To get your Experian Credit Report, simply click here. If you have not received your Credit Report yet, you will be asked to fill out a request form to verify your identity. When you request your credit report your credit monitoring service will automatically be activated.

You will get a current report from Experian, a national credit bureau. You can return here to view your Credit Report. Your report will be posted here for up to 6 months and you can view an updated report every 3 months.

Back to Top

In order to obtain your Experian credit report, you will need to have the following information available at the time your request is made:

• Name, Social Security Number and Current Address.
• A unique login name and password (password must be alpha numeric and at least 8 characters long). Please think of a reminder phrase that will help you remember your password.
• You will also be asked a few multiple-choice questions to verify your identity in order to receive your report. For example, you may be asked to provide a previous mailing address, or the name of the bank that holds your mortgage.

Back to Top

With WalletShield you can get an updated Experian Credit Report every 3 months. Your Credit Report will remain posted for up to 6 months for you to view when you log in to WalletShield.

If you request an updated Credit Report through WalletShield, any Credit Report you already have posted on the WalletShield Web site will be replaced online. If you want to save a copy of your previous report, simply print it before you request to view your updated report.

Back to Top

It's easy. Once you request your Experian Credit Report, you can return to WalletShield to view your report anytime.

Of course you can always print out a copy too if you'd like, but your Credit Report will be stored online for you to view 24 hours a day.

Remember - your Credit Report will remain posted for up to 6 months for you to view when you log in to WalletShield.

If you request an updated Credit Report through WalletShield, any Credit Report you already have posted on the WalletShield Web site will be replaced online.

Back to Top

Your Experian Credit Report will show your identifying information including your current and previous addresses and employment. It will also reflect the status of any credit cards, loans or public records that have been reported by your creditors or courts. Information may stay on your Credit Report for up to 7 years from the date you last used the account.

You can stay on top of your Credit Reports and financial status by viewing your report on a regular basis.

Plus - you can spot any activity that you do not recognize which may be signs of Identity Theft (like someone trying to open accounts in your name)

Back to Top

For security purposes we require an additional unique username and password to view your Experian Credit Report. This will be a different password than you use to login to WalletShield.

Back to Top

Your credit file is based on information reported in your name, address and social security number. If you have not yet established credit using your married name, you may want to use your maiden name to access your credit file. However, you could put your maiden name in the middle name field and your file may still be located based on your address and social security number. If you have also recently moved, make sure you add in your previous address so that your file can still be located.

Back to Top

No. Your credit file is exactly that - YOURS. You may have some joint accounts you share with your spouse, or other family member, and they should show on your file because you share responsibility for them.

Back to Top

WalletShield memberships are for a unique individual. Only the individual requesting the information will be able to access their unique file. To obtain another person's credit information is against the law. The password and authentication system used to access reports will prevent this from happening.

Your spouse can sign up for WalletShield under a unique membership to get a copy of his or her Experian Credit Report.

Back to Top

Your Credit Monitoring will start as soon as you request your Experian Credit Report and will last for as long as you're a WalletShield member.

You will get a weekly email letting you know whether or not there has been any activity over the previous week and you can login to $SessionUser.Current.BrandInfo.BrandedSiteNameto view any specific activity on your credit record.

Back to Top

WalletShield Credit Monitoring will catch certain activity reported to Experian, a national credit bureau. Activity can include things like inquiries into your credit file from banks or others, new or closed accounts and delinquent payments. Specifically, activity that will be monitored include:

Inquires
Address changes
Newly opened accounts
Account past due
Major derogatory information (foreclosed home, repossession, collection notices)
Account included in bankruptcy
Lost/Stolen card reported
Security Alert
Civil Actions
Public records, Collections, Liens
Account settlement
Newly reported existing accounts or creditors reporting that you exceeded one of your credit limits

Monitoring the activity on your Credit Report is important to make sure all information is being reported accurately by your creditors, and you may spot signs of Identity Theft if you see new accounts being opened that you do not recognize.

Back to Top

Once your WalletShield Credit Monitoring is activated, you'll get a weekly email letting you know whether or not there has been any activity reported to Experian over the previous week. You can login to your WalletShield account to view any specific activity on your credit record.

Note: You will get a monitoring email whether there has been any activity or not, so you'll be kept fully informed.

Back to Top

If you find any inaccurate information on your Experian Credit Report or activity that is not yours, you can dispute that information and have incorrect information corrected. Below are instructions and a link to a preformatted Dispute Form for your convenience.

Dispute Instructions:
If you think there are inaccuracies or any other information on your Credit Report that should not be there, then you should:

1. First try to contact the creditor who is reporting that information. Ask the creditor to correct the information and report back to the credit bureau.
2. If the creditor does not correct the information, then you should write directly to the credit bureau where the information was obtained. The credit report you get from WalletShield is from the credit bureau Experian.

