Annual Credit Report online

spiritsense

I'm new here - but wondered if anyone had read in the METRO paper today about a new website which comes online on June 2nd called https://www.annualcreditreport.co.uk?

The report says 'shoppers are to be given free online access to their credit reports once a year. The online Credit Reporting Agency said the move should make people more aware of the data held about them and hlep reduce errors in reports'. Apparently the report will give details of agreements and repayments.

grumbler

See some more information in this todays post: Free credit report - Online

thefirs

There's a most interesting article in Guardian Money today, concerning annualcreditreport.co.uk. The rollout will be by region, so don't stop using the Experian/Equifax trials just yet, but my eye was drawn to a piece of advice from the managing director of annualcreditreport.co.uk:

He says the website will give extensive guidance on what to do if there are errors. But, controversially, he argues against requesting a "notice of correction". Mr Stamp was one-time boss of a big credit agency before setting up the website, and says that it effectively prevents you from obtaining credit in future.

"It almost destroys your credit file. It means that the lender has to follow a manual procedure to decide whether to offer credit. The vast majority won't be bothered to do so, so they just decline you, instead."

He recommends that you contact the lending institution directly if you find an error on your report. One of the problems with credit databases is that every month the lenders re-upload their data to the agencies, so an erroneous entry is constantly re-registered. "It's best to go back to the source and sort it out there or it will keep happening," says Mr Stamp

This might explain one or two things since I had my free Experian trial in which I noticed an anomoly, though given the secretive nature of these operations, it's never really clear what's going on.

Anyone with inside knowledge agree with the view quoted here?

Perhaps someone in Devon/Cornwall could enrol now and reort back on the usefulness of the new service.