COSTA MESA, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Apr 6, 2026--
As consumers map out spring projects, major purchases, or travel plans, many are searching for financing options but hesitate to apply worried that a loan denial could damage their credit. Experian is addressing that stress head‑on with the launch of No Ding Decline ™ i for personal loans, a feature that lets shoppers apply for select offers from top lenders in the Experian Marketplace without triggering a hard credit inquiry if they are not initially approved.
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Avoid anxiety behind loan shopping
No Ding Decline removes one of the biggest pain points in personal loan shopping: the fear that trying could hurt your credit. Consumers can explore and apply for select personal loan offers with confidence, knowing that just applying won’t result in a hard inquiry to their credit report.
Experian is the only marketplace where consumers can browse and apply for designated No Ding Decline™ personal loans without the risk of harming their FICO® Score ii if they’re not initially approved. Consumers can also shop for No Ding Decline credit card offers in the Experian Marketplace.
“Personal loans can be a valuable tool for financial flexibility, and No Ding Decline lets consumers shop with confidence,” said Rakesh Patel, Executive Vice President of Experian Marketplace at Experian Consumer Services. “This latest expansion reflects Experian’s commitment to continually innovating and meeting consumers where they are so we can be a true financial copilot throughout their lives.”
For many consumers, a hard inquiry from a declined application can feel risky, confusing, and discouraging, especially in a tight economic climate. No Ding Decline helps remove that concern, making it easier for consumers to explore their options with confidence. It’s timely as interest in personal loans continues to rise. According to recent Experian data, personal loan usage increased 16% in 2025, and 38% of U.S. consumers with a credit file now have at least one personal loan.
Advancing the Experian Marketplace
Experian’s Consumer First AI strategy leverages advanced artificial intelligence to help people find the right financial options with greater confidence. By aligning Marketplace offers more closely with lender criteria, Experian increases the chances of approval and reduces guesswork during the application process. Using its data and AI powered matching, Experian delivers more personalized recommendations, helping consumers discover loan options that fit their needs and that they are more likely to qualify for. For lenders, this means more relevant applications and greater efficiency.
Experian’s continued innovation, including the expansion of No Ding Decline to personal loans and recent launch of the Insurance Marketplace app in ChatGPT, are examples of how the company is delivering the best financial shopping resource for consumers.
Whether it helps consumers get access to credit, save money or better manage their finances, Experian is their BFF, Big Financial Friend, always by consumers’ side.
To explore personal loan offers, visit http://www.experian.com or download the Experian app.
About Experian
Experian is a global data and technology company, powering opportunities for people and businesses around the world. We help to redefine lending practices, uncover and prevent fraud, simplify healthcare, deliver digital marketing solutions, and gain deeper insights into the automotive market, all using our unique combination of data, analytics and software. We also assist millions of people to realize their financial goals and help them to save time and money.
We operate across a range of markets, from financial services to healthcare, automotive, agrifinance, insurance, and many more industry segments.
We invest in talented people and new advanced technologies to unlock the power of data and to innovate. A FTSE 100 Index company listed on the London Stock Exchange (EXPN), we have a team of 25,200 people across 33 countries. Our corporate headquarters are in Dublin, Ireland. Learn more at experianplc.com.
Experian and the Experian marks used herein are trademarks or registered trademarks of Experian and its affiliates. Other product and company names mentioned herein are the property of their respective owners.
Experian introduces No Ding Decline™ for personal loans
WASHINGTON (AP) — In his news conference on Monday, President Donald Trump threatened to blow up every bridge and power plant in Iran, a declaration so far-reaching that some experts in military law said it could constitute a war crime.
The issue could turn on whether the power plants were legitimate military targets, the attacks were proportional compared with what Iran has done and whether civilian casualties were minimized.
Trump's threat was so broad brush it did not seem to account for the harm to civilians, prompting Democrats in Congress, some United Nations officials and scholars in military law to say such strikes would violate international law.
The president's eventual actions often fall short of his all-encompassing rhetoric in the moment, but his warnings about the power plants and bridges were unambiguous both on Sunday and Monday as he set a deadline of Tuesday night for Iran to open the Strait of Hormuz.
A spokesman for U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Monday warned that attacking such infrastructure is banned under international law.
“Even if specific civilian infrastructure were to qualify as a military objective,” Stephane Dujarric said, an attack would still be prohibited if it risks “excessive incidental civilian harm.”
Rachel VanLandingham, a Southwestern Law School professor who served as a judge advocate general in the U.S. Air Force, said civilians are likely to die if power is cut to hospitals and water treatment plans.
“What Trump is saying is, ‘We don’t care about precision, we don’t care about impact on civilians, we’re just going to take out all of Iranian power generating capacity,’" the retired lieutenant colonel said.
