Last Updated on August 4, 2021 by Yetty Akindele
Our dependence on the virtual world is increasing day by day. Whether it is shopping, checking our credit reports, ordering food, or requesting a loan, everything we do via the internet requires us to share our personal details. While sharing our personal information is necessary to get our tasks done, it is also very dangerous for our privacy.
Identity thefts are common in the modern world. Scammers have advanced tricks and tools to misuse your information available online and disrupt your finances in no time. This can lead to great trouble and even irrecoverable losses. This is why you need something that not only helps you keep track of your finances but also protects your online identity.
Thankfully Experian, one of the USA’s three biggest credit bureaus has lots of services to help with online identity theft protection. However, dealing with credits and credit reports is not the only thing that Experian does. It can also provide you with an online identity protection service, notifying you whenever your personal information is unsafe and can be used for frauds and scams.
Given below is a detailed review of Experian and how it protects your identity online.
What Is Experian?
Experian is basically a credit services provider that is a prominent part of an Irish-based company of the same name. The company provides credit, marketing, decision-making, and consumer’s security support to its users in major parts of the world.
Anyone meaning to understand Experian’s working in the USA can look at it in two ways:
- As one of the USA’s most reputed credit bureaus – Experian CreditWorks
- As an online identity protection provider – Experian IdentityWorks
Who Is Experian For?
Ideally, Experian is a multi-purpose bureau that can provide online protection and credit history support to every American who fulfills a specific age limit. However, it is especially for you if:
- You need your detailed credit report
- You want help and have questions about your credit report
- Your lender needs more than just your FICO score and wants to see how you’ve been with your finances all along
- You fear sharing your identity and personal information on the web and want protection for your online identity against theft.
How does Experian work?
CreditWorks
As one of the USA’s top credit bureaus, Experian CreditWorks prepares detailed credit reports of individuals and organizations. When you borrow a loan from known creditors like mortgage lenders, credit card companies, or car financers, they record your borrowing and payment history. This history, with details about your outstanding amount and debts, is reported to Experian. The same information is also shared with the other two American bureaus, the TransUnion and Equifax.
Experian and other bureaus then use this information from all the creditors and compile it into one. This compiled report is your overall credit report that has your credit score on it. Your credit is ranked in categories of excellent, good, average, or poor based on this score. You can get your credit report from Equifax and other bureaus to see your history. This history shows if you’re smart with your finances and can pay your debts on time or not. This leads potential creditors to make a decision regarding lending you loans and credit cards.
IdentityWorks
In its service of providing online identity theft protection, Experian helps you save your identity from being misused anywhere in the virtual world. Please note that Experian cannot protect your online ID and other personal credentials you share from being stolen. Instead, it alerts you about such ID theft signs. Also, it is excellent at detecting if your personal information is available at a platform where it’s not meant to be.
Experian Identityworks services also offer identity theft insurance. This insurance can help you recover your losses in cases where your identity has been misused to steal your money. For example, if someone uses your bank details and steals a large sum of money fraudulently, your ID theft insurance will repay you the amount. You can also get a return as high as one million dollars if you have a premium subscription. In such cases, Experian also tries finding the culprits and traces how they accessed your details.
Ideally, Experian keeps your online identity and personal information safe by consistently monitoring the sites where it can be misused. You are immediately notified if your personal details are found anywhere suspicious. This helps you remove them from an unknown platform right away.
Experian can protect your information in the following ways:
- Scanning the dark web for your details’ presence
- By tracking addresses and pennames that are associated with your social security number
- Notifying you whenever there is a change of address using your personal information
- By sending you an alert when someone tries using your information to make changes to your bank account, make a new bank account, or apply for loans.
- Alerting you when anything in your name is reported to the courts
Experian Boost
This is a free Experian’s service that helps to boost your FICO score instantly. It is based on you getting credit for your Netflix, phone, and utility bill payments that are made on time. It connects to your bank account and pulls your qualifying bill payments that have been made on time. This is then added to your credit file with your permission and the credit increase is seen instantly. You should note that the entire process takes just about 5 minutes!
Experian 3-Bureau Credit report and FICO Scores
If you are looking for a way to get your credit report from the 3 major credit bureaus in the United States, then the Experian 3-Bureau Credit report is for you. With a one-time payment of $39.99, you get your credit report from Experian, Equifax, and Transunion. You also get your FICO score. This is very important especially if you are trying to improve your credit score because it allows you to review your credit report from all 3 companies
Here is an idea of what Experian’s pricing plans for its major services look like:
Free Credit Report: Free of cost
$1 Trial – FICO® Score & Experian Report: $21.95/month
3-Bureau Credit report and FICO Scores: One time cost of $39.99
IdentityWorks Plus: $9.99/month for an adult – $14.99/month for an adult and 10 children and $19.99/month for 2 adults and up to 10 kids
IdentityWorks Premium: $19.99 /month for an adult – $24.99/month for an adult and 10 children and $29.99/month for 2 adults and up to 10 kids
Pros and Cons of Experian
Pros
- 30 day free trial for IdentityWorks
- Support for credit report’s understanding
- Easy to use mobile app
- Trustworthy Credit report and Identity protection
Cons
- Experian’s credit report isn’t of much benefit all alone
- Pricing plans are a little expensive
Conclusion
Experian’s two most important segments, CreditWorks and IdentityWorks, can help users keep a check on their credit score without compromising their privacy on the web. Being a major credit bureau in the US, Experian’s services can be easily trusted.