Experian

Experian Overview

Founded in 1996, Experian is one of the the three major credit bureaus and offers three-bureau credit monitoring to assist you with informed financial decisions.

Experian’s credit monitoring products send you immediate alerts when they find changes in your credit reports, suspicious activity on your reports, or identity fraud.

These alerts are based on key changes in your Experian, TransUnion, and Equifax credit reports.

Experian Pros

• Accreditations: Experian is accredited with an A- rating from the Better Business Bureau.
• Alerts: Experian’s alerts will inform you of changes in your credit reports or suspicious activity like fraud.
• Experian Credit Lock: This tool allows you to control who has access to your Experian credit report.
• Updates: Depending on the plan you choose, you can get an updated Experian credit report and FICO® Score daily or monthly when you sign in.
• Identity Theft Insurance: You can receive up to $1 million identity theft insurance.
• Fraud Resolution: Experian’s fraud resolution agents assist you in restoring your identity after your information has been compromised. Costs like electronic fund transfers, lost wages, legal fees, and travel expenses are covered.
• Quarterly 3-Bureau Updates: Receive updated credit reports and FICO® scores from all three bureaus every 90 days.
• Easy To Read Dashboard: Experian’s online dashboard show an easy to read credit score overview and additional factors that can affect your credit score.
• Easy Cancellation: Because there are no contracts, it is easy to cancel your monthly membership by canceling online with your account or calling the toll-free line that is available seven days a week.
• Dark Web Surveillance: Experian tracks your personal information on the dark web to catch thieves selling your identity.

Experian Cons

• Lenders may use a different score than the one provided by Experian.

How Does Experian Work?

Experian is one of the major credit bureaus. It collects information about people’s interaction with credit and debt and helps lenders make lending decisions based on borrowers’ habits.

It also offers a few services directly to consumers, helping them keep track of their credit scores or work to improve their scores.

What does Experian Offer?

Through CreditWorks Experian lets consumers view and track their credit report and score.

The free version of the service includes access to your Experian credit report once per month as well as FICO Score alerts. Signing up for the premium service gives you daily updates on your credit as well as access to reports from other credit bureaus. It also provides various protective services like identity theft insurance and dark web surveillance.

If you’re concerned about your credit or want to track your score as you work to improve it, Experian CreditWorks is a useful tool.

Another exciting free service is Experian Boost, which can help you boost your credit score by adding things like utility bills and rent payments to your credit history.

Application Process

Signing up for Experian CreditWorks is relatively simple. You can create an account by providing your email address, a password, name, and your current home address. Experian will use that information to look up your credit report.

If you choose to sign up for the premium version of CreditWorks, you’ll have to provide payment info to pay for the monthly subscription.

The signup process for Experian Boost is similar. Once you create your Experian account you can choose to sign up for Experian Boost to try to increase your credit score.

Terms & Requirements

One of the great things about Experian’s services is that there are no requirements to sign up short of providing enough identifying information for Experian to locate your credit file. Anyone in the US with a credit history can sign up for an account.

Experian Pricing

• Experian CreditWorks Basic: This plan is free and no credit card is required. It provides your Experian credit reports every 30 days on sign in, Experian credit monitoring with alerts, and toll-free phone support.
• Experian CreditWorks: This plan is $4.99 for the first month and $24.99 for each additional month to gain access to quarterly 3-bureau credit reports and FICO® Scores, 3-bureau credit monitoring with alerts, daily Experian credit reports and FICO® Scores, Experian FICO® Score tracking with alerts, Experian CreditLock with alerts, fraud resolution support, and $1 million identity theft insurance.
• One-time Credit Reports and Scores: For $19.95, you receive your Experian credit report and FICO® Score along with toll-free phone support.
• One-time 3-Bureau Credit Report and FICO® Scores: For $39.95, you receive your Experian, Equifax, and TransUnion Credit Report and FICO® Score along with toll-free phone support.

For Whom Experian is Good?

Experian offers useful services for almost everyone.

There’s no reason that anyone shouldn’t sign up for the free version of Experian CreditWorks. It lets you get regular updates on your credit score and identify errors or things that could cause your credit score to drop.

The premium version of the service is mostly useful for people who are worried about identity theft or who want to keep a close eye on their credit for other reasons. For most, monthly updates on their credit are sufficient and the fee isn’t worth paying.

Experian Boost can be helpful for most people but it’s mostly targeted at people with limited credit histories or who have missed a payment or two. By adding other bills like utilities or phone bills to your report you can improve your payment history and give your score a boost.

Alternatives

When it comes to Experian Boost, there are not many alternatives out there. Experian is in a unique situation because of its status as a credit reporting agency, which lets it offer some unique services.

If you’re simply looking to track your credit report, there are plenty of other options out there.

• Credit Karma. Credit Karma lets you view your credit reports from multiple bureaus and track your score over time. One useful perk of the site is that it uses your credit information to make personalized recommendations for loans and credit cards you might qualify for.
• Mint. Mint lets you track all of your financial accounts from a single dashboard, making it easier to manage your money. It also offers credit tracking services so you can keep an eye on how your score changes over time.

Summary

Experian provides credit monitoring and some identity theft support, but their pricing is higher than some of their competitors.

Note: Identity Theft Insurance underwritten by insurance company subsidiaries or affiliates of American International Group, Inc. (AIG). The description herein is a summary and intended for informational purposes only and does not include all terms, conditions and exclusions of the policies described. Please refer to the actual policies for terms, conditions, and exclusions of coverage. Coverage may not be available in all jurisdictions.

Contact Experian: Phone: 888-397-3742 Address: Experian National Consumer Assistance Center P.O. Box 4500 Allen, TX 75013