Experian "misselling" of ID theft insurance [merged]

Money Mail today raises concerns that customers of Britain’s biggest credit agency Experian have been paying for years for insurance they did not know they could avoid.

The organisation, which guards customers’ credit record details, has been signing up people to the low-cost cover as part of a membership package.

The Experian ID protection policy is bundled in with the £14.99 monthly membership for its Credit Expert service, which allows users to check their credit file.

The insurance deal, which covers expenses if your identity is stolen, is about £6 of the monthly cost.

The rest of the package allows you to manage your credit report and check your score when applying for cards or loans.

Money Mail has been contacted by people who signed up to Credit Expert, but did not realise they could opt out of the insurance and keep the rest of their perks.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/money/car...DONT-need.html

Have you been trapped into -paying for Experian's id theft insurance? Well you should claim the money back


Mr Flann says he never knew he had bought the cover, but Experian says it gave him full details when he applied.

He says: ‘My complaint is I was never given a choice to not have the cover. I believed I was obliged to take out the insurance, whether it was an appropriate product or not.’

He demanded a refund of his premiums, but Experian refused, so Mr Flann threatened to go to the independent Financial Ombudsman.

Experian then offered a £112.32 refund — £102.40 for the insurance and £9.92 interest. It said it was not compensation, but a goodwill gesture.

It admits new customers can’t buy the Credit Expert service without insurance. In some cases, though, it says it will offer existing customers a ‘reduced service’ without the cover and they can keep the rest of the deal.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/money/car...DONT-need.html


We have been trying to get some one to take notice of this story for over a year. Finally BBC Radio 4 MoneyBox ran the story a few weeks ago and today, Ruth Lythe of the Daily Mail had her article about this misselling published.



FORCED TO INSURE - Moneybox - 16th March 2014
People who join the Experian 'credit expert' service to get unlimited free access to their credit reports and scores are also insured willy-nilly against ID theft. The cost of the package is £180 a year of which the unasked for insurance accounts for £77. It is sold online so no suitability test is done. Among other things the £77 a year policy will refund the cost of letters and phone calls needed to sort out an ID theft problem.


http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b03xzs1l

Experian declined to comment on the Moneybox programme.

I understand that there were strenuous efforts by Experian to prevent both the BBC broadcast and the the Daily Mail piece from going out.
Go figure.

Clearly in respect of Experian's Credit Expert bundled insurance package, there is no enquiry as to whether the product is wanted - or whether it is appropriate.
For instance -many people have an equivalent insurance as part of their credit card bundle or maybe their house contents insurance - so buying the forced id insurance product, Experian customers may effectively be buying duplicate insurance.
So what happens if you ID is stolen and you have to invoke the insurance? Which policy do you choose? This is bound to become a problem because it is a fundamental principle of insurance policies that they will not make duplicate pay outs for a single loss.
So immediately you have the opportunity for each insurer to deny the loss on the basis that you have duplicate insurance and that it should be the other company which pays.

The Experian id theft product has all the hallmarks of misselling - but goes one further because most insurances - PPI etc are required to make it clear that their insurance product is optional. Experian does not even do that. There seems to be no opportunity on their website to opt out of the insurance. It is only when you call them to cancel that they then offer you the favour of opting out if they think that they are going to lose your custom altogether.
Finally - it seems to me in any event that the insurance represents very poor value for money - but you should go to the Experian/Credit Expert website and judge for yourselves. http://www.creditexpert.co.uk/

If you have been caught by Credit Expert - claim your money back. Complain to the fos if there is any monkey business.
If your money is offered back under conditions of confidentiality - you should consider refusing and continuing to the FOS instead.

***** We now understand that the FOS has informally expressed the view that insurance is the responsibility of Arc Legal and that claims should be made against them.
This is very surprising because Arc Legal say their policies are" ... not an ‘off the shelf’ solution. All products and services are developed to meet the specific requirements of our clients and are sold on a ‘white label’ basis." Meaning that they do not consider themselves the direct supplier.

Follow the CAG forum discussion here Categories:

1. Dealing with money

so come on moneysaving expert, how about this campaign for consumers