | 39.71% | Axis Intelligence Research calculation; CFPB database |
| TransUnion | 87.28% | 64.43% | 40.67% | Axis Intelligence Research calculation; CFPB database |
In 2025 Experian closed 1,384,830 complaints, 99.6% of the total, with an explanation only. Relief closures fell from 140,654 in 2024 to 6,148, a 95.6% drop. The gap between Experian and its peers was 63.0 percentage points against Equifax and 64.0 points against TransUnion.
Experian’s BDRR by quarter
| Quarter (complaints received) | Complaints | Closed with relief | BDRR | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Q1 2025 | 307,617 | 4,843 | 1.57% | CFPB database; Axis calc. |
| Q2 2025 | 323,676 | 606 | 0.187% | CFPB database; Axis calc. |
| Q3 2025 | 372,977 | 214 | 0.057% | CFPB database; Axis calc. |
| Q4 2025 | 384,551 | 467 | 0.121% | CFPB database; Axis calc. |
| Q1 2026 | 442,410 | 836 | 0.189% | CFPB database; Axis calc. |
| Q2 2026 | 509,038 | 68,309 | 13.42% | CFPB database; Axis calc. |
| Q3 2026 | 566,532 | 111,077 | 31.18% | CFPB database; Axis calc. |
Q3 2026 figures are a snapshot: 210,231 complaints from that quarter, 37.1% of the total, were still in progress when Axis Intelligence Research queried the database on October 25, 2026. BDRR is calculated on closed complaints only.
When did Experian’s relief rate turn around?
The reversal began in the quarter after legal and public pressure peaked. On March 6, 2026, Magistrate Judge Douglas F. McCormick granted the CFPB’s motion to compel and ordered Experian to produce the data in the Dispute Response Log and Disclosure Log of its CAPS database for July 2, 2020 to the present, within 45 days (court docket, Dkt. 129). Four days later, ProPublica reported on March 10, 2026 that Experian’s relief rate had fallen from nearly 20% in 2024 to under 1% in 2025; Experian told ProPublica it investigates all legitimate complaints and that many come from credit repair companies. On April 30, 2026, Senators Elizabeth Warren, Tammy Duckworth, Andy Kim and Lisa Blunt Rochester wrote to all three bureaus asking them to explain their complaint handling (Senate Banking Committee minority release, May 4, 2026). Experian’s BDRR was 0.189% for complaints received January to March 2026 and 13.42% for April to June.
| Date | Event | BDRR for that quarter’s complaints | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jan 7, 2025 | CFPB sues Experian over dispute investigations | 1.57% (Q1 2025) | CFPB enforcement page; CFPB database |
| Mar 6, 2026 | Court orders Experian to produce its dispute response and disclosure logs back to July 2020 | 0.189% (Q1 2026) | Court docket, Dkt. 129; CFPB database |
| Mar 10, 2026 | ProPublica reports Experian’s 2025 relief collapse | 0.189% (Q1 2026) | ProPublica; CFPB database |
| Apr 30, 2026 | Four senators write to Experian, Equifax and TransUnion | 13.42% (Q2 2026) | Senate Banking Committee; CFPB database |
| Jul–Sep 2026 | — | 31.18% (Q3 2026, closed complaints) | CFPB database |
ProPublica’s reporting covered the decline; the size of the 2026 rebound comes from Axis Intelligence Research’s quarterly series. The timing is a correlation, and Experian has not said what changed.
Sarah Davis, Digital Finance: Read the timeline. The CFPB sued Experian on January 7, 2025, alleging it ran “sham” dispute investigations. Over the next four quarters, Experian’s relief closures went from 4,843 to a few hundred per quarter while complaint volume kept rising. Then, after a court order to hand over its dispute logs, a ProPublica investigation and four senators’ letters, all within eight weeks, the rate jumped to 13.4% in the second quarter of 2026 and 31.2% in the third. Nothing in Experian’s public filings explains either move, and a closing code is a label the company chooses, not an audited outcome. But a bureau whose relief rate swings from 18.6% to 0.4% and back toward 31% in eighteen months is not running a stable process. Lenders who buy tri-merge reports should care, because the same disputes are hitting all three files.
