After one too many security breaches I decided it was time to freeze my credit. That is done by creating accounts with the three credit reporting agencies. One of those companies is Experian. This company is, in my opinion, one of the absolute parasites out there. After setting up my account Experian has taken it upon themselves to let me know about any fluctuations in my credit score. Now, as a computer person and game designer I know exactly what they're trying to do here. They send out low information, semi-urgent emails telling you that something you can't directly control has changed. They create an anxiety that somehow something out of your control has changed. And you can't unsubscribe from them at all. Because you opened an account with Experian you're essentially stuck with them emailing you whenever your credit score so much as sneezes.
Most times I just toss those email messages into my Junk folder. Frankly I think credit scores are a terrible game and I prefer not to play it. But for whatever reason today I decided to take the bait and log into my account.
What I found makes me think Experian makes some of their money terrifying folks about their credit scores. The first thing I found was an offer of some form of "protection" subscription. Yeah, no thanks. I clicked past that one and headed into the site.
They give you a breakdown of your historical FICO score. FICO is their "algorithm" for figuring out "credit worthy" you are. Note that it doesn't mean anything for you as a person but is rather a score that folks can bandy around when it comes to loans, interest rates, and the like.
It's, in a word, bullshit.
I pressed onward and found the cause of the fluctuations. It's one credit card that I have that I've been working on paying down. Nothing to see here.
But I decided to nose around on the site. They had things like a FICO Score Simulator, which sounds like a party-time favorite. And plenty of other ways you can wine and dine your FICO score as though it was minor deity.
Seriously, this company is terrible. They've set up a complete facade of being a necessary component of your life and spam you with meaningless updates about a score you can't directly control. It's horse-shit and you don't need them.
Mark their mails as spam. You'll thank me later.