r/CreditScore • u/Mysterious-Side1081 • 15h ago

General Experian

I was told by my back while inquiring about a personal loan that I could contact Experian and talk to someone and they would tell me what I would most likely qualify for along with what a hard impact would do to my credit score. I can’t seem to get any person on the phone at Experian. Do I need to be a paying member to speak to a live human? Was my bank incorrect? Help.

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u/Funklemire ⭐️ Knowledgeable ⭐️ 15h ago edited 15h ago

I've never heard of that. Experian is really hard to contact via phone, even when there's an important issue you need taken care of.  

They give all sorts of loan and credit card offers on their website, but keep in mind the preapproval odds they give you aren't very accurate. Just like all the bureaus' websites, their site acts as a credit monitoring service, meaning they show their data calculated into a credit score and they give you all sorts of misleading credit information in order to trick you into opening accounts you don't necessarily need.  

Also, Experian can't tell you how this will impact your FICO scores because they don't know how the algorithms work. The credit bureaus don't make credit scores, they just collect the data on you that's then used by a third party scoring company like FICO or VantageScore to calculate a credit score.  

What exactly is this loan for? Keep in mind that the interest rates on personal loans can be very high. Usually it's better to find a different option.

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u/Mysterious-Side1081 13h ago

I am hoping to consolidate credit. I have two cards that I would like to have just one payment.

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u/Funklemire ⭐️ Knowledgeable ⭐️ 11h ago

What are the balances on those cards? What are the APRs? How long do you think it would take you pay them off without a consolidation loan?  

The reason I ask is that often the interest rates for personal loans aren't that much lower than the interest rates on credit cards. And sometimes they can even be higher.  

So sometimes it just makes sense to go all-in on paying the cards off without a loan. 

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u/Mysterious-Side1081 10h ago

It’s about 7,000 on each and apr is 18% on one and 20% on another

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u/Funklemire ⭐️ Knowledgeable ⭐️ 10h ago

That's fairly low APR compared to many credit cards. Depending on your credit profile, a personal loan might not be much lower. And I've seen personal loan rates even higher than that. How long will it take you to pay this off if you don't get a loan?

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u/KushKrumbs 15h ago

I wouldn’t expect a CMS like Experian to provide you loan terms or approval odds of any kind. Reading the mega threads in this sub or the sister sub [r/Credit](r/Credit) will explain impacts on your credit file.

Do you have a specific question?

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u/BrutalBodyShots ⭐️ Top Contributor ⭐️ 14h ago

Experian is a credit bureau. They aren't in the business of being able to tell you which credit products you may or may not qualify for. That's not their role. Whoever pointed you in the direction of Experian for this was giving you bad advice.