What did the CFPB’s 611(e) report say about Experian?
The CFPB’s December 2025 report under Section 611(e) of the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA), covering January 2024 to June 2025, found that Experian’s volume of complaints resolved with relief decreased while its use of administrative responses increased (CFPB 611(e) report). It also found that Experian had taken nearly the full 60-day response window since early 2023, while TransUnion took about 40 days.
The same report gives Experian credit on one measure. Experian’s rate of confirming that a consumer had already disputed an item rose from 2021 until it matched the roughly 90% of consumers who say they disputed first, and it exceeded that rate in nearly every month after. Equifax’s confirmation rate hovered around 37%.
| 611(e) finding (Jan 2024 – Jun 2025) | Value | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Complaints about the three nationwide bureaus | ~3.9 million | CFPB 611(e) report |
| Rise in bureau complaints since 2020 | almost 3,000% | CFPB 611(e) report |
| Consumers reporting a prior dispute | ~90% | CFPB 611(e) report |
| Experian response time | nearly the full 60 days | CFPB 611(e) report |
| Equifax prior-dispute confirmation | ~37% | CFPB 611(e) report |
| TransUnion prior-dispute confirmation | ~30% | CFPB 611(e) report |
Sarah Davis, Digital Finance: Those two findings fit together uncomfortably well. Experian agreed, almost every time, that the consumer had disputed before. It then took close to the full 60 days and, through 2025, almost never closed the complaint with a fix. A bureau that acknowledges the dispute, uses the whole clock and changes nothing is exactly the pattern the CFPB’s lawsuit describes. Experian disputes that characterization, and the court has not ruled on the merits.
What Is the CFPB Lawsuit Against Experian?
On January 7, 2025, the CFPB sued Experian Information Solutions, Inc. in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California (case 8:25-cv-00024), alleging that Experian failed to properly investigate consumer disputes under the FCRA (CFPB enforcement page). The Bureau seeks compliance, consumer redress and civil penalties.
| Date | Event | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Jan 7, 2025 | CFPB files complaint | CFPB enforcement page |
| May 5, 2025 | Court grants Experian’s motion to dismiss in part; some claims time-barred | CFPB enforcement page |
| Aug 6, 2025 | Court dismisses certain claims with leave to amend over the tolling agreement | CFPB enforcement page |
| Oct 22, 2025 | Court denies Experian’s renewed motion to dismiss | CFPB enforcement page |
| Nov 3, 2025 | Experian files its answer | CFPB enforcement page |
| Jan 26, 2026 | Court rules on CFPB motion to strike Experian’s defenses, in part | CFPB enforcement page |
| Mar 6, 2026 | Motion to compel granted: Experian must produce Dispute Response Log and Disclosure Log data from July 2, 2020, within 45 days | Court docket, Dkt. 129 |
| Jul 10, 2026 | Judge Michelle Williams orders Experian to produce sample disputes by July 17, 2026 | Court docket, Dkt. 209 |
| Jul 24, 2026 | Deadlines continued: final pretrial conference April 28, 2027; jury trial May 3, 2027; “no further extensions” | Court docket, Dkt. 215 |
The case is headed for a jury trial on May 3, 2027, before Judge Michelle Williams, per the court docket (latest entry July 24, 2026, viewed October 25, 2026). No settlement has been filed. Experian has called the lawsuit without merit.
Other regulatory actions against Experian
| Year | Regulator | Action | Amount or outcome | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2023 | FTC (via DOJ) | Experian Consumer Services sent marketing emails with no working opt-out (CAN-SPAM) | $650,000 civil penalty | FTC, Aug 14, 2023 |
| 2020–2024 | UK ICO | Enforcement notice over offline marketing data | Upper Tribunal dismissed ICO appeal; ICO did not appeal further | ICO statement |
Has Experian Had a Data Breach?
