to our valued Shareholders,

The accomplishments listed on the previous page, plus more, were made in a year marked by one of the most chaotic economic environments in many generations. I am so proud of our people. These achievements reflect their tireless efforts. Not only did they overcome a difficult industry environment to make our numbers, but they also made tremendous strategic progress on every business front.

A Bottom-line Difference
The Equifax business model is about growth, driven by innovation and world-class solutions that hit the bottom line. Nowhere is this more apparent than in our North American business, which accounts for 81 percent of revenues and 91 percent of profits. In 2002, margins reached 40 percent on revenue growth of six percent. This impressive level of profitability demonstrates the superior strategic position that Equifax maintains in the marketplace.

EQUIFAX INFORMATION SERVICES
One of the fundamental drivers of performance is our ownership and use of data that allows us "to serve our customers by utilizing information and technology that provide real-time answers to increasingly complex questions" — our mission statement. Even in the tough economy of 2002, our core credit reporting business grew volume by four percent — continuing the consistent volume growth that it has experienced over the past decade. In addition, we expanded our capability and market position through the acquisition of certain key assets from our second largest affiliate, Credit Bureau of Columbus (CBC), an independent credit reporting agency. The benefits of this purchase are twofold: the expectation of increased profitability and the opportunity to offer our customers seamless service.

The Equifax Decision Power® product suite has been another key growth driver that continues to make a difference to the bottom line through decisioning, cross-selling opportunities and real-time analytics. Since introducing the industry's first analytical decision-making platform a decade ago, we have made continuous technological and functional enhancements to better serve customers. Decision Power Insight™, for example, is a new automated screening process for demand deposit account applicants that combines deposit account history with fraud and identification tools, credit data and models for cross-selling. The power of these products to help businesses make fast, real-time, well-informed decisions is evident by their use, helping Equifax customers make almost five million decisions on a monthly basis.

equifax marketing services
Another major accomplishment during the year, through the acquisition of Naviant, Inc., was the repositioning of Equifax in the marketplace to form the new Equifax Marketing Services. This transaction now makes Equifax the leading provider of email marketing solutions — with a database of more than 100 million opt-in email addresses in the United States. As a result, we can fully capitalize on eMarketing, the fastest growing component of the direct marketing business. Also, our customers can now take advantage of total solution alternatives to traditional direct marketing with our new multichannel marketing offerings such as targeted opt-in email lists, email appending, email list management, streaming video emails and online and offline lead acquisition. This enhanced strategic position contributed $30 million in new revenue during 2002. We expect Marketing Services to be a key growth engine in 2003 and beyond.

A GLOBAL DIFFERENCE
Our global presence is an important part of the Equifax strategic long-term growth model. We have strong, established positions in Europe and Latin America, and during 2002, these international businesses performed admirably. Europe significantly improved margins from four to ten percent, in part due to a very strong performance in the United Kingdom, nearly tripling its profit to $16.5 million and delivering a record margin of 17 percent, up from six percent. Latin America maintained margins at 26 percent, helped considerably by healthy revenue gains in Brazil, our largest market in Latin America, with eight percent growth in local currency. In both regions, new business wins combined with relentless cost management overcame the difficult foreign exchange conditions that have tempered our short-term global expansion.

An Innovative Difference
Our information and marketing services are powerhouse businesses that continue to produce exceptionally profitable returns year in and year out. Yet, our competitive advantage is not something we take for granted. New business development is a priority. Indeed, innovation is an inherent part of The Equifax Difference. And so, today our portfolio includes exciting new businesses — new businesses that just four years ago were either non-existent or in an embryonic stage. Today, they are producing over $50 million in revenue annually. They share several common themes:

They all represent firsts for the information services industry. Equifax has been the first to develop and market credit tools for consumers; the first, and only, to build a proprietary database on small businesses; and the first to bring unique products to market in the emerging fraud, safety and security arena.
They all demonstrate how Equifax has evolved from a data-centric company into a technology-centric enterprise. The value proposition in our business lies not in the data, but in what our technology enables us to do with the data, such as helping to alert customers to suspicious, high-risk individuals and entities.
They all broaden our customer range. Through repurposing content and customizing products to meet specific needs, we are expanding and diversifying our market reach.

