topic Re: Experian now offering CreditScore.com FREE in General Credit Topics

Experian now offering CreditScore.com FREE

DaveInAZ — Wed, 20 Sep 2017 13:50:44 GMT

Experian seems to be changing a number of their monitoring services. I've done the CCT $1 trial a couple of times, but In April I tried Experian's CreditScore.com service, which then was a $4.95 30 day trial, then $24.99/mo., for a 1 time 3 CRA Fico 8 report and as often as you want EX updates.I canceled at the 30 days but continued to have access and got free EX Fico 8 reports every 30 days. Experian now seems to have changed CreditScore.com to completely free:

www.creditscore.com

"See your completely FREE Experian Credit Report & FICO® Score. No credit card required. Your Experian Credit Report & FICO Score are refreshed every 30 days on sign in"

I can't sign up and try it as I already have CreditScore service. But it probably won't let you lock your EX file, - with my free CreditScore service it told me I had to upgrade to lock, so after the Equifax breach I did another $4.95 30 day trial to lock my EX file. Now it tells me I actually now have Experian CreditWorks℠ Premium at $24.99/mo After my trial. I'll cancel and go back to the free service & leave EX locked. I have all 3 CRAs locked, and the timing worked for me - new car loan, new Home Equity LOC & 2 new 2% cashback cards since July. I'm done app'ing & in the garden!

Re: Experian now offering CreditScore.com FREE

Anonymous — Wed, 20 Sep 2017 14:59:02 GMT

Hi Dave. Yep, we have been promoting CreditScore.com for many months as a great way to get a free monthly report and FICO 8. I think we have been doing that for at least a year.

But thanks so much for mentioning it to folks again. It's such a good deal that it can't be mentioned often enough. It's been easy to get free reports drawn on TU and EQ for years -- but EX is a relative newcomer to that. Now there's no reason anyone can't have an ultra low cost credit monitoring solution if he wants. (Typicaly Karma plus CreditScore.com plus the rare pull from Credit Check Total -- altogether that's $3-4 per year.)

Re: Experian now offering CreditScore.com FREE

DaveInAZ — Wed, 20 Sep 2017 16:42:16 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
Hi Dave. Yep, we have been promoting CreditScore.com for many months as a great way to get a free monthly report and FICO 8. I think we have been doing that for at least a year.

But thanks so much for mentioning it to folks again. It's such a good deal that it can't be mentioned often enough. It's been easy to get free reports drawn on TU and EQ for years -- but EX is a relative newcomer to that. Now there's no reason anyone can't have an ultra low cost credit monitoring solution if he wants. (Typicaly Karma plus CreditScore.com plus the rare pull from Credit Check Total -- altogether that's $3-4 per year.)

Hmmm. I did a search before posting, but "creditscore.com" gets a ton of hits, most nothing to do with CreditScore.com

But I don't think it's been a year, it was only available for the $4.95 30 day trial when I signed up in April, and a CC was definitely required & I got charged right away. But I agree, letting MyFico'ers know of the free Experian monitoring & Fico 8 score is the important part.

Re: Experian now offering CreditScore.com FREE

mitchblue — Fri, 22 Sep 2017 11:30:39 GMT

@DaveInAZ wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:
Hi Dave. Yep, we have been promoting CreditScore.com for many months as a great way to get a free monthly report and FICO 8. I think we have been doing that for at least a year.

But thanks so much for mentioning it to folks again. It's such a good deal that it can't be mentioned often enough. It's been easy to get free reports drawn on TU and EQ for years -- but EX is a relative newcomer to that. Now there's no reason anyone can't have an ultra low cost credit monitoring solution if he wants. (Typicaly Karma plus CreditScore.com plus the rare pull from Credit Check Total -- altogether that's $3-4 per year.)
Hmmm. I did a search before posting, but "creditscore.com" gets a ton of hits, most nothing to do with CreditScore.com

But I don't think it's been a year, it was only available for the $4.95 30 day trial when I signed up in April, and a CC was definitely required & I got charged right away. But I agree, letting MyFico'ers know of the free Experian monitoring & Fico 8 score is the important part.

