Experian "misselling" of ID theft insurance

[BankFodder]

Money Mail today raises concerns that customers of Britain’s biggest credit agency Experian have been paying for years for insurance they did not know they could avoid.

 

The organisation, which guards customers’ credit record details, has been signing up people to the low-cost cover as part of a membership package.

 

The Experian ID protection policy is bundled in with the £14.99 monthly membership for its Credit Expert service, which allows users to check their credit file.

 

The insurance deal, which covers expenses if your identity is stolen, is about £6 of the monthly cost.

 

The rest of the package allows you to manage your credit report and check your score when applying for cards or loans.

 

Money Mail has been contacted by people who signed up to Credit Expert, but did not realise they could opt out of the insurance and keep the rest of their perks.

 

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/money/cardsloans/article-2627599/Experians-6-month-cover-dont-admit-DONT-need.html

 

 

Have you been trapped into -paying for Experian's ID theft insurance? Well you should claim the money back

 

Mr Flann says he never knew he had bought the cover, but Experian says it gave him full details when he applied.

 

He says: ‘My complaint is I was never given a choice to not have the cover. I believed I was obliged to take out the insurance, whether it was an appropriate product or not.’

 

He demanded a refund of his premiums, but Experian refused, so Mr Flann threatened to go to the independent Financial Ombudsman.

 

Experian then offered a £112.32 refund — £102.40 for the insurance and £9.92 interest. It said it was not compensation, but a goodwill gesture.

 

It admits new customers can’t buy the Credit Expert service without insurance. In some cases, though, it says it will offer existing customers a ‘reduced service’ without the cover and they can keep the rest of the deal.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/money/cardsloans/article-2627599/Experians-6-month-cover-dont-admit-DONT-need.html

We have been trying to get some one to take notice of this story for over a year. Finally BBC Radio 4 MoneyBox ran the story a few weeks ago and today, Ruth Lythe of the Daily Mail had her article about this misselling published.

 

 

FORCED TO INSURE - Moneybox - 16th March 2014

People who join the Experian 'credit expert' service to get unlimited free access to their credit reports and scores are also insured willy-nilly against ID theft. The cost of the package is £180 a year of which the unasked for insurance accounts for £77. It is sold online so no suitability test is done. Among other things the £77 a year policy will refund the cost of letters and phone calls needed to sort out an ID theft problem.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b03xzs1l

 

Experian declined to comment on the Moneybox programme.

 

I understand that there were strenuous efforts by Experian to prevent both the BBC broadcast and the the Daily Mail piece from going out.

Go figure.

 

Clearly in respect of Experian's Credit Expert bundled insurance package, there is no enquiry as to whether the product is wanted - or whether it is appropriate.

For instance -many people have an equivalent insurance as part of their credit card bundle or maybe their house contents insurance - so buying the forced id insurance product, Experian customers may effectively be buying duplicate insurance.

So what happens if you ID is stolen and you have to invoke the insurance? Which policy do you choose? This is bound to become a problem because it is a fundamental principle of insurance policies that they will not make duplicate pay outs for a single loss.

So immediately you have the opportunity for each insurer to deny the loss on the basis that you have duplicate insurance and that it should be the other company which pays.

 

The Experian id theft product has all the hallmarks of misselling - but goes one further because most insurances - PPI etc are required to make it clear that their insurance product is optional. Experian does not even do that. There seems to be no opportunity on their website to opt out of the insurance. It is only when you call them to cancel that they then offer you the favour of opting out if they think that they are going to lose your custom altogether.

Finally - it seems to me in any event that the insurance represents very poor value for money - but you should go to the Experian/Credit Expert website and judge for yourselves. http://www.creditexpert.co.uk/

 

If you have been caught by Credit Expert - claim your money back. Complain to the FOS if there is any monkey business.

If your money is offered back under conditions of confidentiality - you should consider refusing and continuing to the FOS instead.

[BankFodder]

Seven million people are to receive an average £200 each having been mis-sold useless credit and debit card insurance.

 

The payouts, which will be made automatically by banks, have been ordered by the City regulator.

 

Customers affected will be contacted by post from August 29 and be asked to vote on whether they feel the redress scheme is fair.

