CreditExpert - Important Experian Credit Report Alert

PokerPortal

Sorry if this is posted in the wrong forum, or if this has been posted before, but the subject is the title of an e-mail I have received today.

This morning, I cancelled my account with Experian. I was still in the 30 day free trial period and the nice lady even told me that I was no way near my expiry date of the free trial. I cancelled anyway, since I had seen my score and report and did not plan to check it again before the end of the free trial.

When I checked my e-mail tonight, there was an e-mail from Experian with the following text:

Start quote:

---

CreditExpert has detected one or more of the following changes
to your Experian® credit report for the week ending 23/10/2005:

. The addition or deletion of an account
. A change in the payment history of a credit account
. The addition or deletion of a judgment, voluntary arrangement,
or bankruptcy
. A search of your credit report
. The addition or deletion of a Notice of Correction
. The settlement of an account
. A significant balance change on a revolving credit account
opened within the last six months

CreditExpert recommends that you quickly review your complete report
alert summary to ensure you are aware of the changes. Please log in:
https://www.creditexpert.co.uk/MCCLogin.aspx.

In the vast majority of cases, changes to your credit report will be
perfectly normal and there will be no cause for concern. You only need
to contact us if you do not recognise the change on your report.

Weekly report monitoring continues as part of your CreditExpert
membership, to ensure you are informed of any significant changes to
your Experian credit report. This can help protect against identity
theft and alert you to any possible inaccuracies on your report.

Yours sincerely,

CreditExpert

---

End Quote.

I have a few questions before I will ring Experian in the morning.

1) Should I be worried?
2) Has anyone else ever seen a similar or identical e-mail from Experian?
3) If I log on again an re-open my cancelled account (2 weeks free trial left?) will I still be in the free trial although I have cancelled this, or will I have to pay?
4) I did apply and (after initally being refused) have received my Egg Money card. Can this be it? Is this just a service they provide to members?

Thanks in advance.

Clariman

This is likely to be absolutely nothing to worry about. When you sign up to CreditExpert from Experian, you get one of these emails if there has been any activity on your credit file in the previous week e.g. a search, a closed account, a new account opened, a large payment made etc etc. This is a standard email to let you know that one of these things has occurred in the last week. I get them frequently.

So there should be nothing to worry about at all, unless you are certain that nothing could have occurred on your credit file in the last week or two ... in which case it might be worth checking out. However, it is highly likely to have been your Egg card account appearing for the first time (or perhaps the credit search).

These emails are normal and standard. You can sleep tonight

Clariman

CTT_2

When I tried their free trial two years ago I had problems with their system accepting my credit card and I tried three times etc. When I checked my credit card on line my cc account had been ear marked to take £150.00. I rang Experien and they apologised and refunded the amount immediately. However the payment of £150.00 was never taken and Experien never asked for the money back. I highly recommend this agency for free cash and free credit reports!

PokerPortal

Thanks for your reply Clariman. And yes, I did sleep well last night.
I now know exactly what the cause was. In my 'getting ready' for some serious stoozing I opened an Ing Direct Savings account and transferred my savings from HSBC (who do not report a positive balance to Experian) to ING Direct (who do report a positive balance to Experian).

Galstonian

ING don't appear on any of my credit reports. In fact none of my savings accounts do, I'm suprised by this. Was it perhaps just a search to verify identity rather than reporting account balance details?

Sometimes Equifax and Experian carry out searches of their own files which can be a little confusing.

CIMA_LOVER

PokerPortal wrote:

Thanks for your reply Clariman. And yes, I did sleep well last night.
I now know exactly what the cause was. In my 'getting ready' for some serious stoozing I opened an Ing Direct Savings account and transferred my savings from HSBC (who do not report a positive balance to Experian) to ING Direct (who do report a positive balance to Experian).

ING Direct is a saving account. So why would they report a positive balance?

Also

1) ING Direct are not extending you any credit.
2) You didnt sign a credit agreement allowing them to do report perfomance (again related to point 1).

Sorry if i sound rude. Am just trying to understand.

PokerPortal

It must be my new credit card then. I am trying to understand it too! :-)
Was worried at first after the e-mail, not so much now.

YorkshireBoy

PokerPortal wrote:

It must be my new credit card then. I am trying to understand it too! :-)
Was worried at first after the e-mail, not so much now.

It could well be ING making an "IDENTIFICATION: MONEY LAUNDERING PREVENTION" search if you've recently applied for an account with them.

Robert_Sterling_3

Re:- "Credit Expert Detected One og the followig ..."

If it is so "Expert" why does it not tell you which of the following it did detect?

charlieboycat

When I tried the free trial, each time I did my own on-line review I then got one of these all-embracing emails from Experian. So I looked on-line again to make sure there was nothing suspicious. Which generated another all-embracing email from Experian. And so on and so on - until I cancelled the trial.