SCHAUMBURG, Ill. — Western Sierra Acceptance Corp., a consumer lender based in Northern California that specializes in automotive financing, and Experian Automotive will provide credit prescreen services to dealers to help them more easily and effectively market to auto finance consumers.

Using Experian's credit prescreening service, iScreen, enhances Western Sierra's wide range of automotive services available to help bring more qualified customers into the showroom.

Western Sierra works with marketing agencies and dealers to provide mailing lists of consumers most suitable for their automotive finance offers. Experian will now provide its iScreen credit prescreening service to Western Sierra to help Western Sierra's customers rapidly conduct direct-mail campaigns that reach consumers most likely to qualify for credit incentives a dealer is offering. This collaboration comes at a time when direct marketing is expected to become an even more important way to drive dealer business in today's challenging marketplace.

"The basis for success of any dealer's direct-marketing campaign is reaching consumers who will be qualified to take advantage of the incentives being offered," said Daniel Ridley, CEO of Western Sierra. "We are excited to work with Experian Automotive to bring the strength of Experian's data to the marketing services we provide nationally to dealers and their agencies."

Experian's prescreening services bring together the information that matters most when it comes to identifying the most creditworthy consumers based on up-to-date credit data supplied through a fast and easy online ordering process. The stratified mailing lists pinpoint prospects most likely to be profitable for an automotive finance campaign.

"As the auto finance market begins to show signs of stabilization, dealers who are able to connect with those consumers most qualified for their offers will hold the advantage," said Scott Waldron, president of Experian Automotive. "Pairing Experian's prescreen capabilities with Western Sierra's established presence in the auto lending space makes sense for any dealer or agency striving to maintain and increase response to their campaigns."