Get paid £7 to check your credit report for free

Former_MSE_Andrea · 20 January 2009 at 1:42PM

IMPORTANT UPDATE: The cashback available dropped from £7 to just 50p on Friday 23 Jan, making this loophole much less lucrative. I hope you managed to do it at the higher amount if you wanted to!

What’s the deal?

It's possible to get paid to get your credit reference pile from Experian, one of the three big credit rating agencies. The reason's simple, it wasnt you to sign up for its £80+ a year service, and thus offers a free month's trial.

So sign up, check your file, then cancel. Better still, sign up via a special cashback website, and it'll give you a cut of the promotional budget Experian gives it, so you actually make £7.

Important: Experian is one of three agencies, to do a thorough check do at least the other main one, Equifax. You'll find a loophole on how to do that for free in the Credit Rating article. Plus don't worry, doing a credit check will not affect your credit rating at all.

How does it work?

Two cashback sites, Quidco and Topcashback, will pay you £7 when you sign up to CreditExpert's free trial via them, although Quidco charges a yearly £5 admin fee to cover its costs, so if you aren't already a member, Topcashback wins.

Cashback sites get paid by the retailers if you click through them, but importantly, they then give some or all of this cash to you, provided you've registered with them. For a full explanation read the details in the Top Cashback Sites guide.

It's important to understand, the cashback isn't 100% guaranteed, as the cashback provider is reliant on the retailer paying it, but similar incarnations of this deal in the past have been fine (and you're not laying anything out anyway).

What to do to get the cash.

It's a simple process...

Go to a cashback site and find CreditExpert. Just go to Quidco or Topcashback and then search for it. If you're not already registered with these sites, do that first.

Sign up for the free trial. Sign up on the Experian Credit Expert site, enter your card details (it won't be charged)

View your file online. Once signed up you can view your file at no cost (either instantly or after they've sent a passcode).

Cancel the subscription. To avoid any cost and make the £7, cancel within 30 days of opening it, by calling 0800 656 9000. You can do this straight away; if you don't, then diarise it to avoid being charged for the next month.

Wait for the cashback. The £7 should appear on your cashback account within a couple of days.

How to improve your credit score.

This note is purely about how to get the free credit file. To see the impact, understand what it means, and go through tips on how to improve it, read the full Credit Scoring guide.

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competitionscafe · 21 January 2009 at 12:18AM

MSE_Andrea wrote: »

Two cashback sites will pay you when you sign up to CreditExpert's free trial Quidco pays £7 and Topcashback £6.50, although Quidco charges a yearly £5 admin fee to cover its costs, so if you aren't already a member, Topcashback wins.

Both say £7?

nqtraderman · 21 January 2009 at 8:35AM

I may be wrong, but everytime someone does a credit check on you your credit score goes down. So beware, by doing this for a CashBack you are reducing your credit score .. and thats not good.

kpey · 21 January 2009 at 9:07AM

Checking your own credit report doesn't show up on your credit report and/or have a negative impact - you are just viewing your own data

MSE_Martin · 21 January 2009 at 10:26AM

nqtraderman wrote: »

I may be wrong, but everytime someone does a credit check on you your credit score goes down. So beware, by doing this for a CashBack you are reducing your credit score .. and thats not good.

This is a common misunderstanding. WHen you apply for a product and the lender does a credit check that usually registers as a search and has an impact on your score. Yet when you view your own files, it has no impact whatsoever. This is all explained in the credit rating guide.

Martin

marcellep · 21 January 2009 at 11:33AM

Nice find

I have applied -

This is just what I need to sort my file out

:money:

worto03 · 21 January 2009 at 12:03PM

Is there a way round the - according to our records you have already had a trial with us please login?

It was about 3 years ago when I had the last trial with them - thought they might have forgoten about me by now - lol

worto.

Mandles · 21 January 2009 at 12:44PM

For the pin to sign in it says it will be sent by post and will be up to 5 days(credit expert). Just thought i'd mention it for those who want to nose at credit report before cancelling .So make a note of phone number to cancel.

Sutclifs · 21 January 2009 at 1:17PM

I have gone for the Equifax one but cant find a way to cancel it! Starting to worry a bit - has anyone else come across this? Should I just ring them?

Thanks

runaroundalot · 21 January 2009 at 3:28PM

How to cancel: To request cancellation call 0870 0100583 and quote your account reference.

bristolleedsfan · 21 January 2009 at 3:30PM

Sutclifs wrote: »

I have gone for the Equifax one but cant find a way to cancel it! Starting to worry a bit - has anyone else come across this? Should I just ring them?

Thanks

Here is a freephone number to avoid a peak time 0870 number call. :mad:

:T 0800 7839421 :T

U need the report reference number to hand, they ask you why u want to cancel, I said that whilst I found the free trial useful, I didnt believe their was any further benefit to be had.

Get paid £7 to check your credit report for free

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