Broker profile
A nationwide credit bureau that also runs one of the largest US marketing databases. Experian Marketing Services sells Consumer View data, which Experian says covers 250 million people in 126 million households, and Mosaic lifestyle segments. One privacy portal takes opt-out and deletion requests, and its opting-out page splits marketing into mail, phone, email and online ads. Pre-approved offers stop at OptOutPrescreen, and a freeze locks the credit report. AtData and Tapad, both Experian-owned, each run their own opt-out.
Experian overview
Each broker is scored 1 to 4 across the six dimensions above; higher means more exposure, and the overall gauge is their average.
A confirmed prior data leak holds the overall rating at Substantial or higher; a major or repeat breach forces Extensive, regardless of the other five dimensions.
Credit bureau with a marketing-data arm
Experian plc (LSE: EXPN) · incorporated in Jersey, headquartered in Dublin
Costa Mesa, CA
Experian Information Solutions · Experian Marketing Solutions · Tapad
Consumer View · Mosaic
One privacy portal, or channel by channel
For the credit file only · Consumer View and Mosaic sit outside it
2012 and 2015 · settled with 40 states in 2022
Background
Experian's US credit business began as TRW Information Systems, which joined the British retailer GUS's credit business in 1996 under the Experian name. The group was spun off and listed in London as Experian plc in 2006. The US credit file sits with Experian Information Solutions, Inc., the FCRA-regulated part most people have dealt with.
What makes Experian a data broker is Experian Marketing Solutions, LLC, one of its business-to-business lines. Its Consumer View product profiles US households with more than 5,000 attributes, and Experian's own notice lists age, gender, marital status, income, occupation, education, household makeup, political affiliation, device identifiers and location among them. It builds them from tax assessor and deed files, surveys, telephone directories, subscriptions, the Census, online and app activity, retail purchase history and other data providers. Mosaic then sorts every US household into one of 19 groups and 70 types.
Experian owns two more data businesses that file or answer separately. It bought Tapad, a digital identity-resolution company that links devices, cookies and ad IDs, in 2020, and completed its purchase of AtData, the email-intelligence company, on 18 February 2026 for $225 million.
Two breaches, both settled. In 2015 Experian disclosed that someone had taken data on about 15 million people who applied for T-Mobile service, including names, birth dates and Social Security numbers. A 2012 breach at its Experian Data Corp. subsidiary came first. In 2022 Experian settled both with 40 attorneys general, including five years of free credit monitoring for people hit in 2015. That record is why this page scores its breach history as a repeat.
Data Published
None of this is on a public search page. It reaches you as mail, calls, email and ads from companies that bought it, and as pre-approved offers.
Consumer View household records, with contact details, demographics, interests, purchase history, device identifiers and location
Mosaic lifestyle segments, one of 70 types for every US household
Identity matching through Tapad, which links devices, cookies and ad IDs
Email and identity data through AtData
Prescreened lists sold to lenders and insurers under the FCRA, the source of pre-approved offers
Credit reports and scores from the FCRA-regulated bureau
Contact
475 Anton Blvd Costa Mesa, CA 92626
consumerprivacy.experian.com · opt-out and deletion · (833) 210-4615
Experian, PO Box 703, Allen, TX 75013 · optout@experian.com
Online · (888) 397-3742 · Experian Security Freeze, P.O. Box 9554, Allen, TX 75013
Network
Experian's own portal doesn't reach its newer businesses. Tapad has its own consumer rights portal, and AtData runs its own opt-out and still files with California as a separate company.
Equifax and TransUnion hold their own files. Each needs its own freeze and its own privacy request, and our credit freeze walkthrough has the route at Equifax, TransUnion and here. Pre-approved offers are different, since a single OptOutPrescreen request reaches all four bureaus.
Reputation
Two very different reads. Experian invites customers to review it on Trustpilot, where it scores well, while the BBB currently gives it no letter grade and has logged more than ten thousand complaints in three years.
Credit report disputes Experian didn't fix, the subject of the CFPB's pending lawsuit
Fraudulent accounts and identity theft
Billing on Experian's paid credit products
Litigation
The breach cases are closed. The live matter is the CFPB's claim that Experian doesn't properly investigate the errors people report.
C.D. Cal. 8:25-cv-00024 · filed January 2025 · dispute handling
Denied, October 2025
Set for May 3, 2027
The CFPB alleges Experian failed to reasonably investigate consumers' disputes about errors in their credit reports.
C.D. Cal. 8:15-cv-01592 · 2015 T-Mobile applicant breach
$22 million
May 2019
The class action over the 2015 breach settled with a $22 million fund, plus $11.7 million Experian committed to security improvements, according to the court's final approval order.
40 attorneys general · November 2022
$12.67 million
Five years free for 2015 victims
The attorneys general reached two settlements with Experian, one for each breach, requiring it to strengthen its due diligence and data security practices.
2017-CFPB-0012 · March 2017
$3 million
The CFPB found Experian claimed the credit scores it sold were the ones lenders use, and made people sit through ads before reaching their free annual credit report.
FAQ
Yes. Besides being a credit bureau, Experian Marketing Solutions sells Consumer View and Mosaic data on US households to advertisers, and it's registered as a data broker in California alongside Experian Information Solutions and Tapad.
Use the privacy portal, call (833) 210-4615, or email optout@experian.com. Opting out needs no identity check, but deletion asks for authentication questions online or two documents by mail. The opting-out page also lists five separate channels. Mail, phone, email and online ads each take their own request there, and the fifth, pre-approved offers, sends you to OptOutPrescreen.com.
Some do. Experian marks a direct-mail opt-out Do Not Mail for five years, and asks you to opt out again after a move or a name change. Cookie opt-outs through the Digital Advertising Alliance need redoing every five years on each device.
No. The freeze only blocks new credit checks on your report. Consumer View, Mosaic and the prescreened lists are separate, and each needs its own opt-out.
Yes, twice. A 2012 breach at its Experian Data Corp. subsidiary, and the 2015 theft of data on about 15 million T-Mobile applicants, including Social Security numbers. Both were settled with 40 attorneys general in 2022.
Redact scans 120+ data broker sites from your device, finds where your details are listed, and submits the removal requests for you. If a broker relists you, it files again.
September 10, 2026 · Rechecked against Experian's opting-out and channel pages, its US consumer privacy notice and marketing data practices notice, its 2026 annual report, the CFPB, FTC and Minnesota Attorney General case pages, the court dockets and California's current registry list. Trustpilot and the BBB were opened in a real browser. None of these routes has been tested with a real request.
