Experian Q&A
Questions on Experian Services e.g. CreditExpert
Can you describe the process and timescales by which lenders
update Experian Credit files with balance and payment details?
It would appear that updates are
either fortnightly or monthly and are always loaded on Sundays.
When are updates sent, received, processed and loaded?
| YorkshireBoy |
Lenders update the credit account information they share through us once a month. Each lender will have a different date, of course. Updates reflect any relevant account changes, including current balance, credit limit and payment history. We run a series of checks on the information then, assuming there are no data quality issues, we load it to the live database.
Do other CRAs have the same processes or are there any differences which might
be useful to know.
| YorkshireBoy |
Sorry, don't know. You could ask them.
Are there any plans to make the £2 statutory credit report a bit easier to find
on your website?
| Glowboy |
Experian has always kept clear links to our £2 statutory credit report service on our UK homepage. We firmly believe in giving consumers a choice between all the services we offer. Don't confuse us with others whose home pages do not make it easy to find the £2 report!
Do credit searches appear on the credit report immediately they are received from
the enquirer or is there a delay?
| Glowboy |
Credit (or previous) searches appear as soon as they are made. Furthermore, CreditExpert members are sent alerts by either SMS or e-mail to notify them when any significant changes or searches have occurred on their credit report.
When CreditExpert identifies activity on the subscriber's credit file, a very
general email is sent out to notify them. Why can't more specific information be
included in the email e.g. the addition or deletion of an account? This would make
it more useful to the subscriber.
| Clariman |
Detailed information about the activity on your credit report is provided, but you have to log into your CreditExpert account first. E-mail and text alerts are not suitable for delivering personal and sensitive information.
How come the only factor that seems to affect my National Credit Score on the
Experian website is searches? I have paid for my score several times and I find
that my monthly credit card and loan payments do not impact my score despite
significant falling levels of 'debt', but a search coming off or going on changes
it considerably. Since some companies use these scores, how can you justify this
being what seems to be the most important factor?
| Mr Hoegaarden |
Credit scores are usually based on complex algorithms, making it very difficult to isolate specific influences in this way. Credit searches will affect your National Credit Score, but so will your credit account history and the rest of the information on your credit report. National Credit Score is simply a guide (as is any score you can obtain from a credit reference agency) and does not include the information you give lenders when you apply for credit. Lenders usually build their own scorecards that reflect their own experience with past customers.
In an
equifax newsletter, they say that they provide a "new kind of search called
a quotation search" which gets logged as an enquiry rather than a credit search. This
enables consumers to shop around for credit without have lots of full credit searches
on file. Do Experian have an equivalent?
| Clariman |
Yes, Experian has offered the quotation search facility for several years. Don't forget, quotation searches are only relevant when you are asking for a quote for a product that is priced for risk - i.e. the interest rate is determined by your credit score. Otherwise, the lender won't need to check your credit report to give you a quote. They will just have to do a credit application search when you make the application.
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