Securing Experian Account with Password

paul2louise

I had issue with identity theft on my credit report which I am contesting. So Experian have suggested using a password. That is fine except I have to email them the password. My emails were hacked last week and emails are not secure and normally you don't tell anyone your password. Is this normal. This is what they sent me. I really am suspicious of everything now. 

"Additionally, you have an option to prevent any actual credit applications by adding a password to your credit report which prevents any applications from accessing your account without your consent in future. This means whenever a credit application is made in your name, the company will be asked for your password before going ahead.

Once you add the password to your credit report a Password Notice of Correction statement will be added to your credit report as follows:

"I ******, wish to inform companies that I believe my details are being used fraudulently in attempts to get credit in my name. I therefore wish to use the password "XXXXXXX" for any genuine credit application I make by myself".

If you wish to add a password, kindly provide us with a desired password of your choice by following the below rules for further adding it to your account. The reason you cannot add a password directly is due to the restrictions we have in place to avoid any mishaps.

• Please don’t use the characters # @ ; : " ' in your password.

• A password should also only contain upper case characters as we’re unable to include lower case characters.

Adding a password will provide you some additional protection; however, it will not guarantee that your details will be safe"

flaneurs_lobster

Well I suppose it's better than nothing but not by much. As you say, sending passwords by email is just poor practice and their comment

"The reason you cannot add a password directly is due to the restrictions we have in place to avoid any mishaps."

is bullcrap, they've got a manual system and they don't want to spend money automating it.

If you have genuine concerns that fraudulent attempts are being made to obtain credit in your name then I'd suggest applying for personal registration at Cifas - costs £30 for 2 years.

https://www.cifas.org.uk/pr

marcia_

 I once had a password in my Experian credit file. Worked well at stopping an ex from getting more accounts in my name. The company you apply for credit with rings you and asks for the password if the person doesn't know it credit denied. I gave them the password over the phone. 

paul2louise

flaneurs_lobster said:

Well I suppose it's better than nothing but not by much. As you say, sending passwords by email is just poor practice and their comment

"The reason you cannot add a password directly is due to the restrictions we have in place to avoid any mishaps."

is bullcrap, they've got a manual system and they don't want to spend money automating it.

If you have genuine concerns that fraudulent attempts are being made to obtain credit in your name then I'd suggest applying for personal registration at Cifas - costs £30 for 2 years.

https://www.cifas.org.uk/pr

I registered for cifas yesterday after the conversation with the insurance company I had been querying said they would log this fraudulent request on cifas. When they have processed my registration I will look into it. If my data has been compromised once it could happen again 

paul2louise

marcia_ said:

 I once had a password in my Experian credit file. Worked well at stopping an ex from getting more accounts in my name. The company you apply for credit with rings you and asks for the password if the person doesn't know it credit denied. I gave them the password over the phone. 

I have no problem having a password just how I give it to them. Maybe a phone call is safer to than sending an email. Considering my outlook has been wide open to scammers who changed accounts on social media, TV subscriptions and sent 100s of messages out to random mailboxes within short space of time I don't trust emails at all. I have put even tighter restrictions on my account now but these scammers have ways round everything 

marcia_

 Totally understandable if your email has been hacked. Get back in touch and ask if you can give it over the phone