Noddle trying to scam punters out of £20 a year

_Andy_

I like turtles.

Gordon_Hose

SnowTiger wrote: »

In your example you wouldn't receive a refund. The retailer would simply say you got what you paid for: a tin with a Baked Beans label wrapped around it with something else inside.

Baked Beans - only words.

That's what, effectively, Noddle Improve is. It claims to offer your credit score when it offers a credit score.

I'm surprised folk here are so easily fooled.

I didn't get what I paid for though, did I? I bought baked beans and got black beans.

If you pay for a credit score and get a credit score, what's the problem? YOUR credit score is based on the information provided on your file. Do you have ANY proof that the score ISN'T based on information on your credit file?

If you haven't paid for it, how can you have been scammed?

If people WANT to pay for their score then that's up to them. It STILL doesn't make it a "scam". A rip-off, yes. Scam, no.

droiderm

Personally , I am on the fence.
Many people think they are getting something useful for their money. The evidence of this is many, many people posting daily on this forum, my noodle score is x, my experian score is y, when asking their ability to get credit.

I think for the sake of clarity the CRA's should declare up front what they are charging for. A possibly random algorithm they came up with which they think might be useful but definately isn't.

So, it's a scam in respect of the fact many people pay for something which they believe to be useful, but it clearly isn't. It's not a scam in respect that some people know that, and know what they are paying for.

It's akin to selling you run faster shoes, they are just called that BTW. Some people might be scammed into thinking they actually make you run faster, if marketed in the right way.

SnowTiger

Gordon_Hose wrote: »

I didn't get what I paid for though, did I? I bought baked beans and got black beans.

That also goes for Noddle Improve. Noddle Improve claims to provide your credit score. It provides a credit score.

Of its credit score, Noddle says: "The better your credit score, the more likely you are to get credit at the most competitive rate."

That may be true, however the credit score they charge punters for is not the same one used by most, if any, lenders.

Gordon_Hose wrote: »

If you pay for a credit score and get a credit score, what's the problem? YOUR credit score is based on the information provided on your file. Do you have ANY proof that the score ISN'T based on information on your credit file?

I haven't claimed Noddle don't offer a credit score. And I haven't claimed their credit score isn't based on the information they hold.

Noddle also say "So take control of your credit score with Noddle Improve." Would you like to defend and justify that statement too?

Gordon_Hose wrote: »

If you haven't paid for it, how can you have been scammed?

Noddle Improve is a paid-for service, however I didn't say I've paid for it or been scammed.

Gordon_Hose wrote: »

If people WANT to pay for their score then that's up to them. It STILL doesn't make it a "scam". A rip-off, yes. Scam, no.

You're finally understanding the point. http://oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/rip-off?q=rip-off:

a fraud or swindle, especially something that is grossly overpriced

Maybe I should change the title to:

Noddle tries to swindle punters out of £20 a year

or:

Noddle tries to defruad punters out of £20 a year

Would either of those be more appropriate?

Gordon_Hose

How do you know it provides A credit score rather than YOUR credit score?

All of the CRA's claim the score is based on information from YOUR credit file. Can you disprove this?

The only reason Credit Scores are useless is because they don't use the same scoring methods of other lenders. They couldn't possibly.

They can, however, show up potential credit file issues at a glance.

I wouldn't pay for one, so I can't be scammed. you haven't paid for one, so you haven't been scammed. If people chose to pay for one, they haven't been scammed.

Blue88

I have no issue with a business trying to make money and sell customers additional services, especially when they've given something else for free, but I believe Noddle may be using scare tactics to get customers to buy their "Improve" service.

I've just signed up for their free credit report service.


However, instead of giving me my actual score, a box on the page tells me my score is somewhere in the lowest 1/5, which means I'm in big financial trouble.

Clicking the credit score tab leads me to a payment form where I can get my actual credit score for £30 plus Noddle "Improve"....


I'm very interested that Noddle should be telling me my credit rating is poor when with at least 2 of the major credit referencing agencies it's good to excellent....

Funny that.

garynuman

Credit scores are useless. Nobody sees them and banks use their own criteria to make financial decisions.

Just ensure the information on all 3 CRAs is correct.

Hazzinho

I've got 5/5 so how are they trying to con me? Scores mean nothing.

mcolqu

I agree that the Noddle Improve does not give you much extra for the £20 but they also offer other stuff such as Identity Protection, Noddle Alerts and Noddle Webwatch which are useful.
I have been a subscriber to Experian at £13.99 pm (£168 pa) which gives me most of that because I had my ID stolen and credit cards and bank accounts applied for in my name.
I have dropped down to just the alert service from Experian at £3.99 pm which is still £48 a year which is more expensive than the full Premium Service from Noddle which is £45 pa. This gives you everything that Experian does as a far more reasonable price.
Noddle is an alternative to Experian and Equifax and a good bit cheaper than both of them.
I think it is unfair to just pick on the Improve service from Noddle at £20 pa which I would agree is not much extra info for the money.
I will be taking out the full service from Noddle and cancelling my Alert Service from Experian and saving myself £3 pa at the same time.

Anthorn

I'll put it this way: I was going to apply for an American Express (Green) Card when my free Noddle score dropped from 1/5 to 0/5 but I got impatient. There is no reason for me to believe that Improv is any better. To me it's just a way of extracting money from gullible fools!