How to save money on credit reports
By Peter Thompson. Published on May 1, 2008 This post currently has one comment.
With debt problems mounting in the UK and identity theft on the increase, it is sensible to check your credit report occasionally to ensure that it is accurate. We’ll show you how to save money on obtaining your credit report in this article.
You have probably seen all the adverts on various web sites and on TV that persuade you to get a free online credit report. This sounds like a good idea until you realise that you need to provide your credit card details and register for a monthly subscription to receive your free credit report.
Experian, trading as Credit Expert, for example, charges you a monthly fee of £6.99 (£83.88 per year) for your monthly membership, once your free 30 day trial ends. This is a recurring charge on your credit card until you cancel your membership with Experian.
When you register for your free credit report with Credit Expert, you are not told what the cost is until you have supplied your name, data of birth and telephone contact details first.
Benefits of monthly membership
There are undoubted benefits of monthly membership to the Credit Expert services. You can receive text and email alerts when a new record is added to your credit file and there is a service to help alert you to possible instances of id fraud.
You can also access your credit report online whenever you wish.
These are sensible and important benefits, however we feel that they are not services that you require on a monthly basis.
You can also receive your Statutory Credit Report for only £2 and this is a fact that Experian and Equifax are reluctant to tell you.
Your credit report for only £2
By law you are entitled to receive your latest credit report whenever you want it at a cost of only £2. Credit reference companies such as Equifax and Experian are duty bound by the Data protection Act to provide your latest report to you for this cost. and within 7 working days.
It is difficult to find how to order your Statutory Credit Report for only £2 on the Experian web site, however this link will take you straight to the correct page.
Alternately you can order a Statutory Credit Report from Equifax for only £2 too.
Is a Statutory Credit Report good enough?
Whilst we like some of the services that Experian and Equifax offer with their monthly subscriptions, very rarely in practise do you need such instantaneous and continuous notifications about your credit report.
After all, if you are worried about your credit report and derive comfort from monitoring it regularly, why not order your Statutory Credit Report on a monthly basis?
It will only cost £24 per year instead of over £80 to do this, but this is almost certainly overkill in terms of monitoring your credit report, even though your credit history is an important aspect of your financial health.
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The, simplest, cheapest (cost almost nothing) way to protect yourself from ID Theft can be found at http://www.freeidprotection.co.uk
This system reaches ALL lenders and helps finger crooks.
Try it.