They're the same.. eh? Might not have been a year but close to it I bet.. If memories serves certainly before April.. I remember signing up in 2016 the first time.

Edit: Just checked Nov 29, 2016 is my member date. They do have a $4.95 for first month to change alert settings.. Maybe that was the charge you were getting..

Re: Experian now offering CreditScore.com FREE

DaveInAZ — Fri, 22 Sep 2017 11:48:10 GMT

@mitchblue wrote:
@DaveInAZ wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:
Hi Dave. Yep, we have been promoting CreditScore.com for many months as a great way to get a free monthly report and FICO 8. I think we have been doing that for at least a year.

But thanks so much for mentioning it to folks again. It's such a good deal that it can't be mentioned often enough. It's been easy to get free reports drawn on TU and EQ for years -- but EX is a relative newcomer to that. Now there's no reason anyone can't have an ultra low cost credit monitoring solution if he wants. (Typicaly Karma plus CreditScore.com plus the rare pull from Credit Check Total -- altogether that's $3-4 per year.)
Hmmm. I did a search before posting, but "creditscore.com" gets a ton of hits, most nothing to do with CreditScore.com

But I don't think it's been a year, it was only available for the $4.95 30 day trial when I signed up in April, and a CC was definitely required & I got charged right away. But I agree, letting MyFico'ers know of the free Experian monitoring & Fico 8 score is the important part.

They're the same.. eh? Might not have been a year but close to it I bet.. If memories serves certainly before April.. I remember signing up in 2016 the first time.

Edit: Just checked Nov 29, 2016 is my member date. They do have a $4.95 for first month to change alert settings.. Maybe that was the charge you were getting..

Every time I logged in it told me I was eligible for another $4.95 30 day trial and I had to click "No, keep my current plan". After the EQ breach I clicked "Lock my file" and it said I had to upgrade, so I did another $4.95 30 day trail, which I'll cancel. But I'm assuming everytime I want to unlock & relock I'll have to upgrade to a paid plan?

Re: Experian now offering CreditScore.com FREE

mitchblue — Fri, 22 Sep 2017 11:58:02 GMT

@DaveInAZ wrote:
@mitchblue wrote:
@DaveInAZ wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:
Hi Dave. Yep, we have been promoting CreditScore.com for many months as a great way to get a free monthly report and FICO 8. I think we have been doing that for at least a year.

But thanks so much for mentioning it to folks again. It's such a good deal that it can't be mentioned often enough. It's been easy to get free reports drawn on TU and EQ for years -- but EX is a relative newcomer to that. Now there's no reason anyone can't have an ultra low cost credit monitoring solution if he wants. (Typicaly Karma plus CreditScore.com plus the rare pull from Credit Check Total -- altogether that's $3-4 per year.)
Hmmm. I did a search before posting, but "creditscore.com" gets a ton of hits, most nothing to do with CreditScore.com

But I don't think it's been a year, it was only available for the $4.95 30 day trial when I signed up in April, and a CC was definitely required & I got charged right away. But I agree, letting MyFico'ers know of the free Experian monitoring & Fico 8 score is the important part.

They're the same.. eh? Might not have been a year but close to it I bet.. If memories serves certainly before April.. I remember signing up in 2016 the first time.

Edit: Just checked Nov 29, 2016 is my member date. They do have a $4.95 for first month to change alert settings.. Maybe that was the charge you were getting..
Every time I logged in it told me I was eligible for another $4.95 30 day trial and I had to click "No, keep my current plan". After the EQ breach I clicked "Lock my file" and it said I had to upgrade, so I did another $4.95 30 day trail, which I'll cancel. But I'm assuming everytime I want to unlock & relock I'll have to upgrade to a paid plan?

Hmm, It never mentions I should upgrade. I haven't temp unfroze my experian in some time but they shouldn't force you to a paid plan. But I have temp unfroze TU a couple times. No need to upgrade. Odd.