Shipping in the Strait of Hormuz, a chokepoint in the Persian Gulf through which 20% of the world's oil normally flows, has been all but halted, sending oil prices soaring and roiling the stock market.
Trump said Monday that he’s “not at all” concerned about committing war crimes as he continues to threaten destruction. He also warned that every power plant will be “burning, exploding and never to be used again.”
“I hope I don’t have to do it,” Trump added.
When asked for further comment Monday, White House spokeswoman Anna Kelly said “the Iranian people welcome the sound of bombs because it means their oppressors are losing.”
“The Iranian regime has committed egregious human rights abuses against its own citizens for 47 years, just murdered tens of thousands of protestors in January, and has indiscriminately targeted civilians across the region in order to cause as much death as possible throughout this conflict,” Kelly wrote in an email.
As the conflict has entered its second month, Trump has escalated his warnings to bomb Iran's infrastructure, including Kharg Island, central to Iran’s oil industry, and desalination plans that provide drinking water.
In a Truth Social post on March 30, Trump warned that the U.S. would obliterate "all of their Electric Generating Plants, Oil Wells and Kharg Island (and possibly all desalinization plants!), which we have purposefully not yet ‘touched.’“
On Easter Sunday, Trump threatened in an expletive-laden post that Iran will face, "Power Plant Day, and Bridge Day, all wrapped up in one,” while adding that “you’ll be living in Hell” unless the strait reopens.
“This strikes me as clearly a threat of unlawful action,” said Michael Schmitt, a professor emeritus at the U.S. Naval War College and an international law professor at the University of Reading in Britain.
A power facility can be attacked under the laws of armed conflict if it provides electricity to a military base in addition to civilians, Schmitt said. But the strike must not "cause disproportionate harm to the civilian population, and you’ve done everything to minimize that harm.”
Harm does not include inconvenience or fear, said Schmitt, who has taught military commanders. But it does mean severe mental suffering, physical injury or illness.
Schmitt said military commanders should consider alternatives, such as targeting a substation or transmission lines that feed electricity to a base, before destroying an entire power plant.
“If you look at the operation and you’ve got a valid military objective, but it’s going to cause harm to civilians and you go, ‘Whoa, that’s a lot,’ then you should stop,” Schmitt said. “If you hesitate to take the shot, don’t take the shot.”
Republican Sen. Joni Ernst of Iowa said Monday that Trump is “absolutely not” threatening a war crime when he said he might bomb civilian infrastructure.
The infrastructure is also used by the military, Ernst said, and “it’s an ongoing operation.“
“If he needs leverage, he’s using that leverage,” she said while presiding over a brief pro forma session of the Senate.
But Democratic Sen. Chris Van Hollen of Maryland, also in the Capitol for the brief session, said it would be a “textbook war crime.”
“If you target civilian infrastructure for the purposes the president was talking about, it clearly is a war crime,” Van Hollen said.
Dujarric, the U.N. spokesman, said the question of whether attacks on civilian infrastructure would be considered war crimes would have to be decided by a court.
However, Katherine Thompson, a senior fellow in defense and foreign policy studies at the CATO Institute, a libertarian think tank, said any accountability would more likely come from Congress.
She said thinking otherwise would mean believing that the U.S. would allow its president to be held accountable by foreign entities.
“This is the persnickety, inconvenient truth about international law: It only works if sovereign nations are willing to cede their sovereignty to a foreign body for accountability,” she said.
But Congress would have to say the president has gone too far. And then both houses would have to take action and with enough support to overcome a presidential veto, a highly unlikely prospect.
Trump also appears to have broad legal immunity under the Supreme Court’s ruling in the criminal case before his reelection, said VanLandingham. And the president could also grant preemptive pardons to top officials if needed.
Even if technically justified under the law of war, strikes that bring harm to civilians could backfire for the U.S. long term, VanLandingham said.
“There's a lot of violence that can still be justified as lawful, but lawful can still be awful,” VanLandingham said. “How far did that get us in Iraq? How far did that get us in Afghanistan? How far did that get us in Vietnam?”
Trump’s rhetoric risks spreading fear among regular Iranians and communicating that the U.S. isn’t worried about their well-being, VanLandingham said. The country’s leaders could use it as propaganda to create and harden opposition, contributing to a longer, tougher war.
Associated Press writers Farnoush Amiri and Edith M. Lederer in New York and Mary Clare Jalonick and Seung Min Kim in Washington contributed to this report.
President Donald Trump, accompanied by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, speaks with reporters in the James Brady Press Briefing Room at the White House, Monday, April 6, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)
President Donald Trump speaks with reporters during a news conference in the James Brady Press Briefing Room at the White House, Monday, April 6, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)