 

Those victims of the scandal will have paid between £30 and £80 a year for extra insurance cover provided by CPP. This was nominally to protected against identity theft or card fraud.

 

Some customers affected will be unaware they were paying money to a third-party, thinking instead the cover was being offered by their bank.

 

Related Articles

 

 

 

• Banks face fresh £1.5bn mis-selling bill
  21 Aug 2013
  
• Millions to get CPP compensation, but millions may miss out
  22 Aug 2013
  
• Where should you base your business? Welsh Government
  

 

Most will be aware they were paying CPP, but may not have realised how unecessary the policies were. Banks told many customers that the products were compulsory. Others were given a hard sell, with branch and telephone staff using scare tactics - talk of the rising threat of fraud on their account - to cajole customers into signing up.

 

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/personalfinance/consumertips/banking/10258876/Are-you-one-of-7m-mis-sold-identity-insurance.html

[BankFodder]

Another Experian ID theft product

http://www.protectmyid.co.uk/

[BankFodder]

***** We now understand that the FOS has informally expressed the view that the insurance is the responsibility of Arc Legal and that claims should be made against them.

This is very surprising because Arc Legal say their policies are" ... not an ‘off the shelf’ solution. All products and services are developed to meet the specific requirements of our clients and are sold on a ‘white label’ basis." Meaning that they do not consider themselves the direct supplier.

[BankFodder]

Arc Legal are trying to say that it is Experian's fault. Interesting to see that no one so far has said that the product wasn't mis-sold.

Also, it seems that if Experian are liable, then they will not have to make any refunds because apparently they were not within the regulatory regime at the time this particular mis-selling occurred.

 

However

Experian may not have been regulated then but they are regulated now and they continue to sell the insurance product in exactly the same way

 

As a regulated firm it cannot be right that they can avoid responsibilities simply buy selling a white-label product and not exercising any kind of quality control and absolving themselves of any legal responsibility. This amounts to a form of extraordinary rendition.

Experian make it clear on their website that Arc Legal are the providers of the insurance. Arc Legal have been content to remain associated with the product and no doubt to enjoy some kind of advantage form the public exposure.

Furthermore Arc Legal is outsourcing their insurance product and is directly subject to the responsibilities and control of the relevant FCA rules

[ThreeDee]

I had experian for years (since about 2006-2007), cancelled just recently(jan2014?). My initial monthly payments were something like 6.99 or 7.99, then it jumped to 9.99 for no apparent reason.

I dont know if i need to bother with this at all ? Did i have insurance ? Anyone tried claiming something back with lesser than 14.99 payments ?

[fatso99]

I took out one of Experian's free trial usages and when I cancelled within the trial period I was told that I would still be "charged for insurance". I tried to argue that I didnt realise there was any insurance attached to the trial period but they stated that I had to pay and refused to accept my arguementWere other people caught by this ?

[BRIGADIER2JCS]

I wonder if Experian will claim to "be acting as an introducer only " in regard to this insurance.

[Michael Cain]

I am so glad to hear that Experian Credit has been exposed over this mis selling of personal ID Theft Insurance

as I had been writing about this for over a year.

 

There are Three companies working in the UK, Experian Credit, Call Credit and Equifax

all charging monthly subscriptions for a service that is a waste of your monies,

 

they give advice such as use credit cards often and do not pay the bill in full at the end of the month.

 

Following advice like this incurs interest charges on your credit card,

they give out a lot of bad advice to improve your credit score and get paid a fortune for it.

 

They often send back low credit scores to banks and employers preventing people from obtaining bank loans and employment.

 

The banking sector is losing customers because of these credit reference agencies and their seriously flawed credit scoring

and people are being exposed to taking out loans from payday lenders etc.

charging thousands of per cent in interest charges leading to poverty,

because they cannot get bank loans because of credit scoring.

 

The UK Government wants to seek legislation to have these credit reference agencies removed from society.

 

They originate from the USA and set-up in the UK to cash in on what can only be described as a [problem].

[ICY]

I had experian for years (since about 2006-2007), cancelled just recently(jan2014?). My initial monthly payments were something like 6.99 or 7.99, then it jumped to 9.99 for no apparent reason.

