Andrew Benton’s Weblog — Experian is a pile of darkish sample rubbish
A few years in the past I froze my credit score with all three credit score reporting companies within the US. This was a reasonably simple course of that differed barely at every company, however principally concerned getting a numeric PIN that I then used to request momentary unfreezes infrequently.
In February of 2023 I tried to request an unfreeze from Experian, however the course of had modified. They needed me to create some type of account to handle my credit score freeze, utilizing an e mail and password. This appeared innocent sufficient, since I feel at the least one different company was requiring one thing related at that time, so I began the method.
However by the tip, I had one way or the other signed up for a “free” membership known as “Experian Creditworks℠ Fundamental: Free.” I attempted a number of workarounds, however as greatest I can inform there is no such thing as a solution to keep away from creating this account with a purpose to handle a credit score freeze on-line with Experian.
In fact after having access to my new account, and looking the dashboard, there was no apparent solution to truly handle a credit score freeze. However naturally there have been a lot of methods for Experian to upsell me numerous services of doubtful high quality.
As an illustration, within the “Safety” part of the dashboard, the place you may look forward to finding safety freeze administration options, there may be as an alternative a hyperlink to one thing known as “Experian CreditLock.” This can be a materially similar service to the credit score freeze service which they’re required by law to offer free of charge, besides the CreditLock service prices cash.
With a view to truly handle a credit score freeze, you need to scroll previous the upsell call-to-action to discover a small textual content hyperlink:
That is barely discoverable to me, somebody who has constructed net utility software program professionally. I can’t think about how my mother would keep away from the upsell lure and find yourself paying for Experian’s CreditLock service in some unspecified time in the future. Realizing this makes it more durable for me to advocate that she freeze her credit score, which is admittedly maddening.
Technically this does qualify as a free credit score freeze service although, which is one thing. However I’m now getting a number of Experian advertising and marketing emails every week, masquerading as “account-related” transactional messages.
In that almost all latest e mail titled “Andrew, you may have 1 new credit score alert to evaluate,” the next textual content seems on the backside:
Why am I receiving this e mail?
This isn’t a advertising and marketing e mail—you’re receiving this message to inform you of a latest change to your account. If you happen to’ve unsubscribed from Experian CreditWorks℠ Fundamental emails previously, don’t fear—you not obtain newsletters or particular presents.
You’ll be able to replace some alerts and communications preferences any time in your Experian CreditWorks℠ Fundamental profile, however you’ll proceed to obtain notifications like this one on the standing of your account.
However after all simply above that textual content there’s this hyperlink engaging me to “Achieve entry” to some nice-sounding stuff:
And after I click on to “Achieve entry” I’m taken instantly to this web page asking me to pay for an account improve:
If this doesn’t qualify as advertising and marketing, then advertising and marketing has misplaced all which means.
I don’t wish to quit on the thought of accountability for darkish sample abusers like Experian, however I’m unsure tips on how to proceed. Perhaps there’s a grievance I can file with the FCC. In any case I’ve now made myself really feel a little bit higher by ranting about Experian on the web.
Thanks for studying and sharing my outrage.