When writing to the credit bureau you can simply include a photocopy of your credit report with the area you are disputing circled or highlighted.

Or you can use our preformatted Dispute Form if you'd prefer or need more room for comments. Click here to print a Dispute Form .

Back to Top

No. WalletShield does not change information on your credit report. Only a credit bureau can change information on your credit report. If you are disputing information on the Credit Report you obtained through WalletShield, you should file your dispute with Experian.

EXPERIAN (XPN)
P.O. Box 2104
Allen, Texas 75013-2104
(888) 397-3742 (Fraud)
(972) 390-3838 (Fax)

Here is the contact information for the other 2 national credit bureaus for your convenience.

EQUIFAX (EFX)
P.O. Box 105873
Atlanta, Georgia 30348
(800) 525-6285 (Fraud)
(770) 740-4444 (Fax)

TRANS UNION (TU)
P.O. Box 1000
Chester, Pennsylvania 19022
(800) 916-8800 (Customer Service)
(800) 680-7289 (Fraud)

Back to Top

The Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) is designed to promote accuracy, fairness, and privacy of the information in your files at each of the three national credit bureaus, Equifax, Experian, and Trans Union (also known as repositories). In addition, there are many companies, usually called approved resellers or Credit Reporting Agencies (CRAs) which purchase your credit information from the repositories and resell that information to creditors, employers, and other businesses which according to the FCRA must have a permissible purpose to view your personal credit information. The FCRA gives you specific rights in dealing with the credit bureaus, and requires them to provide you with a summary of these rights as listed below. You can find the complete text of the FCRA, 15 U.S.C. 1681 et seq., at the Federal Trade Commission's web site (http://www.ftc.gov).

You must be informed if information in your file has been used, in part or in whole in a decision to prevent granting credit, insurance, or employment. Anyone who uses this information must give you the name, address, and phone number of the national credit bureau that maintains the information.

You can find out what is in your file. A credit bureau must give you all the information in your file, including the names of companies who have requested it. However, you are not entitled to a "risk score" or a "credit score" that is based on information in your file. There is no charge for the report if your application was denied because of information contained in your credit file, and you should request a copy of your report within 60 days of receiving the denial notice. You are also entitled to one free report a year if you certify that (1) you are unemployed and plan to seek employment within 60 days, (2) you are on welfare, or (3) your report is inaccurate due to fraud. Otherwise, a credit bureau may charge a fee.

You can dispute inaccurate information with the credit bureaus. If you tell a credit bureau that your file contains inaccurate information, the credit bureau must reinvestigate the items (usually within 30 days) unless your dispute is frivolous. The credit bureau must pass along to its source all relevant information you provided. The credit bureau also must supply you with written results of the investigation and a copy of your report, if it has changed. If an item is altered or deleted because you dispute it, the credit bureau cannot place it back in your file unless the source of the information verifies its accuracy and completeness, and the credit bureau provides you a written notice that includes the name, address and phone number of the source.

Inaccurate information, once identified must be deleted. A credit bureau must remove inaccurate information from its files, usually within 30 days after you dispute its accuracy. However, the credit bureau is not required to remove data from your file that is accurate unless it is outdated or cannot be verified.

You can dispute inaccurate items with the source of the information. If you tell a creditor that you dispute an item, they may not then report the information to a credit bureau without including a notice of your dispute. In addition, once you've notified the source of the error in writing, they may not continue to report it if it is in fact an error.

Outdated information may not be reported. In most cases, a credit bureau may not report negative information that is more than seven years old; ten years for bankruptcies.

Access to your file is limited. A CRA may provide information about you only to those who have a need recognized by the FCRA -- usually to consider an application you have submitted to a creditor, insurer, employer, landlord, or other business.

Your consent is required for reports that are provided to employers or that contain medical information. A credit bureau may not report to your employer, or prospective employer, about you without your written consent. A credit bureau may not divulge medical information about you without your permission.

You can stop a credit bureau from including you on lists for unsolicited credit and insurance offers. Creditors and insurers may use file information as the basis for sending you unsolicited, pre-approved offers of credit or insurance. Such offers must include a toll-free number for you to call and tell the credit bureau if you want your name and address excluded from future lists or offers. If you notify the credit bureau through the toll-free number, it must keep you off the lists for two years. If you request and complete the credit bureau form provided for this purpose, you can have your name and address removed indefinitely. The toll-free number to call to remove your name from future lists is 888-5-OptOut (888-567-8688).

You may seek damages from violators. You may sue a credit bureau or other party in state or federal court for violations of the FCRA. If you win, the defendant may have to pay damages and reimburse you for attorney fees. If you lose and the court specifically finds you sued in bad faith, you or your attorney may have to pay the defendant's fees.