I dont know if i need to bother with this at all ? Did i have insurance ? Anyone tried claiming something back with lesser than 14.99 payments ?

 

Same here, from reading the Mail article I can only assume that I didnt have it simply due to the monthly amount paid.

[Sve]

I've been Experian customer since 2008 and never knew I was paying for ID insurance until I read this article and actually asked them to confirm I was paying premiums. This is what they told me:-

 

Our records indicate that the monthly fee that your of £9.99 include Identity Fraud Expenses Insurance. The Identity Fraud Expenses Insurance is a mandatory element of the overall CreditExpert service.

 

If you do not wish to have the insurance policy, you will be unable to take advantage of the CreditExpert service.

 

I thought all along I was paying for accessing my credit report only since I've never asked for ID insurance and wasn't told it was part of the package when I signed up.

 

The reason some pay £14.99 and some £9.99 is that when Experian changed their subscription pricing, they included all benefits for current members for the £9.99 price. All new members (who signed up after the price increase) are charged £14.99. This was what Experian explained when I questioned the price increase at the time.

[ICY]

Mine went from I think 7.99 to 9.99 when they changed the prices in Feb 13

 

I have found the email they sent about the price change and it says nothing about insurance

 

Dear ICY

We are just getting in touch to make sure that you know about all the benefits of your new package, so that you can make the most of your membership.

 

Your benefits at a glance...

Weekly alerts when there are changes to your Experian Credit Report.

We search the web, social media and public registers with Web Monitoring so that we can immediately alert you if we find your personal information on the web. Look out for another email from us that will tell you exactly how Web Monitoring works.

See how we can help you maintain and improve your Experian Credit Score.

See the details of your Experian Credit Report. This gives you an indication of how lenders view you.

See credit cards, loans and mortgages uniquely matched to you. This could help you to save money.

Log in now

 

 

Your membership

Your new monthly membership fee of £9.99 will be collected on your next billing date and will be taken monthly after that. If you have any questions about your new membership price, or want to find out more about how we can help you, please feel free to contact our customer service team on 0844 481 0800.

Check your credit report

Read FAQs

Join the online community

 

Many thanks

The Experian team

Please do not reply to this e-mail. This email address is not monitored, so if you have any queries, please us at

[email protected]

.

This is a service based email that has been sent by Experian Ltd (registered number 653331) to the email address ixxxxxxxxx.com as part of your CreditExpert membership. The service emails we send you contain essential information relating to your membership. If you think you have received this email in error, please email us at

[email protected]

. Copyright 2012. Registered address: Experian Ltd, Landmark House, Experian Way, NG2 business park, Nottingham, NG80 1ZZ, United Kingdom. Trading address is: Cardinal Place, 6th Floor, 80 Victoria Street, London, SW1E 5JL.

 

Experian is committed to protecting your privacy online. We will never email you directly requesting any personal data or details. If you believe you have received any such communication from us, do not respond. Please email

[email protected]

for assistance.

 

To ensure delivery, please add

[email protected]

to your safe list.

[Michael Cain]

The main points are.

 

 

1. These credit reference agencies are providing a service which is of no good to anyone so why are people subscribing to it?

 

 

2. A person such as myself who pays my Utility bills on time at the local Post Office and who does not use Direct Debit is classed as a credit risk by these companies because they cannot monitor my spending habits, If I went to a Bank for a loan I would not obtain one because of points like this. Experian Credit and Equifax and Call Credit send in a low score to my own bank who I have been with for years.

 

 

3. You pay £19-99 for ID Theft Insurance and its so called advice on how to improve your credit score.

 

 

4. You are already covered for ID theft via your own bank as long as you don't write down pin numbers etc.

 

 

5. The advice from Experian Credit includes.

Don't have too many credit cards, the ones you do have, use them often and don't pay the balance in full at the end of the month, pay it off bit by bit each month.

What sort of advice is this?

Using credit cards often causes debt.

Paying off monthly instead of paying off the balance in full at the end of the month incurs interest charges on a credit card of typically 36%.

This causes more debt.

