Equifax is a scam don't pay subscription

_Andy_

" but I fel like a prat " - don't - everyone makes mistakes.

However putting 'Equifax is a scam' is false and misleading. It's not a 'scam'.
Expensive?Yes. Useful? sometimes. But not a scam.

Gold_bullion

glynb wrote: »

It's certainly difficult to find an email address or a link to allow you to cancel your subscription.

That's deliberate so they can offer you a cheap deal not to cancel on the phone. In fact they told me that they won't accept cancellation by any method other than phone, including letter.

Gold_bullion

santacruz wrote: »

Also, beware they do not continue to charge you after you have cancelled your subscription as they did with me.

I've had this happen to me. What they seem to do is keep the account going and wait and see if you log in again later. If you do they may bill you for every intervening month since you cancelled, claiming that you have "reactivated" the account. When I complained, they immediately agreed to refund all the intervening charges, as if they were expecting to have to! Maybe some people don't complain.

This could have been an admin error, but I suspect it wasn't.

JohalaReewi

Gold_bullion wrote: »

Obviously it's cheaper not to subscribe to the CRAs and use the two quid option, but you have to write the letter, wait for the reply which usually takes weeks, and as I recall the info is more difficult to trawl through. I'm also not sure what level of data you get.

You can apply online for the £2 report so no letter writing involved. For Equifax, the reply is pretty much immediate (for an online report). For Experian they send you either the report, or an online access code in the post. By law, the Statutory report has to show all the data that the CRA sends to lenders. So the level of data from a credit scoring point of view is 100%.

For example, do you get the extra info they have added now like amount paid off a credit card each month, credit limit that month, whether the balance is a promotional rate, etc? Hopefully you should do as it's data they hold on you.

If the extra info is not data they send to lenders, it does not have to appear on the Statutory report. Even if it is data they hold about you.

Gold_bullion

Thanks for the info.

What's the point of them collecting the extra info then if the only person who can access it is the person who knows (or should know) it already? I was under the impression this "enhanced" data IS available to lenders as it shows whether someone pays off the full balance of their credit card, when they have had a credit limit increase, and whether they are on a promotional rate at present.

Can anyone confirm whether this additional data is provided to lenders as it seems a lot of trouble for e.g. Equifax to go to if they are simply showing the subscriber what they already know?

JohalaReewi

Gold_bullion wrote: »

Can anyone confirm whether this additional data is provided to lenders as it seems a lot of trouble for e.g. Equifax to go to if they are simply showing the subscriber what they already know?

They aren't showing you, they are selling it to you

Just ask James...

Your credit report is a copy of all the information we hold in your name that’s available to lenders to help them assess applications for credit.
...
A statutory report is simply a list containing of all of this information.
...
A service like CreditExpert, however, will give you access to other benefits such as helpful summaries, scores based on your credit report and other features ...
http://experian.co.uk/consumer/questions/askjames323.html

matttye

Something I'm suspicious about is the last time I've checked my statutory reports with Equifax, I've had e-mails about two days later to say there's been a change on my credit file, but there hasn't been a change.

Seems like they want me to pay for another report to see what's just happened.

Maestro.

that notification is just you requesting a fresh report. I used to get them, sometimes weeks afterwards, took me a while to cotton on. Bunch of bozos.

matttye

Maestro. wrote: »

that notification is just you requesting a fresh report. I used to get them, sometimes weeks afterwards, took me a while to cotton on. Bunch of bozos.

Ahh that makes sense! :rotfl:

chrisuren

couldbebetterwithmoney wrote: »

I joined Equifax (and Credit Expert + Call Credit Check) earlier this year after I embarked on a process of repairing my credit rating. Today i seen on my bank statement that the monthly subscription had been taken so I logged onto the Equifax website to check my credit rating. Turns out that the £8.99 per month that I was paying was only to become a member and get alerts etc but that if I wanted to see my credit file, I would have to pay more money.
I know I've probably agreed to this when i signed up etc but I fel like a prat what a waste of money.
Avoid Equifax it's just a scam. Isn't it a shame our elected representatives do not do more to get rid of these leeches from our society...

It's not a scam, you just obviously didn't read the ToS properly, if at all.

Isn't it a shame our elected representatives do not do more to get rid of these leeches from our society...

:rotfl::rotfl: