Equifax Fraud Alert Letter

Oddities · 24 January 2017 at 11:41AM

I recently received a letter from Equifax informing me that they had received an online application for my Equifax Credit Report. According to the letter, the application was blocked as it was suspected to be fraudulent. It also says that the details of the application have been logged with CIFAS. It goes on to suggest that they will send me an Equifax credit report free of charge, along with free reports from Experian and Callcredit, but in order to do this I need to send all my personal information, including copies of passport/driving licence, recent utility bill etc.

I am not and have never been a customer of Equifax and am suspicious of the offer of free credit reports from all 3 companies. I've searched online to see if I can find information about people receiving similar letters, but haven't found anything.

I phoned Equifax customer services but found this to be confusing and unhelpful.

So my question is, has anyone heard of Equifax sending out letters like this, out of the blue, asking for personal details in order to send free credit reports?

Thanks

Superscrooge · 24 January 2017 at 2:03PM

Oddities wrote: »

I am not and have never been a customer of Equifax

If you have ever taken out credit, you will almost certainly have a credit file with Equifax, Experian and Call Credit. You don't choose to be their customer.

Have you checked the address you are asked to send the documents to is definitely an Equifax address?

justaquestion · 24 January 2017 at 2:05PM

Think its a total scam in order to get your details.

sourcrates · 24 January 2017 at 2:18PM

They don't provide free credit reports.

There is a £2 statutory charge.

Anything like this should be treated with the utmost suspicion.

Candyapple · 24 January 2017 at 2:21PM

Oddities wrote: »

I recently received a letter from Equifax informing me that they had received an online application for my Equifax Credit Report. According to the letter, the application was blocked as it was suspected to be fraudulent. It also says that the details of the application have been logged with CIFAS. It goes on to suggest that they will send me an Equifax credit report free of charge, along with free reports from Experian and Callcredit, but in order to do this I need to send all my personal information, including copies of passport/driving licence, recent utility bill etc.

I am not and have never been a customer of Equifax and am suspicious of the offer of free credit reports from all 3 companies. I've searched online to see if I can find information about people receiving similar letters, but haven't found anything.

I phoned Equifax customer services but found this to be confusing and unhelpful.

So my question is, has anyone heard of Equifax sending out letters like this, out of the blue, asking for personal details in order to send free credit reports?

Thanks

Surely that would have rung alarm bells?? Why on earth would Equifax send you a credit report of their competitors? It's a scam.

What address did they want you to send your details to?

Nasqueron · 24 January 2017 at 3:06PM

Go to the following sites:

https://www.noddle.co.uk (the front end for call credit)
https://www.clearscore.com (the front end for equifax)

Register for free and double check there are no suspicious entries

Obviously don't respond to this scam or send them any information

ashp_2 · 24 January 2017 at 4:54PM

sourcrates wrote: »

They don't provide free credit reports.

There is a £2 statutory charge.

Anything like this should be treated with the utmost suspicion.

I believe in a case of suspected fraud all 3 agencies are required to send you your report free of charge. I would say it's genuine, You just need to obviously verify where your are sending this requested personal information.

Oddities · 24 January 2017 at 7:11PM

Firstly, thanks for your replies.

The address is the official Equifax PO Box address. I'm fairly certain this came from Equifax, it just felt strange that they were offering to provide a free service. As I said, in the letter they state that the other 2 credit agencies would also provide my reports free of charge.

Does anyone know if there is some law that compels credit agencies to provide these reports free of charge in cases of fraud or attempted fraud? From ashp's reply it seems there might be, although it doesn't seem to be well known.

I just thought I'd try to get some advice before sending all this personal information to them and to see whether anyone had had any experience of having been sent a similar letter.

Oddities · 24 January 2017 at 7:15PM

By the way, Equifax aren't suggesting they'll directly send me reports from Experian and Callcredit - there's a tick box on the form that gives them to go ahead to share my information with the other 2 agencies, which will prompt them to send my free credit reports.

Candyapple · 24 January 2017 at 7:29PM

Oddities wrote: »

I recently received a letter from Equifax informing me that they had received an online application for my Equifax Credit Report. According to the letter, the application was blocked as it was suspected to be fraudulent. It also says that the details of the application have been logged with CIFAS.

How do they know the application was fraudulent and not just a case of you entering the details incorrectly? (I know in this instance you said it's not you) I mean lots of people don't know the date of when they opened certain accounts, especially if they are older. Genuine question :think:

Also, you will need to see what type of marker they've placed against you with CIFAS.
https://www.cifas.org.uk/what_are_the_fraud_types_cifas_uses

Equifax Ltd
Customer Service Centre
PO Box 10036
Leicester
LE3 4FS

Is that the address in the letter?

Oddities · 24 January 2017 at 7:42PM

Yes it's the same address in the letter.

I don't know what criteria they use to see whether a credit report application is fraudulent, but I'm glad they seem to have measures in place.
At the moment, all that I'm aware of is that someone claiming to be me has applied for my credit report. I'm not sure what they could do with this information but am pleased that the application appears to have been blocked.

The next step seems to be to send my information to Equifax in order to see if there are any other incidents in my reports, but I wanted to make sure this was the right thing to do.

Equifax Fraud Alert Letter

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