How to obtain credit reports

sfax

Guardsman01 wrote: »

I've been a member of Experian (a.k.a."CreditExpert") since April 2008 for which I pay a monthly fee of £6.99. For this I receive emailed alerts from Experian whenever anyone searches my credit record. This is the only service I want from Experian.

On December 13 I received a "As a valued customer, you'll be getting an exclusive new membership package - Shhh. It's not available to our new customers" email from Experian. I suspected the worse and, sure enough, they told me that they will be increasing my monthly charge from £6.99 to £9.99 in January.... But the email also informed me that I would be obtaining "new benefits" with my new membership package. I looked through the list of "new benefits" and decided I did not require any of them. I then emailed Experian to inform them that I wished to opt out of the "new membership package" instead wishing to remain on my existing package at a monthly cost of £6.99. I received a response which stated "we are unable to keep you on your current membership price as this will no longer be available." They also stated that I could cancel my existing membership if I wished by calling 0800 561 0083 before 12.01.2013 when the new contract takes effect.

So. I'll be calling Experian to cancel my membership as they suggest in their email. As I stated earlier, I only require my Experian membership for the "alerts" they email to me whenever my credit record is searched. On receipt of these alerts I log into my credit file and satisfy myself that the searches of my records flagged by the Experian emails are not suspicious so I was wondering if anyone could suggest an alternative way that I could check my credit record on a fairly regular basis to ensure that searches made are not "suspicious." Thanks.

Unlimited Experian credit reports and alerts included with some bank accounts - e.g. smilemore

Sign up with Equifax then cancel and they'll give you a discounted sub with alerts for £3.50/month. You won't get Experian alerts but you'll get new credit agreement alerts if anyone actually opened an account l. Supplement this with 6 monthly £2 report from Experian

Guardsman01

Thanks, sfax. What do you think of the free service "noddle...."

fermi

Noddle is good as long as you understand the limitations in what you are getting.

- Reports only updated/synced with the CallCredit main database a maximum of once per month.
- Arguably the least reported to CRA.
- Arguably the least checked CRA by potential creditors.
- Not a real replacement for chacking your full statutory (£2) reports with all 3 CRAs on a semi-regular basis

Saying the above, it has always shown every account for me that you would expect to see. Depends really on who you hold accounts with. You may be lucky and have all shown. or you may not be, and some could be a no show.

It has been very handy for me for just keeping an eye on things. But if I was looking to get the whole picture, or check up to date data for accuracy, it would not be enough.

UsetheFORCE

sfax wrote: »

Unlimited Experian credit reports and alerts included with some bank accounts - e.g. smilemore

Sign up with Equifax then cancel and they'll give you a discounted sub with alerts for £3.50/month. You won't get Experian alerts but you'll get new credit agreement alerts if anyone actually opened an account l. Supplement this with 6 monthly £2 report from Experian

That is about what I do, all my accounts appear on Noddle that do on Experian so don't need to check Experian to find out the actual account status.

sfax

As others have said, Noddle is accurate for credit agreements but rarely searched and slower to get updated so you ought to supplement it with £2 statutory reports - or at least get your £2 reports from Exp and Equi before making a new credit application.

I apply for a lot of BT and cashback cards so Equifax sub is convenient and Exp is effectively free as I get loads of other stuff on my joint account that covers the subscription (until they increase it again)

UsetheFORCE

Which account is it that you get Experian on?

sfax

UsetheFORCE wrote: »

Which account is it that you get Experian on?

Smilemore - part of safeguard benefits package. Very good value if you have a joint account and need annual worldwide travel insurance, mobile phone insurance (up to 4), RAC, Experian, fee and interest fee overdraft. Lots of goodies. Still worthwhile for me even though we don't need the RAC cover (which I think isn't just the basic cheap cover but not sure)

UsetheFORCE

sfax wrote: »

Smilemore - part of safeguard benefits package. Very good value if you have a joint account and need annual worldwide travel insurance, mobile phone insurance (up to 4), RAC, Experian, fee and interest fee overdraft. Lots of goodies. Still worthwhile for me even though we don't need the RAC cover (which I think isn't just the basic cheap cover but not sure)

Ah, that was the one I have looked at...yes it certainly does look good. I am not so sure I would get it though :-(

jolfc

Guardsman01 wrote: »

I've been a member of Experian (a.k.a."CreditExpert") since April 2008 for which I pay a monthly fee of £6.99. For this I receive emailed alerts from Experian whenever anyone searches my credit record. This is the only service I want from Experian.

On December 13 I received a "As a valued customer, you'll be getting an exclusive new membership package - Shhh. It's not available to our new customers" email from Experian. I suspected the worse and, sure enough, they told me that they will be increasing my monthly charge from £6.99 to £9.99 in January.... But the email also informed me that I would be obtaining "new benefits" with my new membership package. I looked through the list of "new benefits" and decided I did not require any of them. I then emailed Experian to inform them that I wished to opt out of the "new membership package" instead wishing to remain on my existing package at a monthly cost of £6.99. I received a response which stated "we are unable to keep you on your current membership price as this will no longer be available." They also stated that I could cancel my existing membership if I wished by calling 0800 561 0083 before 12.01.2013 when the new contract takes effect.

So. I'll be calling Experian to cancel my membership as they suggest in their email. As I stated earlier, I only require my Experian membership for the "alerts" they email to me whenever my credit record is searched. On receipt of these alerts I log into my credit file and satisfy myself that the searches of my records flagged by the Experian emails are not suspicious so I was wondering if anyone could suggest an alternative way that I could check my credit record on a fairly regular basis to ensure that searches made are not "suspicious." Thanks.

yep same email came to me today, so i rang and cancelled as i wanted to stay on £6.99 and they said i could not. i shall stick with equifax.

Guardsman01

Yes. Some of us go on paying the £6.99 per month to Experian almost automatically without thinking about it so it takes something like the email from them informing us of a 43% rise to galvanise us into action by cancelling the service! I think it may prove to be a poor move by them in poking the sleeping tiger, as it were. The aspect of the email which really grated was the suggestion that I had been singled out for a special deal. "Shhh. It's not available to our new customers," they told me! Lucky me! I get to pay more for services I don't need!

Many thanks for everyone's responses. I'll cancel my Experian membership tomorrow, open up a nobble account and supplement this with occasional purchases of the statutory report at £2 a time.