How to Cancel Experian Membership

Experian is a leading credit information services bureau. It offers a variety of services and business tools that allow users to manage and improve their credit scores. The company is also known for dealing with debt reports, consumer credit reports, and payment histories.

Experian services are useful indeed. But at a point, you may realize that you don’t need these services any longer or that you don’t benefit from them as much as you expected.  The chances are you find yourself considering ways to cancel your Experian account.

The good news is that it is always possible to cancel your Experian membership at any time. Take a few minutes to go through some easy steps to take if you’ve made up your mind to cancel your Experian account.

How Much Does Experian Membership Cost?

Currently, Americans report spending an average of $273 on subscription services a month, as opposed to $237 in 2018. These numbers clearly indicate the growing popularity of such services, which means monthly money leaks. Experian subscriptions may be one of those holes in your pockets you may want to plug.

The monthly fee of your Experian credit monitoring service membership depends on the plan you choose when subscribing. The following table covers the different categories your case may fall into:

Why Do People Cancel Experian Membership?

Many people all over the world regularly decide to cancel Experian membership for various reasons, including:

• Experian is rarely used as an independent tool in making major credit decisions. Very often, lenders go beyond the borrower’s numerical score. They choose to review the detailed credit reports and look at the results from all three bureaus, and not just Experian, which may render your subscription redundant.

• Experian cannot be used for creating a reliable and well-grounded credit history because it only works for those who already have a clear credit file. You may find a way to improve your Experian score, but this will not necessarily improve your scores at the other major credit bureaus, including TransUnion or Equifax.

• Experian is considered a poor choice for people who are worried about the security of their bank account information, given the fact that it needs to access the user’s online checking account.

• As an Experian user, you are surely unable to earn reward points from using credit card payments on utility bills. Experian can scan your operations by detecting your transactions to utility companies performed from your online checking account.

• As Experian isn’t recognized by all lenders, they may consider your utility and cell phone bills appearing on your credit report as part of your debt burden.

How to Cancel Your Experian Subscription

You may already know how hard it can be to cancel an Experian membership if you have already signed up. Here are the simplest steps to follow in case you need to cancel your Experian account quickly and effortlessly:

Cancel Experian Membership by Sending an E-mail

1. Get your Experian Membership ID ready, or search for it by typing “Experian” in your email search. Check the top right corner of the welcome email you received from Experian upon your initial subscription.

2. Prepare your email text along with a subject line reading ‘Experian subscription cancellation’ or something similar. The email should include your personal information and all your account details, such as your Experian Membership ID, the email address you used to sign up, and your 4-digit social security number.

3. If you are an Experian Credit Tracker subscriber, send the email to support@experiandirect.com.

4. If you are an Experian’s ProtectMyID service subscriber, send it to support@ProtectMyID.com.

5. Don’t forget to request a confirmation email that you will keep as proof for future reference.

Note that this method may take more time as you will have to wait for a reply from Experian. You might also be redirected and advised to cancel your Experian membership using your phone.

Cancel Experian Subscription Over the Phone

Using your phone is the simplest and most reliable way to cancel your Experian membership. Here is what you have to do:

1. Dial 1(877) 284-7942.

2. Carefully listen to and follow the instructions to reach the Experian representative sooner. You may tap “1” for membership services and then tap “1” again for billing and membership services, depending on the service provider.

3. Once you are connected with a representative, inform them that you want to cancel your Experian subscription.

4. Provide your full account details and personal information.

5. Verify any terms or conditions related to the cancellation.

6. Try to keep the phone conversation as brief as possible. Be prepared that the representative may try to inquire about the cancellation reasons and keep you on the phone for longer than necessary, explaining the benefits of the service you are canceling.

7. After you are through with the request, remember to take note of your cancellation date, the representative’s name, as well as the confirmation number. These details may turn out to be very useful if Experian charges show up on your account history after the subscription cancellation.

Cancel Experian Membership Online

This method only works if you signed up through https://usa.experian.com/. If you are automatically redirected to http://experian.experiandirect.com/ after signing in, you, unfortunately, can’t cancel your subscription online.

1. Go to the Experian website.

2. Sign in using your Experian account details.

3. In case you are asked if you would like to add Equifax and TransUnion, choose “No, Show Me Only My Experian Credit Information.”

4. Indicate why you are canceling your subscription on the appearing dropdown list.

5. Click “Confirm Cancellation.”

Maintaining an Experian account may become unnecessary extra spending. Carefully reading and following the instructions above can stop money from flowing out of your pocket so that you can invest it in a more useful way. 

Frequently Asked Questions

What Happens After I Cancel My Experian Membership?

Experian may save your data for a period of up to one month. So, you can restart your membership within this period without having to go through the entire sign-up process in case you change your mind.

What Are Some Alternatives to Experian? 

The following table shows a few Experian alternatives along with their monthly plans:

Can I Freeze My Experian Membership Instead of Canceling It?

No, you can’t. Freezing (or pausing) your membership is not supported by Experian, and the company will only be able to save your data for a month. If you decide to restart your membership after that period has elapsed, the company will treat you as a new customer.

Does Experian Provide a Refund After I Cancel My Membership?

Yes. However, some membership plans are not refundable. If you are a client using CreditExpert, you can get a refund following the cancellation of your membership. You will be given two weeks to change your mind, and if you are sure you want to go forward with your cancellation after this period, you will get a refund.

What’s Next?

Since you are interested in improving your credit scores, keep in mind that various credit repair companies offer to raise your credit scores fast. Anyway, rebuilding your credit scores does take time, and you don’t necessarily need to use a credit repair service. You might follow specific steps to speed up the process, like setting up autopay to make payments on time, paying off credit cards with high balances, and signing up for free credit monitoring services. But generally speaking, it takes time and patience.

Other Things You Should Keep in Mind After You Cancel Your Experian Membership

• Since not all subscription cancellation requests go smoothly and without any issues, a good idea is to closely monitor your monthly bank statements and identify any charges from Experian. If you happen to identify any payments to Experian, immediately get in touch with Experian Customer Service and inform them that you’ll need to get a refund.

• To make sure that no monthly payments are made while you’re waiting for the confirmation of the request to cancel your Experian account, you may update your membership to the free option. You can do that by navigating your membership settings after you log in to your Experian account.

• Always keep a thorough record of your cancellation details just in case your subscription hasn’t been canceled and you are in need of getting in touch with Experian again. If you submit your cancellation request online or via email, your email record is automatically kept. But if your subscription was canceled through a phone call, make sure to keep a record of the date you called in, the cancellation confirmation number, and the representative’s name, and save all necessary information or email all the details to yourself for future reference.