Credit Monitoring:  

Experian provides a variety of services related to credit reports. For consumers, one of the most notable and recognizable (thanks to national television advertising) is Experian’s Triple Advantage®.

Triple Advantage® allows you to monitor your credit report with all three credit bureaus, receive email alerts when key changes occur on all 3 reports, and offers a $50,000 guarantee in the form of identity theft insurance (not available to residents of New York).

This service comes with a 7-day free trial and only costs $14.95 per month after that. When you order this service you will receive a copy of your Experian credit report and credit score, as well as unlimited access to your Experian credit report and score.

This program lets you easily monitor your credit report for inaccuracies, watch for changes that may indicate identity theft, and check your score before applying for credit. You can use Triple Advantage® free for 7 days, after that it costs $14.95 per month.

Another service provided by Experian is Vantage Score®, which was developed as a collaborative effort between Experian, TransUnion, and Equifax. In addition to using a number scale, Vantage Score® also uses a letter grade (A, B, C, D or F). This is not the same as a FICO score but still accounts for judgments, tax liens, bankruptcies, and collection details.

Experian has a product called ContractorCheck Report that allows you to search for reliable licensed contractors in your area and provides background information about them. If you are a contractor, check out ContractorCheck Pro and see what everyone else sees about you.

Similarly to ContractorCheck, Experian can also provide financial information about businesses. This is especially important if you are running a small business and plan to apply for commercial loans, lease office space, or receive services such as utilities. Maintaining a good credit score for your business can help lead to success, especially in today’s tough economy.

Business Credit Reports are also helpful if you plan to hire a company to do a job, or plan to work for a company and want to know if they are financially stable.

One other feature Experian offers that is not really related to credit reports is vehicle history reporting. This service is actually provided through AutoCheck®. Before you purchase a used vehicle it is wise to run a check on its history. You can quickly find out if the vehicle has been in an accident, if the mileage has been tampered with, or even if it has ever been stolen. Knowing this information up front can help relieve some of the stress related to buying a car.

As with the other top three credit reporting agencies, you can dispute inaccuracies or fraudulent activity on your Experian credit report. Just remember, to dispute information found on your credit report you must have a recent report to work from. Ordering a report on Experian.com is the easiest way to file a dispute because then everything can be handled online.

Experian does not offer any in-house debt reduction services.