Credit Expert Experian and their Insurance PPI "con"

tommykelso

Hi,

I have just found out that when you pay a monthly subscription fee of £14.95 to creditexpert.co.uk that £6.40 of that is to pay an Identity Theft Insurance Policy each month.

Now, I wasn't aware of this when I signed up. I deactivated my account before and then phoned up to reactivate it and not even at point was I given the choice to opt in or out of the Identity Theft Insurance Policy.

They are essentially forcing a policy onto their custoners as they give the customers no choice to opt out when signing up even tho some customers may already have an existing policy that covers them through a different company.

Am I right in saying that this is a form of mis-selling insurance? I feel that if it is, this is so wrong from a company claiming to be trying to help you.

This practice from Experian Credit Expert, as far as I can see, has flown under the radar!!

Thoughts anyone???

-taff

It hasn't flown under the radar, it's glaringly obvious from their website what the fee covers.
How is it missold if they have quite clearly told you all about it to start with?


It is your choice to join or not, and the fee is spelled out quite clearly.

tommykelso

Ok, so I missed that when signing up...

Giving you no option to opt in or out of an insurance policy tho on the back of a membership to their other services is mis-selling and now deemed against the rules of selling policies is it not?? Giving you no info about your policy, not letting you decide to use a different company for thst type of policy?? THAT, is improper selling of insurance policies

dunstonh

personally, I think paying anything to Credit expert is a complete waste of money as it serves very little purpose. However, that doesnt make it a mis-sale.

-taff

tommykelso wrote: »

Giving you no info about your policy, not letting you decide to use a different company for thst type of policy?? THAT, is improper selling of insurance policies

No it isn't. It's written everywhere, it's not hidden and you know exactly what you're getting for the fee.

If you don't like it, you don't have to have it.

tommykelso

But that's my point... You do have to have it if you want to join credit expert... That IS the mis-selling point!! Saying you have to pay before you can cancel IS also a mis-selling point.

I suggest you read up on Identity Theft Insurance mis-selling guidelines on Martin Lewis money saving expert as I just did. I learnt a lot

roonaldo

I think you have misunderstood. The mis-selling arround identify theft insurance relates to that sold on credit cards. This isnt the same insurance to the one on Experian. Its also clear on their website that it is included, this isnt mis-selling.

You refer to mis-selling points but ones associated with PPI and this is not PPI.

tommykelso

So it's not improper practice to only supply a membership to a service unless you buy a insurance policy off them also? Yes, it may be clear that they are doing it but does it make it right?

The Exact same notions of ethics are applied to cards or PPI claims when everyone (whether they admit to it or not for claims purposes) knew what they were buying into so why not here?

-taff

Nope. It's part of a package for membership, it doesn't cover the same things PPI does.

tommykelso

I'm still not convinced...

According to ARC Legal Assistance Ltd who underwrite this... These policies are intended to be used as OPTIONAL add ons that can be used as part of a credit file management service.

CreditExpert are using it as a MUST HAVE extra or you don't get to manage your credit file which is just wrong as not everyone who wants to check and manage their file has a concern over identity theft. So in effect, buy a policy you don't want or need or you won't get to manage your credit file and all the info we hold on you, is what they are doing.

Wrong?? YES!!

If a bank says you must take out identity theft insurance or you won't get this card.... That is wrong... Same goes for here

BC_KT

It's optional for you to sign up to CreditExpert. There's plenty of other companies you could sign up for.