How to Manage Your Experian Credit Report

Along with TransUnion and Equifax, Experian is arguably best recognized as one of the three major credit bureaus in the United States. The organization serves customers in over 100 countries and assists them in checking their credit reports and credit score. 

It delivers personal and commercial credit ratings to clients to assist them in assessing their creditworthiness and managing their credit operations more efficiently and effectively.

What is an Experian Credit Report?

Your Experian credit report will contain various details and your credit history. 

The Experian credit score is a three-digit rating that ranges from 300 to 850. A credit information bureau determines them based on an individual’s payment history, credit utilization, loan applications, and other factors.

The lowest score of your credit can be 300, and the maximum possible score is 850. A higher score often suggests that a person is in a better financial condition. 

It starts with personal information, including your current and previous residences, date of birth, Social Security number, and contact details. Your report will also include credit lines, installment loan accounts, and credit inquiries.

How Does Experian Collect Your Data

Experian collects data from your lenders, such as banks, credit card companies, mortgage loan firms, and automobile financing organizations. As each credit agency collects information from various sources, your Experian credit report may differ from your TransUnion or Equifax report.

Experian may collect and keep any or all of the following information about you:

• Your creditors.
  
• Your account details include a mortgage, car finance, credit cards, etc.
  
• Dates on which your accounts were created and terminated.
  
• Your credit or loan limit.
  
• Your previous payment history.
  
• Title of your accounts (such as individual, joint, with a cosigner).
  
• Credit inquiries – hard credit inquiries done by creditors on your credit report.

Experian credit report contains a lot of information you’ve previously given to your creditors. Experian can get additional information from debt-related public sources such as legal or property filings.

Additionally, there is information on you in public records and collecting items. This might include details on a previous bankruptcy you claimed, outstanding civil judgments, or governmental tax liens.

Manage Your Experian Credit Report

One of the three most significant credit reports you have is your Experian credit report. Since you never know which credit report a lender might look at, it’s crucial to keep track of them. Here is how you can manage your Experian credit report;

Request Your Credit Report

• You can order your credit report in numerous ways. The simplest one is a free credit report from www.annualcreditreport.com. Each year, you are entitled to one free report of your Experian credit report under federal law.

Another free option for credit reports is CreditKarma.com. It’s a free service that doesn’t demand a credit card or a trial period.

If you want to go for a paid option – for a one-time fee of $39.99, you may get your Experian credit report and FICO scores and your Transunion and Equifax scores from Experian, which includes a daily update on your report and score.

Check Report for Inaccuracies

After you obtain your Experian credit report, you may detect inaccuracies. Under the Fair Credit Reporting Act, you have the right to get these inaccuracies corrected through a dispute process. 

Instructions for disputing inaccuracies are usually included with your credit report. You’ll be given a URL to submit your dispute when you obtain your Experian credit report online. 

You can also write to dispute inaccuracies in your credit report. Write a credit report dispute letter highlighting your report’s mistakes, and send any supporting documentation to Experian’s credit report dispute address.

Experian has 30 days from the time it receives your dispute to investigate and repair your credit report or to communicate the investigation’s findings to you.

Keeping a Check of Your Score

Your Experian credit score is calculated using your Experian credit report data, and it may differ from your credit ratings from the other two bureaus. 

Keeping track of your credit score from all three bureaus will help you identify an error as soon as it appears. This would give you an edge in disputing the error as soon as it appears, so it doesn’t affect your credit score in the longer run. This would also benefit you when you apply for a huge sum of loans. 

Now, here’s something that might concern you. What if your Experian Credit Report has a bad credit score? Can you improve it?

Can You Improve Your Experian Score?

As mentioned in the reasons above, having a decent credit score is essential. Fortunately, improving your Experian credit score is rather simple if you follow the following steps:

• Maintain a low credit use ratio.
  
• Keep previous credit cards and accounts active, as a long credit history helps persuade lenders that you’ve been responsible.
  
• Check your credit report frequently to ensure there are no inaccuracies that might harm your credit score.
  
• Timely pay your dues. Even one or two late payments will negatively affect your credit score.
  
• Maintain a healthy credit mix to demonstrate your ability to manage new credit appropriately.
  
• Only open new credit accounts when absolutely essential.

The better a person’s Experian credit score, the more favorably they are regarded by banks and financial institutions since they are thought to be less likely to default on their debts.

As a result, having a strong credit score can simplify reaching financial objectives, such as getting authorized for credit cards and loans and paying reduced interest rates if granted.

What Other Services Does Experian Offer?

In addition to the credit report services, there are a few more services you can get from Experian;

• Identity Protection — It secures your account from identity theft. So, it can issue you a fraud alert notification if someone tries to steal your identity. 
• Credit Advice — Experian’s website has a plethora of credit advice and in-depth information on managing your credit throughout your life.

• Credit Freeze — A credit freeze effectively “locks” your information at the credit bureau until you provide permission for it to be released. Since a credit freeze prevents access to your credit record, it effectively prevents new credit.

A credit freeze is frequently seen as a reliable way of avoiding identity theft. Its because many fraudsters create credit accounts in the identities of other clients.

Experian provides a wide range of business services in addition to consumer services. Data on a company’s clients may assist in bringing extra value in terms of products and services given by the company and help design better-focused marketing efforts.

Companies can make more informed judgments and reduce their financial risk by learning more about their potential consumers. They may also be able to discover debtors and collect on outstanding debts using Experian’s commercial services.

Bottom Line

Experian credit reports include all of the data you need to evaluate your full credit history.

The creditworthiness of a person is reflected in their Experian credit score. This refers to their capacity to repay a loan or other borrowed credit.

These scores are significant because they are used by financial organizations such as banks and other lenders to determine whether or not to accept loan or credit card applications and avoid problems of bad debt or fraud.

A good/high credit score can assist you to have these applications accepted, while a bad/low credit score can lead to your loan and credit card applications being denied.

If you have a bad credit history, you will be regarded as a high risk, and creditors will be hesitant to give loans to you. It is essential to maintain track of and properly manage your Experian credit report.