Someone has used my address to obtain credit.

angel

I've just found out that a cousin of mine has given my address as his own to obtain credit to buy a contract mobile phone. He is a an unemplayed lazy layabout so I know that he won't make any payments

I'm raging as it's taken me years to get a high credit score and have no debts at all.

At the moment I don't know who he bought the phone from, just that he has used my address. Does anyone know who I phone to make sure that this doesn't affect my credit rating and score? Is it Experion? And if it is, does anyone have the phone number.

Thanks in advance.

jonnyb

It should not affect your credit history, if he did not use your name. Credit lenders can only see the credit history of the person they search for at an address, so any debts run up in his name will not shoe under a credit check of your name.

If he used your address, will the statements come to you ? If so, send them back to the phone company with a covering letter explaining the situation and give his full address.

Ringing the credit agencies direct will not help.

Astaroth

Only if you have, or have had, a joint account/ credit agreement with someone will their credit rating effect your own. The simple fact that 2 people who have given the same address will affect each other credit rating is an urban myth

Browntoa

load of stuff here

http://www.cifas.org.uk/

CIFAS is a not for profit membership association solely dedicated to the prevention of financial crime.

you can go for this

http://www.cifas.org.uk/protective_registration.asp

For an administration fee of £11.75 (£10 plus £1.75 VAT) CIFAS offers a service, provided on their behalf by Equifax, to protect your name and address from being misused in this way.

Decadent_Fool

Or go to the police and teach him a lesson

bristol_pilot

I would go to the police, no question.

jaxxy00

Astaroth wrote:

Only if you have, or have had, a joint account/ credit agreement with someone will their credit rating effect your own. The simple fact that 2 people who have given the same address will affect each other credit rating is an urban myth

I dont know if things have changed now or not but ive had first hand experience of people of the same name living in the same street affecting your credit rating. I wouldnt have believed it if it hadnt happened to ourselves but at the time my partner wanted a loan for £100 from TSB Bank (who he banked with at the time) to get himself a bike to get to and from work (this was a good few years ago when he was on a YTS training scheme). We went in and filled forms etc and got refused. When we asked why they told him (i dont think they should have revealed this info though) that his brother of the same surname who lived down the same street had in the past not been a good payer on a loan he had from them.
I thought it was wrong for them to tell us this but also wrong that they should use his brothers history to judge ours.

jonnyb

jaxxy00 - correct on both counts.

wrong, and now illegal under data protection act to disclose info about a financially unrelated person.
things have changed now so that the lenders cannot take into account any info on people not financially associated with the applicant.

JohalaReewi

Astaroth wrote:

Only if you have, or have had, a joint account/ credit agreement with someone will their credit rating effect your own. The simple fact that 2 people who have given the same address will affect each other credit rating is an urban myth

Although there is always human error. My wife's sister came to stay with us for a few months. They both have the same initial and the sister (unknown to us) had a fair chunk of debt. Unfortunately, they also had the same bank and some bright spark at the bank decided that wife and sister were in fact the same person and pressed the button on the computer...