Experian

Experian is a worldwide credit information group which is best known for it’s credit bureau activities in America. It has over 15,000 employees worldwide with office locations in 36 different countries. It is listed on the London Stock exchange (stock ticker: LSE: EXPN) and was founded in 1980 by John Peace.

United States

Experian is one of the three big credit bureaus which operates (Equifax & TransUnion are the other two) in America. Experian is responsible for collecting and maintaining up to date information about creditors, this information is provided to them by data furnishers. This information is compiled into credit reports which can be requested by other financial institutions, who then use these reports to help them when approving and denying credit applications. Because going through individual reports is time consuming and not particularly helpful unless you know what you’re looking for Experian also offer credit scores which give a snapshot of a credit consumers overall credit health or credit worthiness. The most commonly used score is called the FICO score. In March of 2006 these bureaus combined to launch VantageScore which directly competes with the FICO score.

Experian Credit Check

Experian Credit Report

Everybody is entitled to one free credit report from Experian every twelve months, these reports can be requested from https://www.annualcreditreport.com/ or you can read our guide on getting your free report here. These reports do not include any credit scores, which are sold separately by Experian.

Once you’re received your credit report, it’s important to go through it and make sure there are no inaccuracies as these will harm your credit score and thus your chances of being approved for credit.

Experian Dispute

If you find an error on your credit report, it’s suggested that you contact the financial institution that reported the incorrect information first. If they agree that an error was made then you’ll also need to ask them to send you a letter stating the error they made. Once you have this letter, send it off with a letter asking for it to be removed (this can also be done online). If they don’t agree an error was made and you still think your report has errors on it then you’ll  need to contact Experian to dispute this, you’ll also need supporting evidence to proof your claim.

The fastest and easiest way to start a dispute is online via Experian Dispute Resolution.

If this error appears on your TransUnion or Equifax report, you will also need to contact those bureaus to get this information fixed.

Experian Sample Dispute Letter

Dear Experian:

Please find a letter I received from <credit institution that has reported incorrect information> regarding <incorrect details>. I  contacted this company challenging whether or not a late payment was valid.  In response to their error, they have agreed to erase the account from my credit.  The letter states: “a request has been sent to the credit reporting agencies… Experian, in order to delete the late payment from the account.”

Please take this item off my credit history.  My Experian credit report number is <insert your number here>.

When complete, please send me a copy of an updated credit report.

Thanking you in advance

<Your Name>,

<Address>

 

Dispute Address

Experian is constantly updating and changing their addresses, especially their dispute address. As such this information is no longer kept on this site. Your best chance is to visit their contact us page, this will not have a mailing address list so you will need to call them.

Sample Experian Report After A Dispute Has been Settled

Experian Credit Score

Your credit report does not contain a credit score, these are sold separately by Experian and the other credit bureaus. Experian has two different credit scores available, the first and most commonly used score is the Experian FICO score, also known as Fair Isaac Score. This is a score between 33o-850. Anything over 700 is considered very good and you should have little issue with getting a loan with this score, while anything under a 620 is generally considered the cut off point with very few loans given at this level.

Credit Reporting Agency	FICO Score Name	Score Range
Experian	Fair Isaac Score/Model	330-850

They also have another score called a VantageScore which is a score between 501-990, with anything above a 800 considered good and anything under a 600 considered bad.

These credit scores are not required to be given out for free, but you can read our guide here to find out how to get yours free.

Experian Fraud Alert

There are three fraud alert types; initial, extended and active duty. All three do the same thing but for varying periods of time. When a fraud alert is placed on your name then lenders must go through extra steps to prove your identity whenever somebody tries to get out new credit or increase the credit limit on an existing loan.

An initial fraud alert will last for 90 days and extended fraud alert will last for seven years. Active duty fraud alerts are restricted and can only be used by those who are in active duty in the military. These last twelve months and will also remove that persons name from prescreened credit and insurance offers.

These fraud alerts are most commonly used when there is suspected identity theft. You can place a fraud alert with Experian online by visiting here. If you place a fraud alert with Experian, you do not need to do this with TransUnion and Equifax as well as they will automatically notify them.

Experian Credit/Security Freeze

A credit freeze is designed to make sure that no applications for credit will be approved by financial institutions without your consent. It’s generally used when somebody has been a victim of identity theft. You can apply for a credit/security freeze with experian here, this is NOT a free service.

You’ll also need to place a freeze with the other two credit bureaus which you can contact with the following details:

Equifax P.O. Box 740256 Atlanta, GA, 30374 1 800 685 1111

Trans Union P.O. Box 390 Springfield, PA, 19064 1 800 916 8800

 

Experian Contact Details:

Below is the contact information for experian, if any of this is incorrect or needs updating or you have additional information please use our contact form to let us know!

Experian Phone Number

1 888 397 3742

Experian Address

Experians address changes frequently, because of this we no longer keep this information on the site.

Experian Website

http://www.experian.com

Norway

There are two other credit bureaus which operate out of Norway, they are: Lindorff Decision and Dun & Bradstreet.

Canada

Experian is one of two credit bureaus which operates in Canada, the other being Equifax.

Experian Cheetahmail

In 2004 Experian purchased the e-marketing software called cheetahmail.

If you have any other questions or if any of this information is out of date you can contact us via our online contact form.