Amending credit file?

headstar

My fiancee has a really good credit score and he applied for some interest free credit of £500 to buy some computer bits and was turned down which he was surprised about, but hey ho

he was extremely shocked to discover on his online report that there has been something about a "fraudulent application" on it next to this declined credit

he put everything in correctly and is really angry

the only thing he can think of is that at one of our old addresses, an old neighbour made a mortgage application - but we moved out of there 2.5 years ago

is there any way, he can be disassociated from any debts made after we left at the old address and also how does he go about having this fraudulent application removed?

Cheers

(sorry not sure if this is the right forum to ask in!)

file_wizzard

I think you perhaps need to give some more details on the data entry’s in question.

However it sounds like the creditor that he applied to has entered a Cat:4 CIFAS flag to indicate they believe that one or more material falsehoods were evident in the application.

The first course of action should be to write to the creditor in question and ask them to clarify their concerns, this may well be a simple mistake which they will rectify for you.

The creditors address should be included within the contacts section of your credit file, and more details of the CIFAS scheme can be found here https://www.cifas.org.uk

With regards to the debts at the old address, only debts related to him & any associates should be shown, all account history data is specific to the individual, not the address

headstar

thanks very much - that sounds like the wording they used

he's written a letter as well but should he phone them as well?

should he do the same for the mortgage application made under the old address and ring those people as well?

file_wizzard

It wont harm to give them a call, but write as well,

With regards to the mortgage applications, if a fraudulent application has been made at the address, but is not in his name, then there is very little you can do about it, the presence of a CIFAS flag at a previous or present address is not necessarily a negative thing, they are design to protect the you / the bf as much as anyone else.

A CIFAS flag will not automatically prevent you from obtaining credit, however it will force all credit scoring systems to pass to a manual assessment.

Also if the mortgage application has been made in his name, and without his knowledge then this is something entirely different and you would need to contact the creditor concerned and register the potential fraud.

headstar

thanks again!

this is a nightmare - he worked very hard to get his credit score to where it is and for the sake of a paltry £500 (which he only thought to apply for as we're paying for a wedding as well) it's set him back

file_wizzard

Just to put your mind at rest a CIFAS entry will not effect your “credit score” the scheme is operated as a fraud prevention measure to protect both creditors and consumers from accounts being fraudulently opened.

The only impact a CIFAS registration will have if you have not personally committed a fraud will be to warn creditors of potentially dubious activity at an address, this data is not directly related to the individual unless they personally have committed the fraud.

If a CIFAS flag is placed at an address it will force all lenders to carry out additional I.D checks before an account is opened, this is designed to mitigate against the risk of things like credit card accounts being automatically opened in a fraudulent manner.

However in your case you do need to review the submission of a Cat 4 flag, as this implies that the applicant has submitted a fraudulent application.