You can once again check your file without a subscription.
Keeping on top of your credit report is something we should all be doing – though when it comes to Experian that’s been easier said than done since March 2024. The good news is free digital access is back. Here’s what you need to know.
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What is your Experian credit report?
A credit report does a few things, but where it’s most useful is as a list of all the credit you have, whether that’s a credit card, loan, mortgage, overdraft, energy bill or other borrowing. It can also act as a way to verify your identity. Both are used by lenders when you apply for more credit to help them decide whether to accept you or not.
It’s worth just mentioning that the credit report is different to the credit score. The score is really just an indicator of what’s in the report itself.
You might think each of has just one credit report, but in reality there are three core ones out there. Each is put together and monitored by a different credit reference agency: Experian, Equifax and TransUnion.
Though there will be similarities, there could also be differences. Some banks and firms don’t report their data to all three for a start. And when someone comes to check your credit report, they could get that information from any of those.
So the Experian report is just as important as the other two when it comes to checking accuracy. If anything it’s possibly more important as it’s likely to be accessed more than ones from other providers.
Experian’s new credit report offering
Until early 2024, you could check your Experian credit report for free via the website Money Saving Expert. However, that agreement ended and MSE moved to using TransUnion.
Since then the only ways you’ve been able to check your Experian file was to request a free snapshot in the post or via the web, known as your statutory report, or pay for digital access.
The former is fine for a one off look, but when I tested it, the actual report wasn’t massively user friendly. It’s basically a long list of all your accounts with little to help you understand it. The alternative, paying for Experian’s Credit Expert service or a third party like Check My File can prove costly after the initial free trials ended.
Well the good news is that you can now see your full Experian report via the Experian app. It’s a free service, and if you already check your Experian score direct with them you’ll use the same log in.
However it is app-only. If you don’t use a phone or tablet you won’t be able to access this digital report – you’ll have to go back to the basic or paid options.
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How to sign up
If you don’t already have a free Experian account then make sure you go via TopCashback. There’s currently £9 on offer for setting one up. Then from there you can check your report in the app.
If you’re not already a TopCashback member we’ve got a huge £20 welcome deal exclusive to Be Clever With Your Cash readers. This won’t track with the Experian offer as you’re not spending any money to sign up to that service, but you’ll get it if you spend at least £10 with any of the other retailers listed.
For those who already have an Experian account simply need to log in to their account in the app.
How Experian’s free credit report works
The report will show not just your Experian score and active, closed and settled credit accounts, but also recent hard and soft credit checks, your personal details, any public information and any corrections that have been applied to your report.
Like most other free credit score checkers for the other credit reference agencies, this report updates once a month. That’s frequent enough if you’ve not had any issues and just want to have a check every few months or so.
The service may also send you notifications about changes to your report – and no doubt some marketing material about credit products you can apply for.
Check your address!
If you’ve had a free Experian account to check your score for years, be warned that you might encounter an issue if you’ve moved house.
When I logged into the app to check my report nothing was showing – but it looks like it’s because the most recent address linked via this account was one I moved out of nearly 10 years ago!
When I spoke to the Experian press team they said updating my address should mean the account is updated by 8am the next day.
Checking your other credit reports
You can still check your Equifax and TransUnion reports for free elsewhere – and you should monitor these as well as Experian. We like ClearScore and Credit Karma respectively. Here’s how you can check those credit scores for free.
What if you already have Experian Credit Expert?
Credit Expert is Experian’s paid for subscription service, costing £14.99 a month after an initial 30 day free trial. If you’re using this right now just to look at your report and score, then it makes sense to cancel your membership and revert to this new app based report.
However, Credit Expert does offer additional features. Though most people won’t need these, it’s worth understanding what you’ll lose if you do cancel. The core extra benefits of Credit Expert are:
- Daily updates of your report and score
- The ability to lock your report and prevent applications
- Notifications of changes to your report
- Web monitoring
- Fraud support
