Ad description
Claims on CreditExpert's website, viewed on 15 April 2011, stated "INSTANT ACCESS TO YOUR PERSONAL EXPERIAN CREDIT REPORT! As well as your Credit Score and Identity Protection Insurance Sign up for a 30 Day free trial".
Issue
The complainant challenged whether the "INSTANT ACCESS" claim was misleading and could be substantiated, because they had to wait five days for a PIN to be sent in the post before they could access their credit report.
Response
Experian said that they took the security of personal data very seriously and therefore, in order to prevent fraudulent access to consumer credit reports, they carried out various security and ID verification checks as part of the CreditExpert application process.
They said the instant access claim was based on the rationale that the vast majority of customers were successful in obtaining instant access to their credit report. They said that percentage was based on the number of new customers accessing their report via CreditExpert between 1 April and 12 July 2011. They provided a spreadsheet which detailed the number of applications per day throughout the period, including the number of applications which had been accepted instantly online and the number, which as a result of the application undergoing further checks were not accepted instantly. They said it was important to note that the small proportion of applicants that did not obtain instant access might include fraudulent applications which were ultimately declined service in the interest of protecting consumers.
Experian said they based their calculation of the percentage of credit reports accessed instantly on the total number of accepted applications; they did not include applications which were ultimately rejected because of card and/or address authentication failures. They said it was their view that, where card authentication was unsuccessful, those applications were effectively invalid because card details were required in order to register for the service.
Assessment
Upheld
The ASA noted the figures provided by Experian in support of the claim. We noted they had provided application data for the dates 1 April to 12 July 2011, but considered that because the ad was viewed on 15 April, and the CAP Code required marketers to hold substantiation for their claims before publishing them, only the data between 1 and 15 April could be used as substantiation for the claim.
We acknowledged Experian’s view that rejected applications were invalid and should not be included in the calculations. We considered that was an appropriate approach, because consumers would not expect individuals to gain access to credit reports, instantly or otherwise, where Experian was unable to verify an applicant’s card details or identity.
Nonetheless, we considered the claim "INSTANT ACCESS TO YOUR PERSONAL EXPERIAN CREDIT REPORT!” was an absolute claim, and consumers would interpret it to mean that once they had completed the online application form they would get access to their credit report immediately. Because we understood that, on average, a considerable proportion of applicants whose applications were ultimately accepted were unable to access their credit report immediately, we concluded the claim was misleading.
The ad breached CAP Code rules 3.1 3.1 Marketing communications must not materially mislead or be likely to do so. (Misleading advertising), 3.7 3.7 Before distributing or submitting a marketing communication for publication, marketers must hold documentary evidence to prove claims that consumers are likely to regard as objective and that are capable of objective substantiation. The ASA may regard claims as misleading in the absence of adequate substantiation. (Substantiation) and 3.11 3.11 Marketing communications must not mislead consumers by exaggerating the capability or performance of a product. (Exaggeration).
Action
The ad must not appear again in its current form. We told Experian they should not claim that consumers could gain instant access to their credit reports.