You can click here to view the complete Fair Credit Reporting Act. http://www.ftc.gov/os/statutes/fcra.htm

Back to Top

You need to contact in writing, the credit bureau reporting the inaccurate information and ask them to separate the files. The bureau will then investigate the dispute and reply directly to you.

Back to Top

A judge may order a spouse to pay certain debts, but that does not exempt the other spouse from any liability with the creditor. Creditors will hold both parties responsible for payment regardless of what a judge may grant.

Back to Top

Under the heading "Creditor Information List" on your credit report, you will find the contact information for companies with whom you currently have or have previously had an account. You can use that information to contact the creditor.

Back to Top

Companies are not required to report your accounts to the repositories; it is simply done as a courtesy to other companies so they have a good idea of your creditworthiness. There are three national repositories that house credit information, and some businesses may not report to all three bureaus. In fact, a few companies don't report at all. If you would like your information to be reported, you will need to contact the creditor and ask them to report your information to the bureaus.

Back to Top

Consider whether the name of the creditor may be an abbreviation rather than the full business name. Also, some creditors use other financial institutions for financing. Check the balance and date the account was opened to see if it coincides with a debt you are familiar with.

Back to Top

Evaluate how recently you paid the account off. If you paid the account off less than three months ago, wait until that period of time has passed and recheck your credit report. If it has been longer than three months and the account still doesn't show paid, contact the creditor and ask them to send you a letter on company letterhead stating it is paid and also ask them to update the account with the repository that has the incorrect information.

Back to Top

Some creditors may not have reported the account as included in bankruptcy because they did not receive the notice and/or discharge of bankruptcy. You can send to the repositories a copy of your Discharge of Bankruptcy along with Schedule F, which shows a list of your creditors that were included in the bankruptcy.

Back to Top

Your current and potential creditors are not required to have written permission to access your credit report under permissible purposes according to the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA). You may notice an inquiry by a potential creditor in whose products you showed an interest. You may even notice inquiries by your current creditors. Inquiries remain on your credit report for two years.

Back to Top

A "Z" code means you are an authorized user of the account, but not financially responsible for it. Often, an account like this is opened by parents for their children who are going away to college. The child gets a card, is allowed to use it, but the bill goes to the parent. You may also find this in instances where the creditor does not open joint accounts, such as American Express. Contact the creditor to have your name removed from the account.

Back to Top

Your accounts will stay on your credit report for seven years from the date of last activity, not the date the account was opened. If an account is inactive for more than seven years, contact the repositories to have it removed. Accounts considered in good standing may remain on your credit report indefinitely.

Back to Top

If any Experian credit report changes are reported due to monitoring, they are reported and posted on a daily basis. You will be able to see each change for thirty (30) days. For your convenience, we will send you a weekly email to let you know whether or not there have been any changes.

Back to Top

Experian uses a combination of your name, social security number, address information, and date of birth.

Back to Top

Some creditors modify account numbers when reporting to the credit bureaus. These changes are often initiated to protect the security of your account. Other times, your creditor's account number format may not have been compatible with the credit bureau's format.

Back to Top

"Historical Status" is the month-to-month payment history, which may list up to two years of current or delinquent payment information. "#Mo" shows how many months pay history are being reported. The number in the "Times Past Due" columns show how many times your payment was 30 or 60 or 90 days past due. Therefore, the best sign to a potential creditor is to see all zeros in the "Times Past Due" columns.

Back to Top

Absolutely not! Whenever a consumer checks their credit report, it is recorded as a consumer inquiry, rather than an inquiry by a business that is considering extending credit to you.

Back to Top

Most likely, yes, you will be alerted with a monitoring notification. Some creditors check your credit worthiness with only one repository, but then, once the new account is actually opened, most report the new account to all three of the national credit bureaus. While an inquiry may appear within one week, it can take up to 90 days for a newly opened account to be reported by credit monitoring.

Back to Top

Yes! Anyone can place what is called "consumer statement" on their credit report. This statement can state anything you feel may help positively influence a creditor's decision regarding your creditworthiness. To add the statement to your report, simply contact the bureau(s) in writing with your desired exact wording of the statement. Your statement will be placed on your file exactly as submitted. Generally, the national credit bureaus request your statement be no more than 100 words in length, and you will want to state your point as concisely as possible to increase the possibility it is read entirely by potential creditors.

Back to Top

Your WalletShield credit report and monitoring service are provided by Equidata, Inc., an approved reseller for each of the national repositories. Their friendly customer service representatives are available to answer your questions 8:00am-5:00pm Monday through Friday. Please call Equidata at (800) 811-8575 should you still have unanswered questions regarding either your credit report or credit monitoring service.

Back to Top

You have the right under Federal law to receive a free copy of your credit report from each of the three nationwide credit reporting agencies once every 12 months. To request those free reports, you must go to www.annualcreditreport.com. Wallet Shield is not affiliated with such free credit reports.

Back to Top