Experian South Africa suffered a breach on August 19, 2020, when a person posing as a director of a legitimate company obtained data through a commercial arrangement. South Africa’s Information Regulator confirmed that the perpetrator was given 25,055,049 records of names, surnames and ID numbers, plus roughly 790,000 business records, including bank account numbers for 24,838 businesses (Information Regulator statement). The Regulator said no consumer credit, financial or banking data for individuals was shared. Some of the data resurfaced on Telegram in October 2021.
For breach counts across the industry, see Axis Intelligence Research’s data breach statistics and the live data breach tracker.
What Is Experian Buying, and How Much Does It Return to Shareholders?
Experian spent $792 million on four acquisitions in FY26, down from $1,244 million in FY25, including AtData (which added over 10 billion email addresses), KYC360 in the UK and ClearSale in Brazil, per the FY26 results. Own Up, an AI-powered mortgage marketplace, and Konfir closed on April 1, 2026, and Brazilian digital identity firm idwall closed on July 1, 2026.
It executed $725 million of share buybacks in FY26, paid $590 million in ordinary dividends, and announced a new buyback of up to $1 billion running to June 30, 2027. Net debt was $5,179 million at March 31, 2026, 1.7 times Benchmark EBITDA, below its 2 to 2.5 times target range.
| Capital allocation, FY26 | Value | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Benchmark free cash flow | $1,583M | Experian FY26 RNS |
| Acquisitions | $792M | Experian FY26 RNS |
| Share repurchases executed | $725M | Experian FY26 RNS |
| Ordinary dividends paid | $590M | Experian FY26 RNS |
| Net debt / Benchmark EBITDA | 1.7x | Experian FY26 RNS |
| New buyback programme | Up to $1,000M | Experian FY26 RNS |
Sarah Davis, Digital Finance: Buybacks plus dividends came to $1,315 million, against $1,583 million of free cash flow, and acquisitions took another $792 million. Experian funded the difference with borrowing, which is why net interest guidance jumps by about $70 million next year. That is a perfectly normal choice at 1.7 times leverage. It just means the EPS growth in FY27 depends partly on a cheaper share count, not only on the business.
Methodology
Financial data. All Experian financial figures come from the FY26 results announcement filed with the UK Financial Conduct Authority’s National Storage Mechanism (RNS 9859E, May 20, 2026), the Experian Annual Report 2026 and the Q1 FY27 trading update (July 16, 2026). Equifax and TransUnion revenue come from their Q4 2025 earnings releases. Data were retrieved on October 25, 2026.
Complaint data. Complaint counts and closing categories come from the CFPB Consumer Complaint Database search API, queried on October 25, 2026, by company name (Experian Information Solutions Inc.; EQUIFAX, INC.; TRANSUNION INTERMEDIATE HOLDINGS, INC.) and date received. Calendar-2025 totals use the window January 1, 2025 to January 1, 2026, the same window as the canonical figures on our Equifax page. Quarterly and 2026 windows use calendar quarter boundaries. Because the database adds and updates complaints over time, counts for recent quarters will change.
Axis Intelligence Research formulas:
- BDRR = (closed with non-monetary relief + closed with monetary relief) ÷ (complaints received − in progress).
- FMRY = Consumer Services revenue ÷ free consumer members, by region.
- Revenue per employee = statutory revenue ÷ employees ($8,445M ÷ 25,200).
- Big-three revenue share = Experian FY26 revenue ÷ (Experian FY26 + Equifax CY2025 + TransUnion CY2025).
- Issue shares = issue or sub-issue count ÷ total Experian complaints in the period.
Reading the figures. The CFPB states that its database is not a statistical sample of consumer experiences. Closing categories are selected by the company, and many complaints are filed by third parties such as credit repair firms, so BDRR measures how a bureau labels its outcomes, not an audited error rate. FMRY uses all Consumer Services revenue, including partner contracts, in the numerator.