 

 

6. If I do not follow their advice, they have no idea how I handle my own finances so I get a low credit score from Three companies such as Experian Credit who do not even know who I am.

I am therefore classed as a credit risk to my own bank and some employers will not give a person employment based on their credit score reports.

 

 

7. I will not follow their advice and I pay my bills on time, every time and have never been in debt and I most certainly will not use credit cards often,

 

 

8. My advice to anyone reading this is as follows.

Do not waste your monies on paying Experian Credit any of your hard earned monies.

They are USA based companies and there are forums on the Internet where these Credit Reference Agencies have caused misery and debt and people who have studied college courses cannot even get employment all because of their flawed credit scoring system.

 

 

9 These Credit Reference companies are raking in Millions of Pounds from the UK Economy and are virtually con artists.

 

 

10. People cannot get bank loans because of their Credit score reports driving people into the arms of Payday lenders and logbook loans companies all over the UK, just like is the case in the USA.

 

 

11. The UK Government wants to take steps in removing these Credit reference agencies from UK Soils. They are not fit for purpose.

[ICY]

Excuse me, but no it isn't always bad, I have found things on my credit file which were incorrect and if I hadn't subscribed I would have no way of knowing, correcting things that weren't right has meant I have put myself in a better financial position including a incorrectly listed default when the account wasn't in default, by not tackling things like this it causes further problems.

 

They may not be perfect and of course they are making money, that's what businesses do and you may be surprised how many businesses are based in the states, this many many high street names, they have the right to trade, Experian have been very useful to me and no doubt countless others, If you don't want the service then don't use it, but everyone has the free choice to decide.

 

I never follow any 'advice' from experian I am perfectly capable of making decisions on my own, I am not stupid enough to let a company like that sway my decisions.

 

You need to be careful accusing an organisation of being a con artist though, just because you don't like something or how it operates does not make them guilty of conning people, the insurance thing which is what this thread is about is wrong and on the face of it they were misold, that doesn't mean every aspect of their business is to con people.

 

"have never been in debt " most of the country cannot say that, people aren't perfect and things don't always go to plan, sometimes things like credit reports do help

[asterraine]

Experian mis-sold CreditExpert, not ARC legal, therefore they are responsible for the consequences and I'm surprised the FOS has taken the stance you claim. As with PPI, the FOS has directed victims to the Banks who sold the product, not the insurers who stood behind them because it was the Banks who misled consumers.

 

 

Experian will also be keeping a large element of the insurance premium as commission for selling it, so their sales force are heavily incentivised to sell and retain customers. They also use the insurance as a way to avoid VAT because insured products attracts VAT at lower rates, so they can keep more of the £14.99 fee.

 

 

Insurance is simply a [problem] perpetrated by Experian to increase profits. The management at Experian are fully aware of the deception, and think because they are not regulated by the FCA, they are protected from investigation and the rules don't apply to them. Don't be fooled by the slick exterior, underneath its a greedy company out to make as much money as possible while the sun shines.

[Michael Cain]

Have you read the forums where their reports prevent people from getting employment because of their credit scoring system? They do not help these people. What about people that can't get loans from banks because of their credit scores? You go to a bank, they say to millions of people, sorry your credit score is too low. People ask why. The bank says "They don't know why your credit score is low, due to data protection" People then have to contact all three credit reference agencies to find out why, then have to take steps to put their mistakes right, most don't understand this! or they have to get loans from Logbook loan companies and payday lenders or even loan sharks all because of their credit score system. You mention things were incorrect on your credit file! Who put these incorrect points on your credit history? Was it these credit reference agencies as I read there is a lot of this. Their reports are utter rubbish

[ICY]

Have you read the forums where their reports prevent people from getting employment because of their credit scoring system? They do not help these people. What about people that can't get loans from banks because of their credit scores? You go to a bank, they say to millions of people, sorry your credit score is too low. People ask why. The bank says "They don't know why your credit score is low, due to data protection" People then have to contact all three credit reference agencies to find out why, then have to take steps to put their mistakes right, most don't understand this! or they have to get loans from Logbook loan companies and payday lenders or even loan sharks all because of their credit score system. You mention things were incorrect on your credit file! Who put these incorrect points on your credit history? Was it these credit reference agencies as I read there is a lot of this. Their reports are utter rubbish

 

 

Experian don't make the information up, its the companies who use experian who list the details, its these companies and only them who are responsible for the content shown on the credit file.