Re: Experian now offering CreditScore.com FREE

Anonymous — Fri, 22 Sep 2017 12:41:12 GMT

How is this different from Experian CreditWorksSM Basic?

Eq and TU have ways to LOCK (not freeze) their reports for free, does Ex? If so, I can't find it.

Thanks!

Re: Experian now offering CreditScore.com FREE

mitchblue — Fri, 22 Sep 2017 12:52:22 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
How is this different from Experian CreditWorksSM Basic?

Eq and TU have ways to LOCK (not freeze) their reports for free, does Ex? If so, I can't find it.

Thanks!

It's the same I believe.

As far as lock, not freeze for free - I don't see one.

Re: Experian now offering CreditScore.com FREE

DaveInAZ — Fri, 22 Sep 2017 15:24:50 GMT

@mitchblue wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:
How is this different from Experian CreditWorksSM Basic?

Eq and TU have ways to LOCK (not freeze) their reports for free, does Ex? If so, I can't find it.

Thanks!

It's the same I believe.

As far as lock, not freeze for free - I don't see one.

Yeah, it appears EX CreditWorks basic is the same as the free CreditScore.com product. But geez, Experian has become so confusing with all their different plans & different websites - CreditScore.com, creditchecktotal.com & whatever other ones I don't know about. From the Experian.com Consumer Products page you get these 2 products:

https://www.experian.com/consumer-products/compare-credit-report-and-score-products.html

I couldn't fot it all in on a screenshot, but that CreditWorks Premium says under it: "*Introductory price of $4.99 for your first month of access, then just $24.99 each additional month". Notice the free CWbasic says nothing about lock while the Premium has "Experian Credit Lock w.alerts. So I'm pretty sure the fee service does not let you lock your Experian report, which is what I encountered.

And then on their consumer products page, click Identity Theft products:

https://www.experian.com/consumer-products/identity-theft-and-credit-protection.html

Two completely different products, IdentityWorks Plus and Premium. The Plus product for $9.99/mo. after free 30 day trial has the CreditLock feature, while the Plus product seems very similar to the CreditWorks Premium service with 3 CRA Fico scores, but $5/mo. cheaper. And this is besides the different plans on Experian's other websites CreditScore.com & CreditCheckTotal.com. Sheez, Experian, you think you could make if more confusing?

I'm going to stick with my free CreditWorks basic plan, which is what I apparently what I got when I canceled my $4.99 30 day trial of CreditWorks Plus. But to unlock for an app & then lock again I'll have to upgrade to the 30 day trial of the CVW Plus plan again.

But anyone without a current EX plan who wants to be able to easily lock & unlock EX, you might consider that $9.99/mo/ IdentityWorks Plus plan.

Re: Experian now offering CreditScore.com FREE

DaveInAZ — Fri, 22 Sep 2017 17:27:19 GMT

Friday is a day off for me and Friday is generally a good day to call in for customer service, so I called in to cancel my CreditWorks Premium so I won't get hit with $24.99 in October. 45 minute wait to get through!

The rep told me that with cancelling, when my membership reverted back to CW Basic on Oct. 12 my Experian report would revert back to unlocked, she says locking your EX file is only available with a paid plan. So rather than risk another 45 minute wait calling back I had her enroll me in IdentityWorks Plus plan @ $9.99/mo. I get free EX reports & scores as often as I want instead of only every 30 days with CreditWorks Basic, and credit Lock plus the other security features.She gave me the 30 day free trial, so at least I won't start paying until 10/22.

So yes, you can get free EX monitoring with score & report every 30 days with CreditWorks Basic, which is what you get when you sign up for the free CreditScore.com product in my OP. But if you want to be to lock & unlock EX you need a pay service from them. IdentityWorks Plus at $9.99 seems to be their least expensive plan with lock/unlock..

TU's free product TrueIdenity.com gives you score & report and lock/unlock

EQ's free product (if you manage to enroll) TrustedID let's you lock/unlock

Re: Experian now offering CreditScore.com FREE

Anonymous — Sat, 23 Sep 2017 14:29:59 GMT

Thanks for the info, DaveinAZ, exactly what I was looking for!

