Fraud flag on credit file

Charlie_Girl_7

Hi there folks,

Apologies if this is not the appropriate place to post this queries, but I thought that debt experts may also be credit experts so perhaps you can help with my query.

A friend of mine (lets call her Bertha) recently applied for a mortgage, we both are both agency workers and work through the same umbrella company who organise our wages and accounts for us.

Bertha provided full details of this arrangement, contact details for the umbrella company, her contract, wage slips and bank statements to verify her income.

For reasons best known to the broker, they decided that they thought there was something iffy about Bertha's income and have entered a fraud flag on her credit record. This seems extraordinary to me, as I don't see how she could have gone further to provide details of her income - she even gave them the contact details for the manager of the umbrella company.

The mortgage broker's suspicions are entirely unfounded and Bertha has contact her solicitor about this matter as her credit score has plummeted and she is now unable to get a mortgage agreed.

Has anyone ever come across this before and is there anything Bertha can do to challenge this?

file_wizzard

Firstly a “fraud Flag” is an entry under the CIFAS system https://www.cifas.org.uk, I am presuming from your post that a Cat 4 flag was used


“Application Fraud (Facility Refused) - An application/proposal for any facility with one or more material falsehoods in the information provided - the facility was refused”


it is also important to note the CIFAS flags DO NOT effect an automatic credit score, they are there for information only and lender will use them to initiate further investigations.

If you believe the entry is incorrect then your friend will need to contact the CIFAS member who has placed the flag and obtain further details on what they feel is untrue.

Only the CIFAS member who has issued the flag can remove it at this stage, if they refuse to comment or can not provide a justification for the entry then the matter would need to be escalated to the Information Commissioners Officer for review, they would then rule on whether the entry should stay or not

Xbigman

Where I work has a lot of agency that have been there years and are never short of work. If they try to get a loan or anything the agency gives their income as zero because they do not have any actual right to work/salary.
This just might be the issue behind this, your friend has given an income on an application form that her employers have said is zero.
However, I would have thought that the company involved would question this and get answers before telling CIFAS.
Regards


X

mariannemarlow

I'm an agency worker also.

Didn't stop my bank giving me a 15k loan even though they knew I couldn't afford the repayments (i supplied them with all my spending/loan/bills info)

but would they help me when i finally had to admit defeat after struggling for a year and a half - Nope!

I also get paid through an umbrella consultancy, it's beginning to sound dodgy now!!

Charlie_Girl_7

Thanks for you responses guys. Bertha had a very discouraging intial response from her solicitor who seemed to imply it would cost a fortune to remedy (if that 'aint a lawyer's response to everything!!).
file_wizzard we'll look into seeking redress with the Information Commissioners - that's a very useful tip!

Marianne, as to operating under an umbrella company I'm of the opinion that it's not dodgy merely "tax efficient"!

All the best,
Charlie