Beware experiian credit expert!

juniper-j

Hi all,
Having an utter nightmare with experian credit expert. Last June I paid to check my records before applying for a loan and was surprised to see my score had dropped from 998 to 845! The record showed my electoral register details had vanished so I called in and was told it would be sorted the next day but instead it dropped another 54 points...! Another call made and I was reassured that THIS time it would be sorted.... But 24 hours later it had dropped by even more - this time ANOTHER drop of 57 points!

When looking at the detailed report I saw that the report now listed my debts as being almost £20,000 (correct amount was less than 10k), also my number of credit card accounts were tripled (from three to twelve) and my linked addresses should have totalled three - now they were registered as 50!

LOTS of calls later and still no satisfaction, score going up and down, no apology, not even a refund of the £30 I have had to pay to keep monitoring this situation and although the details of my file now seem closer to being correct (addresses still wrong for example) I still have a score which is lower than the one shown in June before I contacted them to amend their error regarding my electoral registration details.

The score is now showing as 840 instead of the June score of 845 which didn't have me showing as on the electoral register (by the way, my circumstances/finances/behaviour have not changed at all since 2014 when my score was 998)

Apparently my complaint still doesn't even have a case handler?! I keep being told about their maximum timeframe to resolve complaints being 8 weeks and advised that I do not have to continue my membership in the meantime (£15 per month) but seeing as the score and details on my file seems to be wildly changing I'm very reluctant to do this!

Awful awful experience which is holding me up as I don't want to take any chances in applying for credit while this is going on..

Beware of Experian credit expert all....!

[Deleted User]

Worry about the data. But ignore the score entirely.

DCFC79

Not had a problem with Experian/Credit Expert.

But what you should worry about is your score will drop more unless you buy a pack of Hob Nobs.

Serious now, your score is of no relevance, no lender can see it, only you can see it.

You paying £15 a month for this, just cancel your subscription and save yourself some money.

juniper-j

Thanks,
Yes they told me not to worry about the 'score' but my addresses have changed lots too - have lots of duplicates for linked addresses (now down to 30 instead of 50.... But should just say 3!)

However I see that today it shows a two-year gap of no address details which has appeared (not the case a few weeks ago), also at one point it showed my current address as being only resident for one day instead of three years.... Exhausted by trying to keep up with their !!!!-ups.

rebecca1982

First things first, and the posters above have eluded to this too.

Your experian score is worthless!

It's an entirely in-house score that no bank / lender will use and is simply there to "gamify" the experian credit portal so people will keep paying to try and "improve their score".

At any rate, a score north of 800 is not bad at all and puts you easily in the getting a mortgage or top credit card ballpark. Like I said however, it's an internal score and not worth a penny!

---

It's a shame I'm not with you even you look at your credit score actually, as I could probably figure out why your not listed; however, I'll take a few guesses and hopefully you'll get a few pointers.

1. Are you actually listed on the register? There are two types of registration now, one which makes your details public (And hence available to Experian) and the other completely private. Could it be possible you've moved into the private list by accident? (It's easy to tick the wrong box on the electoral form)

2. Have you kept your registration up to date? I know from my local council they do sometimes send a letter to check everyone at the address is still there. Could you have missed a letter for some reason and the council taken you off their list? If so it's a simple fix and the council should be able to help you fix any "end and start date" issues.

---

BTW, have you considered checking your credit report using Noodle? They use Callcredit, the 3rd largest credit agency in the UK which also pulls your electoral register details in the same way as Experian.

What I'm getting at is this. If Callcredit has the same issue as Experian, then the issue is not unique to Experian and therefore not actually their issue. The issue is likely to be with your council / local authority.

Of course, if the other agencies (Callcredit, Equifax) all show you as listed on the register whilst Experian do not, then it's a sure fire bet something is amiss at Experian towers!

Hope that helps!

juniper-j

Thanks,
They have corrected the electoral register details now, unfortunately that doesn't seem to have stopped other changes happening.

My problem is that the information keeps changing on the report - hence why I'm reluctant to cancel membership as I would be unaware of any further changes happening (eg my time of residence at my current address changed from six years (wrong) to one day (wrong) then three years (correct but now showing a new gap prior to this - also wrong!).