 

Credit files are also a trigger that something is going wrong, there are many people who would keep getting new credit cards to pay old ones off or apply for countless loans and get in a horrific situation if they kept doing this, not everybody is perfect enough to say they havent ever had debt, but without controls such as those demonstrated by credit files they would just keep getting in ever increasing debt meaning many many more people would end up in the bankruptcy court

[BRIGADIER2JCS]

Have you read the forums where their reports prevent people from getting employment because of their credit scoring system? They do not help these people. What about people that can't get loans from banks because of their credit scores? You go to a bank, they say to millions of people, sorry your credit score is too low. People ask why. The bank says "They don't know why your credit score is low, due to data protection" People then have to contact all three credit reference agencies to find out why, then have to take steps to put their mistakes right, most don't understand this! or they have to get loans from Logbook loan companies and payday lenders or even loan sharks all because of their credit score system. You mention things were incorrect on your credit file! Who put these incorrect points on your credit history? Was it these credit reference agencies as I read there is a lot of this. Their reports are utter rubbish

 

 

 

This seems to put forward the idea that delinquent accounts should not be reported to CRAs just in case the data subject might want more credit, get a mortgage or change a job, which if taken up would lead to even higher costs of borrowing to cover losses.

What is clear and always has been is the fact that CRAs give the individual the opportunity to challenge adverse and/or incorrect data being displayed on credit files, or would MC prefer a "closed" system where only prospective credit providers have access to credit reference data?

 

 

What is also clear is that the CRAs have to depend n the accuracy and honesty of their creditors when they report accounts (delinquent or not) to the CRAs.

 

 

There is no automatic " checking / prove it" mechanism for the CRAs to validate the data supplied to them.

 

 

It has been said many times on these forums that " if an individual disputes any item showing on their credit reference agency files the course of action is to 1. raise a dispute with the creditor reporting the data, and 2. place a notice of "correction/dispute" on the credit files.

 

 

The CRAs state that they will contact the creditor regarding any disputed data, but once again they are entirely reliant on the honesty and accuracy of the creditors reply.

 

 

I personally have (an always will) advise that the course of action should start with " a formal complaint" addressed to the DATA CONTROLLER OF THE CREDITOR, thus putting into place the obligation to fully investigate and respond within 56 days.

[BankFodder]

All change!!!

 

The FOS now seem to be saying that it may be Motorfile Ltd which is the responsible company.

There is clearly a lot of neat footwork going on here - and I am sure that Experian is probably behind it all.

It may be that Arc Legal raised objections to Experian that they were placing them in the frame.

 

Anyway, people should initially make their claims against Experian and go on to the FOS.

[BRIGADIER2JCS]

All change!!!

 

The FOS now seem to be saying that it may be Motorfile Ltd which is the responsible company.

There is clearly a lot of neat footwork going on here - and I am sure that Experian is probably behind it all.

It may be that Arc Legal raised objections to Experian that they were placing them in the frame.

 

Anyway, people should initially make their claims against Experian and go on to the FOS.

 

 

Website shows that Experian is an Authorised Agent of Motorfile, so I guess they are saying that Motorfile is responsible for any actions Experian takes on its behalf?

[Bendover]

Hi ALL, I have asked Experian to Take Off The Insurance element as I DO NOT WANT IT. This is their reply today telling me its a Mandatory Policy. I have raised the issue with the FOS immediately. They will contact Experian with my complaint. I will post the results as they reply.

 

 

Dear Mr

 

Thank you for your email, which we received on 29/05/2014.

 

*CreditExpert Membership

 

The Identity Fraud Expenses Insurance is a mandatory element of the overall CreditExpert service.

 

The Insurance policy covers your legal costs in the event of identity fraud, covering you for up to £75,000 which includes reasonable lost earnings of up to £500 per week for a maximum of 6 weeks, up to £200 for the costs of replacing your passport or driving licence, defending you in civil legal proceedings and taking reasonable steps to remove county court judgments.

