Credit Expert Ripoff / con

chanz4

We all say about banks misselling ppi, but how about credit expert.

I spoke to someone tonight about getting an account re-activated, I dont want their score and prefer online access hence not going for the statory report.

Their answer was management are pushing the identity insurance and scores, nothing anyone can do and that they have had a lot of annoyed customers. I explained that I get free identity protection form both my bank and even credit card. So really they are miss selling identity protection insurance as its not suitable for all. You can call cancellations as soon as you signup and they will down grade you after you have paid the first £14.99, how much commission are they getting I wonder to sell these policys?

This really needs to be bought up, they are no better as I say than the banks and card issuers selling ppi. I wonder what the experian reps take on this is.

As one of the benefits of your CreditExpert membership, we arrange Identity Protection Insurance, provided by Arc, underwritten by Inter Partner Assistance S.A, which covers you for:

• Reasonable costs incurred relating to the sending of correspondence and telephone calls as a result of identity fraud.
• Reasonable lost earnings incurred of up to £500 per week for a maximum period of six weeks as a result of identity fraud.
• Up to £200 for the costs of replacing your passport or driving licence should you have a reasonable requirement to replace either of them as a result of identity fraud.
• Repeat charges incurred when reapplying for credit for which a previous application was declined as a result of identity fraud.
• Access to the Victims of Fraud Team who will help you should you become a victim of identity fraud.
• The insurance (which makes up £6.40 out of your £14.99 per month membership fee) insures you for up to £75,000 for costs incurred.

In their key facts the boxes ticked are:

We only offer a product from a single insurer; Arc Legal Assistance Limited, underwritten by Inter Partner Assistance S.A., for Identity Protection Insurance.

You will not receive advice or a recommendation from us for Identity Protection Insurance. We may ask some questions to narrow down the selection of products that we will provide details on. You will then need to make your own choice about how to proceed. (but no option to opt out)

No fee for Identity Protection Insurance. ?? But the above term says £6.40 a month?

So Mr Experian rep isnt this false in your key facts?

MrsTinks

Like you I was not impressed and as a result went to Equifax instead I used to have a account with Experian but that was just plain extortion. Thankfully you can still have a "normal" account with them

chanz4

I think the FSA should pickup the point that in their key facts they say its free, but to the left of it says its charged for. No better than the banks. But yes I agree.

Experian_company_representative

Thanks for flagging up the Key Facts issue. I've asked a colleague to look at this and I'll come back to that later today hopefully.

In the meantime, let me pick up some of the other issues raised.

Our £2 statutory credit report is also available online, so you do have a choice.

CreditExpert is available to new customers on a 30-day trial, providing free access to our services and all the benefits.

On the cost, we repackaged CreditExpert earlier this year based on customer feedback and behaviour. Customers were paying around £8 per month for credit reports and monitoring and, on average, just over £6 for scores. The new package provides unlimited scores for around the same price, offering customers much better value.

ID fraud insurance was added as a benefit again based on customer feedback.

We continue to listen to customer feedback, via a number of channels including these forums, and keep these things under review. If customers want more choice then we will of course look at that.

James Jones

chanz4

Why not offer them as extras, I dont want scores and my bank gives free id protection, along with capital one . Or just make the insurance optional. After all we are in a recession.

Experian_company_representative

We've now looked at this in detail. On the Key Facts statement I'm pleased to say this it is accurate. The fees element actually relates to charges in addition to the premium and not the premium itself. This text is prescribed by the FSA and we can't alter it. We will, however, look to see if we can make this clearer in some other way as we can see how this might be confusing.

On the insurance package we offer, this includes a personalised victim support service (particularly on credit report restoration) and an upfront payment of £50 to cover admin fees. So it's a very comprehensive package and probably not comparable to the policies offered elsewhere. The decision to include insurance, and these premium features, is because many of our customers want and use our service for identity protection, and we want to offer the best, most comprehensive service possible.

Thanks again for bringing this to our attention.

As I said before, the range of services and benefits we offer is under review.

James Jones

chanz4

But what about the customers that dont want the insurance, why not do as you did score wise and let them request it. I wont be using experian until it changes.

Only_Me_4

Sorry to revive an old thread, but my Credit Expert account lapsed earlier this year when my credit card expired and when I tried to renew, was asked to pay £14.95 as opposed to the ~£7 I was paying previously.

I don't want or need the insurance but now if I want access to my credit report as I had before, I don't have a choice. I emailed a customer services person who told me it was "mandatory".

To be quite frank, this is terrible customer service. You say it offers good value for money, so can you tell me how many people have successfully claimed against this policy and what the average claim amount was? I personally think that like most other ID Fraud insurance policies, this is a waste of time and most victims of ID fraud can sort the issues out fairly quickly and without too much trouble. Most bank and building societies have procedures in place to ensure victims of fraud are treated fairly. You only have to Google ID Fraud Insurance to see reports such as Which?, who firmly believe it's a rip off. CPP Ltd had to stop selling their ID Fraud insurance and still have an ongoing "review" by the FSA into how it was sold.

Speaking of treating customer's fairly, how do you ensure that this policy is suitable for consumers? Given that Experian is an Appointed Representative of Motorfile Ltd (which is wholly owned by Experian), you are obligated to comply with the rules detailed in ICOBS.

Now, I know the sale is non-advised, but you are still required to comply with ICOBS 5.1.1G which says "In line with Principle 6 (which says a firm must pay due regard to the interests of its customers and treat them fairly), a firm should take reasonable steps to ensure that a customer only buys a policy under which he is eligible to claim benefits". So, if a customer already has ID Fraud insurance, would they still be able to claim under the policy arranged by Experian? If not, how do you comply with ICOBS 5.1.1G?

Also, section 8.7.1 of the terms and conditions of the insurance state "You may cancel the Identity Protection Insurance within 14 days of receipt of the insurance policy documents if the insurance does not meet your needs". So what if the policy does not meet my needs before purchasing it? If I only want access to my credit report as I had previously, why do I have to take the policy then cancel it? That doesn't seem very fair to me.

I also cannot see anywhere in your Policy Summary, Key Facts or T&C's, a demands and needs statement. ICOBS 5.2.4G covers the demands and needs statement for non-advised sales.

To be totally honest, I'm surprised that Experian have packaged this insurance as a "mandatory" policy that you must take out if you want to be a member of Credit Expert. I'm also very dubious about whether all regulatory requirements have been met - I'm not sure if you are treating your customers fairly by making them take out the policy if they don't actually want or need it.

I was very happy with the service I had from Credit Expert previously - the text alerts were great, the ability to check my report whenever I wanted was also very good. It was good value for money in my opinion and I had been a member for many years. But now you've added this insurance which for me, is totally useless and I don't want it.

If you gave me the option to opt out from having it, I'd re-subscribe immediately. But then I guess your revenue would drop significantly if you gave customers the choice....

Unless anything changes in the near future, I'm afraid I'll have to take my custom elsewhere which I didn't really want to do. I really wish I hadn't let my membership lapse...