Perhaps most importantly, these businesses demonstrate the entrepreneurial drive that is still going strong in our 104-year-old company. Following is an overview of these businesses:

Consumer Direct
Our groundbreaking initiatives in the consumer area have been an unqualified success in just four years. The consumer product portfolio has grown to encompass six products, three of which were introduced in 2002. Renewal rates for our credit monitoring service, Equifax Credit Watch™, improved by 20 percent. Consumer Direct revenue has doubled annually to reach $39 million in 2002. And, the business is profitable, posting 10 consecutive quarters in the black. Clearly, our mission to enlighten, enable and empower consumers concerning their personal credit has hit upon a true need and we are proud to serve it.

New Commercial Services
Small business credit reporting is another example of our ability to take proprietary databases, unmatched in size, and package them into customized solutions for a niche customer base — those doing business with small businesses. During the past year, these databases reached an impressive level, with 54 data providers online and information on 16 of the 25 million small businesses in the United States. We also have unique data attributes that enable our customers to make better decisions. As a result, Equifax is the only information services provider to produce credit reports (and ultimately scores) on small businesses.

EMERGING FRAUD, Safety & Security Initiatives
While we have long applied the power of information and technology to yield new risk and marketing intelligence tools, the war on terrorism and now absolute war make this a business priority across the globe. Through our emerging fraud, safety and security offerings, Equifax is responding to a broad spectrum of challenges, working with governments, financial institutions and other organizations in their efforts to make the world a safer place.

Even before the events of September 11th, we were working with financial institutions to develop products that would help them identify and track such activities as money laundering and fraud. The passage of the USA PATRIOT Act has made it essential for financial institutions to know exactly who their customers are. We have the products and procedures in place to help them.

Our OFAC Alert™ product is a screening tool for businesses to comply with the Office of Foreign Assets Control's requirement to screen accounts against OFAC's listings of persons and entities prohibited from certain transactions. Because of our proven track record and success in managing various databases, a consortium of banks and brokerage firms selected Equifax to manage the Global Regulatory Information Database (GRID) to detect money laundering and other illegal financing activities. And, we also are assisting the British government and the U.S. Transportation Security Administration with screening activities. The opportunity to repurpose many of our products and to develop new ones for safety and security applications allows Equifax to serve not just our stakeholders, but all citizens in this vigilant post-September 11th world.

A Trusted Difference
Our focus on privacy issues has never been stronger. For more than a century, Equifax has been a respected steward of confidential data. We are a leader in promoting the fair and ethical use of information, and we have nearly 104 years of experience and expertise in addressing the privacy issue. We believe that responsible management of information and protecting consumer information privacy are key catalysts of consumer trust — trust that is essential for not only our nation's economic growth and its security, but also for our continued growth. This trust is the very fabric of the Equifax brand.

As a company, Equifax is actively supporting renewal of the provisions of the Fair Credit Reporting Act that maintain national standards for credit reporting. Preserving our current national credit reporting system is critical to providing our customers with the basis for making consistent and reliable risk decisions; to providing consumers fair and objective access to credit; and to supporting economic growth. As Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan noted in a recent speech, "The [nationwide] credit database has had a dramatic impact on consumers, households and for access to credit across the country at reasonable rates."* Equifax is carrying this message to customers, investors and to Washington to ensure policy makers preserve a national system that has served financial institutions, consumers and our economy well for more than 30 years.

A Growing Difference
In closing, consider that an Equifax share purchased in 1980 for $19 had a value of $1,462 at the end of 2002. This not only includes share splits, but also the well-executed spin-offs of two solid companies, ChoicePoint in 1997 and Certegy in 2001. Over this period, the combined market capitalization of Equifax including these two spin-off companies has increased from $70 million to $8.1 billion. There is no doubt that growth is our legacy and it will be our future.

At a recent employee meeting, I opened my remarks with a quotation from Martin Luther, "How soon, not now, becomes never." This message succinctly captures the urgency and vigilance necessary for Equifax to continue meeting its growth objective. Looking forward, we keep these words in mind. We must develop technology-centric businesses that create long-term shareholder value now. We must look ahead to the next generation of industry firsts now. We must work harder and even smarter to continue productivity gains now. We must ensure that the trust and confidence that we have earned from shareholders, customers and consumers is upheld and rewarded now. There has never been a better time for The Equifax Difference to make a difference.

Sincerely,

Tom Chapman Signature
Thomas F. Chapman
Chairman and Chief Executive Officer

April 2003

*Source: American Banker, February 13, 2003.

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