 

These features and more are detailed in the CreditExpert insurance policy summary.

 

If you do not wish to have the insurance policy, you will be unable to take advantage of the CreditExpert service.

 

The online service has many features, such as alerts to let you know when a significant change has been made to your report. This allows you to stay in control of the information on your report.

 

*Electoral Roll details

 

Local councils keep a rolling electoral register, which they update and publish once a month.

 

We?ll update our records as soon as possible, once we receive the information from your local council.

 

Due to the amount of information we receive please allow 6-8 weeks from the date that you registered for this to appear on your report.

 

In the meantime, if you apply for credit you might want to provide the company a copy of the confirmation letter from your local council so they can take this into consideration.

 

Kind regards

 

Arun Geethamony

Customer Service Representative

 

Customer Support Centre

Experian

 

 

 

 

 

 

You may wish to visit the FAQ section of our website where you can find instant advice and answers about information held on your credit report. This service is available to you 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

 

Credit Expert is provided by Experian Ltd (Registered number 653331), an appointed representative of Motorfile Ltd (Registered number: 3009493). Experian Ltd and Motorfile Ltd are authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority. Both companies are registered in England and Wales with registered office at Landmark House, Experian Way, NG2 Business Park, Nottingham, NG80 1ZZ.

[BRIGADIER2JCS]

Hi ALL, I have asked Experian to Take Off The Insurance element as I DO NOT WANT IT. This is their reply today telling me its a Mandatory Policy. I have raised the issue with the FOS immediately. They will contact Experian with my complaint. I will post the results as they reply.

 

 

Dear Mr

 

Thank you for your email, which we received on 29/05/2014.

 

*CreditExpert Membership

 

The Identity Fraud Expenses Insurance is a mandatory element of the overall CreditExpert service.

 

The Insurance policy covers your legal costs in the event of identity fraud, covering you for up to £75,000 which includes reasonable lost earnings of up to £500 per week for a maximum of 6 weeks, up to £200 for the costs of replacing your passport or driving licence, defending you in civil legal proceedings and taking reasonable steps to remove county court judgments.

 

These features and more are detailed in the CreditExpert insurance policy summary.

 

If you do not wish to have the insurance policy, you will be unable to take advantage of the CreditExpert service.

 

The online service has many features, such as alerts to let you know when a significant change has been made to your report. This allows you to stay in control of the information on your report.

 

*Electoral Roll details

 

Local councils keep a rolling electoral register, which they update and publish once a month.

 

We?ll update our records as soon as possible, once we receive the information from your local council.

 

Due to the amount of information we receive please allow 6-8 weeks from the date that you registered for this to appear on your report.

 

In the meantime, if you apply for credit you might want to provide the company a copy of the confirmation letter from your local council so they can take this into consideration.

 

Kind regards

 

Arun Geethamony

Customer Service Representative

 

Customer Support Centre

Experian

 

 

 

 

 

 

You may wish to visit the FAQ section of our website where you can find instant advice and answers about information held on your credit report. This service is available to you 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

 

Credit Expert is provided by Experian Ltd (Registered number 653331), an appointed representative of Motorfile Ltd (Registered number: 3009493). Experian Ltd and Motorfile Ltd are authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority. Both companies are registered in England and Wales with registered office at Landmark House, Experian Way, NG2 Business Park, Nottingham, NG80 1ZZ.

 

 

This I think is a generic reply now, there seems there will be no " individual" answers to any queries now.

[Bendover]

This I think is a generic reply now, there seems there will be no " individual" answers to any queries now.

 

Hi well they have replied to my electoral roll issue as well. So it maybe generic by the topic.

I have made a formal complaint to the FoS. They will write to Experian now.

[bigshoes...bigsocks]

Can you SAR Experian and Equifax to find out account details re: how many payments I've made to these companies? I've been on and off with both for years and will undoubtedly have paid for insurance without knowing it.BSBS.

[citizenB]

When they make so much money out of storting and selling my data.. I think they have a damn cheek asking me to pay to check that their records are accurate..