Bad credit but don't know why? Check CIFAS report on your credit report.

newrecruit

I had a shock horror recently. I was told that I had an adverse credit when I thought I didn't. When I looked at my credit report with Experian, to my horror there was a CIFAS report made against me. For those who don't know what this is, it is like a warning beacon pointing at you saying that you are a fraudulent person!
Worse thing is I never heard of the company which entered the report against me!
When I contacted them, it turned out that when I applied for a loan several years ago through a broker, the broker made mistakes with the dates of the time during which I was at previous addresses and when the lender compared it with my credit report, they obviously did not match, so they automatically filed CIFAS report! (Sometimes, a broker could be too lazy to get the dates accurate)
I could not figure out why have been turned down by loan companies recently, and this is why! I thought it was because of my self-employed status...
Anyone else had similar problems with CIFAS being filed against you?

PNPSUKNET

it could be a mixture of both though

thebaroness

What category cifas is it? The numbers range from 0 to 8. Also when was the cifas listed? Normally they stay on your file for a year (longer if there's evidence of continuing fraud) so if it was placed on a couple of years ago I'd question why it's still on your file.

newrecruit

I now had my CIFAS removed.!
All I did was contact the lender who entered it in my Credit file
They looked at the original file, identified the reason (mistakes made by the broker) and then deleted it from my Credit file.
Suddenly my credit application (opening new bank account / getting finance on my car) suddenly became plain sailing!
Fancy all the aggro for a bit of mis-information!

newrecruit

thebaroness wrote: »

What category cifas is it? The numbers range from 0 to 8. Also when was the cifas listed? Normally they stay on your file for a year (longer if there's evidence of continuing fraud) so if it was placed on a couple of years ago I'd question why it's still on your file.

Well...I didn't check which category it was and now it is removed I cannot find out...can you explain the difference between the categories?

As for when, it was just over a year ago....don't know why it was still there if it is removed after 1 year.

thebaroness

Here are the categories:

0 Protective Registration – Recorded at request of the person named or to protect the identity of a deceased person.

1 False Identity Fraud - Use of a false name with an address

2 Victim of Impersonation - Use, by another person, of this name and/or address

3 Application Fraud (Facility Granted) - An application/proposal for any facility with one or more material falsehoods in the information provided - the facility was granted

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

5 Conversion - Conversion (disposal or sale) of goods (to which the hirer/buyer does not have title) under a hire-purchase, conditional sale, contract hire, leasing or rental agreement

6 First Party Fraud - Opening an account or other facility for a fraudulent purpose, or the fraudulent misuse of an account or facility

7 Aiding & Abetting - Aiding, abetting or assisting, or conspiring with, another or others to fraudulently procure credit, hire or other facilities, or other product or service

8 Insurance Claims Fraud - The making of a claim(s) under one or more insurance policy(ies) with one or more material falsehoods or by presenting a false or forged document

From what you've said it was probably a category 4 but I'm glad you've been able to resolve the issue. Cifas has an FAQ is you want any more info.

http://www.cifas.org.uk/default.asp?edit_id=568-56

LDJ2009

I was refused last week for a consolidation loan and was told that the loan company use Equifax and there was information on my credit file on the CIFAS section.

I've just checked Equifax and Experian and there are no alerts on either report

I did get caught up with a few bad credit score loan brokers who won't stop ringing me so if there is something on my file it wouldn't surprise me

newrecruit

This may be because you have not fully updated your previous address info with Equifax or Experian. The lenders can get infos that are not on your credit report you get when you log into the Experian / Equifax. Experian stores the info, but unless you have updated all the previous addresses, it won't show when you look at your report (it's confusing I know )
You may have CIFAS entered against you from an address you were associated with.
Also look out for GAIN. This can trip you up as well. This is entered if you move from a property and don't inform the lenders of your forwarding address.