Re: Experian now offering CreditScore.com FREE

jesseh — Sat, 23 Sep 2017 20:48:57 GMT

Experian owns creditscore, creditreport, freecreditscore, freecreditreport and uses all sites to offer the same CreditWorks Basic plan. (but sometimes they don't give the free monthly ex fico with it)

Re: Experian now offering CreditScore.com FREE

xenon3030 — Sat, 23 Sep 2017 21:15:56 GMT

Regarding EQ lock/unlock:

The TrustedID free service from EQ needs up to 48 hours to lock/unlock and it seems that it does not have good quality and customer support. For me, it gave error and could not lock/unlock. It provided a phone number to call. I called twice and after being on hold for ~1 hour each time, I gave up. The cheapest EQ product was 4.95$/month to lock/unlock (EQ lock & alert plus).

Then, it seems that the minimum price to lock/unlock properly all 3 CRA, would be ~10$/month.

Re: Experian now offering CreditScore.com FREE

Anonymous — Sun, 01 Oct 2017 22:16:34 GMT

Regarding locks or freezes, if you're not actively looking for credit I believe a freeze is the best way to go and it's what I did with the 3 majors and Innovis when the breach was made public. I looked at the locking services and it was somewhat unclear to me as to exactly how they worked, what data they locked and didn't lock and who had access to it.

An article from Wired talks about this as well,

"The other two major credit bureaus (Experian and TransUnion) already offer this type of proprietary service, but credit locks are a sort of black box compared to credit freezes, which have a set procedure codified by legislation. "We’re still neutral on it—we don’t know yet if it’s the best way to go," the Identity Theft Resource Center's Velasquez says. "What it locks and doesn’t or how the data can be moved and accessed with a lock is unclear. I’m not saying they aren’t identical [to freezes] we just genuinely don’t know."

Full article at the below link,

https://www.wired.com/story/equifax-identity-protection-offerings/

Re: Experian now offering CreditScore.com FREE

DaveInAZ — Sun, 01 Oct 2017 23:26:47 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
Regarding locks or freezes, if you're not actively looking for credit I believe a freeze is the best way to go and it's what I did with the 3 majors and Innovis when the breach was made public. I looked at the locking services and it was somewhat unclear to me as to exactly how they worked, what data they locked and didn't lock and who had access to it.

An article from Wired talks about this as well,

"The other two major credit bureaus (Experian and TransUnion) already offer this type of proprietary service, but credit locks are a sort of black box compared to credit freezes, which have a set procedure codified by legislation. "We’re still neutral on it—we don’t know yet if it’s the best way to go," the Identity Theft Resource Center's Velasquez says. "What it locks and doesn’t or how the data can be moved and accessed with a lock is unclear. I’m not saying they aren’t identical [to freezes] we just genuinely don’t know."

Full article at the below link,

https://www.wired.com/story/equifax-identity-protection-offerings/

I would say a freeze is the safest way to go. As the Wired article fairly points out, we know what a freeze does as it is set by law/legislation. What a lock does is determined by each CRA.

But I'm satisfied with the lock I placed on TU, EQ & EX right after the news of the EQ data breach. I'd never placed a freeze or lock before as I never felt the need, until EQ showed us how grossly incompetent they are. I'm not actively looking for credit, but you never know. On Aug 1 I was not in the market for a new car, Sept 1 I was in car dealership buying one. If my credit reports had been locked then I could have asked them "What CRA do you pull? TU, ok, give me a minute", opened the TU TrueIdentity app on my phone, unlock TU, and ask "Do you have my TU report now? Good", and locked it back up.

And this morning I got a quarterly account review from Penfed, and app'd for a CLI on my PowerCash Rewards card. In a few minutes I got an email from them saying EQ reported that my file was locked, and asked me to unlock it & let them know when it was unlocked. That makes me confident that no one is going to get a new account approved based on a new pull of my credit report, and that's what I want.

BTW, I told Penfed No, I won't unlock EQ, either approve the CLI based on my AR or mark the request Withdrawn by Member.