About This Dataset
The dataset behind this page holds 414 rows covering Experian’s FY25 and FY26 results by business line and region, Q1 FY27 growth, consumer membership and data assets, CFPB complaint counts, issues and closing categories for all three bureaus from 2024 to Q3 2026, regulatory actions and Axis Intelligence Research’s BDRR and FMRY calculations. Every row carries its source organization, document, URL, retrieval date, a primary-source flag and, for calculated values, the formula.
- File:
experian-statistics.csv(UTF-8, long format) - License: Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 (CC BY 4.0)
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How to Cite This Page
APA: Axis Intelligence Research, & Davis, S. (2026, October 25). Experian statistics 2026: Revenue, free members, CFPB complaints and the dispute relief rate. Axis Intelligence. https://axis-intelligence.com/experian-statistics/
MLA: Axis Intelligence Research, and Sarah Davis. “Experian Statistics 2026: Revenue, Free Members, CFPB Complaints and the Dispute Relief Rate.” Axis Intelligence, 25 Oct. 2026, axis-intelligence.com/experian-statistics/.
Chicago: Axis Intelligence Research, and Sarah Davis. “Experian Statistics 2026: Revenue, Free Members, CFPB Complaints and the Dispute Relief Rate.” Axis Intelligence, October 25, 2026. https://axis-intelligence.com/experian-statistics/.
Frequently Asked Questions
If I file a CFPB complaint about Experian, will it fix my credit report?
In 2025, rarely: Experian closed 0.44% of CFPB complaints with relief and 99.6% with an explanation only, per Axis Intelligence Research’s analysis of the CFPB database. That changed in 2026. For complaints received in Q3 2026 and already closed, the relief rate was 31.18%, compared with about 40% for Equifax and TransUnion over January to September 2026.
Why does Experian close more complaints “with explanation” than Equifax or TransUnion?
Experian has not explained it publicly. The CFPB’s December 2025 611(e) report found Experian’s relief resolutions decreased while its administrative responses increased, and the CFPB’s pending lawsuit alleges inadequate dispute investigations, which Experian denies. Closing categories are chosen by each bureau, so the gap partly reflects how each company labels outcomes.
What does “information belongs to someone else” mean on an Experian complaint?
It means the consumer says an account or record on their file is another person’s, usually a mixed file or identity theft. It was the single largest sub-issue in 2025 complaints about Experian, at 568,656 or 40.9% of the total, up from 30.4% in 2024, per CFPB data.
Is Experian bigger than Equifax and TransUnion?
Yes, by revenue. Experian reported $8,445 million for the year to March 2026, against $6,074.5 million for Equifax and $4,576.3 million for TransUnion in calendar 2025. Experian also has the most employees, 25,200, against about 15,000 at Equifax and 13,500 at TransUnion.
How many people have a free Experian account?
Over 215 million worldwide and over 85 million in North America at March 31, 2026, according to Experian’s FY26 results. Axis Intelligence Research estimates each North American member supported up to $20.16 of Consumer Services revenue that year.
Is the CFPB lawsuit against Experian still active?
Yes, and it is going to trial. CFPB v. Experian Information Solutions (C.D. Cal., 8:25-cv-00024) was filed January 7, 2025. In March 2026 the court ordered Experian to produce its dispute logs back to July 2020, and on July 24, 2026 it set a jury trial for May 3, 2027, with no further extensions, per the court docket.
How many U.S. consumers are in Experian’s credit database?
Experian reports more than 250 million U.S. consumer credit records, about 12,000 data furnishers and 1.3 billion updates a month, per its 2026 Annual Report. Globally it holds permissioned data on over 1.5 billion consumers and 175 million businesses.
Why did Experian’s North American consumer revenue fall in 2026?
Two long-term contracts that paid Experian to monitor victims of large data breaches began winding down in Q4 FY26. North American Consumer Services revenue fell 2% organically in Q1 FY27, but grew 3% excluding data breach services, per Experian’s July 16, 2026 trading update.
When does Experian next report results?
Experian releases half-year results for the six months to September 30, 2026 on November 18, 2026, per its Q1 FY27 trading update. Its guidance for the year to March 2027 is 6% to 8% organic revenue growth.