Applying for new credit doesn't seem like a great idea while all this is happening with my credit report....

Experian_company_representative

Hi Juniper-j.
I’m sorry to hear that you have not had a good experience with the CreditExpert service, and apologise for any distress that this has caused you.

From what you have said it sounds like your electoral roll information is recorded under a variation of your address and so was not being retrieved when you viewed your report using CreditExpert.

Adding the variation of the address would ensure that the electoral roll information is retrieved, but in some cases having two versions of your address on your CreditExpert profile can lead to account information being retrieved twice. The Experian Credit Score is calculated from information appearing when you view the report, and so the score would change as the information being retrieved on your report changed, depending on the versions of your address entered in your CreditExpert profile.

I understand that you have made an official complaint. This would be investigated in line with our complaint policy. I would be happy to check the progress of this for you if you email your details (name, date of birth and address) to me on uksocialsupport@experian.com.
Kind regards
Neil

david39

What I strongly object to about Experian and the other agencies is that I did not request them to create a file using my details in the first place. But now they have done so they keep telling me that I should pay them a monthly fee so that I can keep my eye on it to make sure it is correct! Outrageous, really!

It would be similar to Google saying to me that they have published a Street view picture of my house but now I have to send them regular photos of it, with a fee, so that they can keep it up to date.

takman

rebecca1982 wrote: »

First things first, and the posters above have eluded to this too.

Your experian score is worthless!

It's an entirely in-house score that no bank / lender will use and is simply there to "gamify" the experian credit portal so people will keep paying to try and "improve their score".

At any rate, a score north of 800 is not bad at all and puts you easily in the getting a mortgage or top credit card ballpark. Like I said however, it's an internal score and not worth a penny!

---

It's a shame I'm not with you even you look at your credit score actually, as I could probably figure out why your not listed; however, I'll take a few guesses and hopefully you'll get a few pointers.

1. Are you actually listed on the register? There are two types of registration now, one which makes your details public (And hence available to Experian) and the other completely private. Could it be possible you've moved into the private list by accident? (It's easy to tick the wrong box on the electoral form)

2. Have you kept your registration up to date? I know from my local council they do sometimes send a letter to check everyone at the address is still there. Could you have missed a letter for some reason and the council taken you off their list? If so it's a simple fix and the council should be able to help you fix any "end and start date" issues.

---

BTW, have you considered checking your credit report using Noodle? They use Callcredit, the 3rd largest credit agency in the UK which also pulls your electoral register details in the same way as Experian.

What I'm getting at is this. If Callcredit has the same issue as Experian, then the issue is not unique to Experian and therefore not actually their issue. The issue is likely to be with your council / local authority.

Of course, if the other agencies (Callcredit, Equifax) all show you as listed on the register whilst Experian do not, then it's a sure fire bet something is amiss at Experian towers!

Hope that helps!

Why do you keep posting factually incorrect information!.

A "credit score" of 800+ does NOT mean you can easily get a good credit card or mortgage. Plenty of people on here have had the best score you can get but have struggled to get some credit.

If you opt out of the public electoral roll the data is still available to the credit reference agencies. There is no complete private electoral roll that they can't see!.

MEM62

david39 wrote: »

What I strongly object to about Experian and the other agencies is that I did not request them to create a file using my details in the first place. But now they have done so they keep telling me that I should pay them a monthly fee so that I can keep my eye on it to make sure it is correct! Outrageous, really!
No you don't. There are free services of this nature or you could just request the statutory report from time to time.

............

MallyGirl

takman wrote: »

Why do you keep posting factually incorrect information!.

A "credit score" of 800+ does NOT mean you can easily get a good credit card or mortgage. Plenty of people on here have had the best score you can get but have struggled to get some credit.

agreed - and conversely a lower 'random numerical value' assigned against your credit history does not mean you cannot continue to get good credit deals on a regular basis. My 'score' isn't that high because I often close old accounts/apply for new ones/generally play the game but I have no trouble obtaining credit