How to get your data from Experian

Davey Winder Read more February 21, 2011

Experian provides financial information to thousands of businesses in the UK, enabling them to identify customers who might be a potential risk before extending them credit.

As you can imagine, this requires Experian to hold plenty of sensitive data about individuals which, if incorrect, could negatively impact upon their ability to get a mortgage, credit card or loan.

How can you find out what the company knows about you in order to verify it’s correct? Thankfully, that’s pretty easy, as Experian provides a 30-day free trial period during which you get unlimited access to your credit reports.

If you’re wary of such trials – which often involve handing over even more personal data – you can write to Experian and request a copy of the information in exchange for a £2 fee. But what if Experian has it wrong? How can you put that right and repair your credit rating?

How to reclaim your data

A Customer Support Centre staffed by “several hundred people” exists to deal with questions about credit report information.

James Jones, the Experian consumer education manager, told PC Pro that if a customer disagrees with any information it’s marked as disputed, and the providing organisation is contacted to verify the data.

“In the case of a mistake in any credit account information, an amendment has to be authorised by the lender concerned because that lender owns the information,” said Jones.

By law the credit reference agency has 28 days to respond to customer queries of this type, although Experian says it averages 14 days to fully resolve disputes.

If the lender disagrees with the customer, the customer is contacted by Experian and given the opportunity to add up to 200 words of comment to their own report.