Experian UK launches CreditExpert UK

UK’s first identity fraud alert service with online access to credit reports

13/09/2003

Consumers can now protect themselves against the growing threat of identity fraud with the launch of CreditExpert UK, the first credit report monitoring service in the UK that alerts people when potentially fraudulent credit activity has taken place in their name. The new service provides users with online access to their full credit report, enabling them to track changes whenever they want and see who is searching their report.

CreditExpert UK has been developed by Experian®, the UK’s largest credit reference agency and leading provider of fraud prevention solutions. CreditExpert UK sends a message by e-mail or SMS text when important changes have taken place on a credit report. As soon as an alert is received, users can gain online access to their full and most up-to-date personal credit history via www.CreditExpert.co.uk to see exactly what changes have taken place. By catching potential fraud early, it is possible to greatly reduce the time and effort spent correcting a credit report and, in many cases, prevent further fraud before it happens.

Experian responds to more than a million requests for credit reports every year and helps many consumers with credit related issues, including providing assistance to the victims of identity fraud. The number of reported identity frauds has doubled in the last two years, a trend which shows no sign of abating, and costs the UK £1.3 billion a year. Furthermore, as the use of credit continues to grow in the UK, services like CreditExpert UK will be needed more and more as consumers take greater control over their personal credit information.

The launch of CreditExpert UK follows extensive market research and consultation with consumers, many of whom indicated that they would welcome a service that enabled them to keep much closer control of their personal credit information.

CreditExpert UK is the first service to provide UK consumers with online access to their complete credit history. This means viewing not only public information such as county court judgments or electoral roll entries, but also seeing details of loans, loan terms and their repayment history, as well as the sources of the information and details of any organisation that has searched the report.

CreditExpert UK includes an online quarterly newsletter with topical articles and features on personal finance issues. An online Members’ Centre provides access to a set of useful tools and calculators to help with personal finance decisions (such as how to calculate how an interest rate change can affect monthly repayments) and plenty of online information to address potential credit queries. CreditExpert UK also enables users to raise queries, via freephone or online, with a dedicated customer service team.

Jill Stevens, Director of Consumer Relations at Experian, commented: “CreditExpert UK is all about empowering people so that they can have, for the first time, full online access to their up-to-date credit report.

“We talk to thousands of consumers every week about their credit reports and help many victims of identity fraud, often liaising with lenders on their behalf, to sort out the damage caused to the credit report by identity fraud. Identity fraud can be very upsetting for consumers, but the sooner it’s detected, the sooner it can be sorted out.

“Also, our research indicates that people want the opportunity to keep a closer eye on their credit information. This service will provide an additional means by which consumers can monitor and manage their credit affairs.”

This press release can be downloaded from http://press.experian.com.