Experian Free Credit Report: Protecting Against Identity Theft

Even though I work hard to protect myself from identity theft both online and offline it can be extremely difficult and time consuming to properly monitor my credit report. Keeping up with three, sometimes complete different, credit reports provided by three completely different agencies can be complicated and frustrating.

Remembering to check my three different credit reports was bad enough but paying for three different reports can be expensive to say the least. I often try to use an Experian free credit report but I have also taken advantage of 3 in 1 credit reports before but I quickly learned that they can be hard to read and it is easy to miss discrepancies that might only exist on one of the three reports.

There have been times when I have applied for credit or a loan that I truly believed I should have qualified for only to get a denied based on a negative item that is only on one of my credit reports as apposed to all three.

With only one credit reporting agency under suspicion there is usually no reason for me to get in touch with all three, which means there is no need for me to pay for credit reports I don’t need.

That leads me to the option of purchasing a credit report from one credit reporting agency which can still cost more than I am willing, or able, to pay and when it comes to catching identity thieves timing is usually extremely important.

Getting an Experian Credit Report

Not to long ago I was denied credit from a company that used Experian to perform credit checks. After receiving the letter explaining that my request for credit was declined based on information provided by Experian I was given the opportunity to send in a written request to find out exactly why I was denied.

Under normal circumstances I wouldn’t have minded waiting a month or more for a copy of my credit report but having my request for credit denied when I felt I had pretty good credit concerned me.

I went to the Experian website to purchase a copy of my credit report so I could see all of my current credit activity. I really didn’t have the money to spend on a credit report at the time but it was too important for me to ignore and as luck would have it I was able to take advantage of a new Experian free credit report program that had started.

Experian now provides all consumers who sign up for their 30 day Triple Advantage program online access to their credit report. I was not charged for signing up for the trial and was able to cancel after getting my credit report so that the entire process was free. Access to my credit report was almost instant and I was able to find out more information on the suspicious item on my Experian free credit report and I was even able to complete an easy online dispute form to resolve the matter.

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