The six year "rule" at Equifax

brightonian · 22 May 2013 at 9:59AM

Did you know that after six years from settlement/default your old account information is not automatically deleted by Equifax, and if you write to them asking them to sort it out, you'll get fobbed off with "not our problem"?

No, I didn't either!

I was somewhat confused into thinking their statement on the website saying it will be removed after six years meant it would be removed after six years. How stupid am I?

And there was me thinking that a simple "AND record.lastdate < today-6years" in the code they use would work when running queries... apparently not!

The default date on this account is 01/05/2007. This is over six years ago. This is illegal. You state on your website the account is removed:

Six years from the date the account was settled, written off or defaulted – whichever happened first

You have not done this. Please give a full and detailed explanation as to why this illegal data is on my credit file, including the name of the person responsible for this breach of your licence.

And reply from Equifax:

Thank you for getting in touch.

Please accept our apologies however it is the clients responsibility to remove this information at the end of the 6 years. We only store the information supplied by the clients.

You’ll find more information about your credit report at: https://www.equifax.co.uk/help. If you have a question, you should find the answer in our FAQ section. If not, you can send us an online query, and attach your documents to it – no need to worry about them getting lost or delayed in the post.

I hope you find this useful. If there’s anything else we can do for you, please let us know.

Kind regards

Equifax Customer Services

rizla_king · 23 May 2013 at 8:54AM

Equifax customer services talking complete balls as usual.

The_Boss · 23 May 2013 at 9:32AM

Shocking incompetence but doesn't suprise me.

JustinCredibleGillespie · 23 May 2013 at 1:45PM

Are there no representatives from Equifax that can come on and answer this and explain the reasons why?

JCG

xx

annmaria2 · 23 May 2013 at 1:56PM

are you serious???????

rizla_king · 29 May 2013 at 8:32AM

http://www.equifax.com/international/uk/documents/Equifax_Personal_Data_Management_Policy.pdf

4.2 Equifax also removes personal data from our databases after defined periods of time. For example, data about a credit agreement will be removed six years after the agreement ends or is considered in default.

Equifax removes. Not dependant on the creditor. Experian and Call credit also remove expired data themselves. They do no ask the creditors permission or wait for them to update.

Gordon_Hose · 29 May 2013 at 9:56AM

Equifax are always late updating their records. Can sometimes take up to a month.

MAYA58 · 29 May 2013 at 11:47AM

Same story hapened to me with equifax,wrong date of default notice for a debit more than 6years since 2006, both experian and noddle removed, but still in Equifax ??

jessie4109 · 29 May 2013 at 12:08PM

Have you disputed this information with Equifax?
Next step after would be to get the ombudsman involved.

My problem seems to be that my original lender is now reporting my account as 6 months in arrears even though the default date was 18th April 2007! (I thought it was just Equifax) I'm just awaiting my Experian report to see if it shows on there as checked Noodle yesterday and that's now showing this information too (it had dropped off as i'd checked). I've complained to the lender so after 19th July if not resolved i'm ringing the ombudsman!

MAYA58 · 29 May 2013 at 12:35PM

yes, disputed it with equifax guess the answer? contact the lender which is Lloyds TSB who redate the default to 2010 from 2006, the account closed 2005 !!!. in the process of SAR them and to complain next.

jessie4109 · 29 May 2013 at 12:53PM

I wonder how they expect people to ever get on with their lives. There's enough stress to deal with day to day without having all this to sort out on top. Would it be worthwhile ringing the FOS and see if they can put a complaint in on your behalf as well as your own? lol

The six year "rule" at Equifax

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