Credit Reference Agencies - Who Really Uses Who? II

js78

telecomengineer wrote: »

These guys offer non-status car finance and leasing and ONLY search EQUIFAX

who do they report the conduct of accounts to? which agencies?

Jimmyt_2

This thread says EGG use Experian and Equifax, but their website states that they use call credit too...

From Egg's website...

"As a responsible lender we will base your credit limit on information from credit reference agencies. They provide lenders with information about your credit history which is then used to make lending decisions.
You can contact the three agencies we use - the information they hold may not be the same so it might be worth contacting them all. They may charge you a small statutory fee.

• Experian, Credit Expert, PO Box 7710, Nottingham NG80 7WE. Call 0844 481 8000
• Equifax PLC, Credit File Advice Centre, PO Box 1140, Bradford, BD1 5US. Call 0844 335 0550
• Call Credit, Consumer Services Team, PO Box 491, Leeds LS3 1WZ. Call 0870 0601414 "

System

Jimmyt wrote: »

This thread says EGG use Experian and Equifax, but their website states that they use call credit too...

From Egg's website...

"As a responsible lender we will base your credit limit on information from credit reference agencies. They provide lenders with information about your credit history which is then used to make lending decisions.

You can contact the three agencies we use - the information they hold may not be the same so it might be worth contacting them all. They may charge you a small statutory fee.

• Experian, Credit Expert, PO Box 7710, Nottingham NG80 7WE. Call 0844 481 8000
• Equifax PLC, Credit File Advice Centre, PO Box 1140, Bradford, BD1 5US. Call 0844 335 0550
• Call Credit, Consumer Services Team, PO Box 491, Leeds LS3 1WZ. Call 0870 0601414 "

Hi Jimmyt

Welcome

You will find that a lot of lenders state that they may use all three credit reference agencies but in reality they tend to stick to the main two, which are Experian and Equifax. That is not to say they will never use CallCredit but, based on the experience of other MSE forum users who have posted on this thread, it is less likely.

CallCredit remains the least used CRA but IMO this may gradually change when their data collection becomes significant enough.

When I applied to Egg last year they used Experian and Equifax.

Regards
UNDERGROUND

izools

izools wrote: »

New P2P / Social lending sites:

Yes-Secure.com

Call Credit

Quakle.co.uk

Experian

RateSetter.com

Call Credit & Equifax

In addition to this, Zopa report to Ex, Eq, and CC, not just Ex as listed on the first page.

Can we have this all updated plz?

Jimmyt_2

UNDERGROUND wrote: »

Hi Jimmyt

Welcome

You will find that a lot of lenders state that they may use all three credit reference agencies but in reality they tend to stick to the main two, which are Experian and Equifax. That is not to say they will never use CallCredit but, based on the experience of other MSE forum users who have posted on this thread, it is less likely.

CallCredit remains the least used CRA but IMO this may gradually change when their data collection becomes significant enough.

When I applied to Egg last year they used Experian and Equifax.

Regards
UNDERGROUND

Hi Underground,

Thanks for the response and the information!
Yea I guessed that might be the case, I just wanted to put the quote up in case they had changed their credit checking since this thread was posted.

Great thread by the way, keep up the good work!

James

Jimmyt_2

One other thing I have noticed, Tesco is listed on here with Natwest and Royal Bank of Scotland, however apparently Tesco now runs independantly of these two banks according to Wikipedia (sorry it won't let me post links)...

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"Tesco Bank plc is the product of the rebranding and reorganisation of Tesco Personal Finance plc, a telephone and internet based commercial bank in the United Kingdom owned by Tesco, the UK's largest supermarket. Until 2008 it was a 50:50 joint venture between Tesco and the Royal Bank of Scotland, one of the UK's largest banks and remained under the Tesco Personal Finance plc(TPF) branding until 2010. Customers will gradually notice the phasing out of the TPF brand until mid to late 2011 when the rebranding will be complete. It is registered in Scotland at St Andrew Square, Edinburgh.

Prior to the formation of TPF, Tesco had a banking joint venture with NatWest, which ended in February 1997. Tesco Personal Finance was formed in July 1997 following the successful launch of Sainsbury's Bank by its main UK competitor, J Sainsbury plc Sainsbury's. The bank was launched as a joint venture with the Royal Bank of Scotland, which processed all its financial transactions. Subsidiary companies of the Royal Bank, such as Direct Line, UKI and Lombard Direct helped Tesco Personal Finance provide insurance products.
Tesco Personal Finance has been a great success for both Tesco and the Royal Bank of Scotland, returning profits of £65 million for Tesco for the financial year to February 2007. Tesco is able to use its large customer base to cross sell financial services products, and allows customers to accumulate Tesco Clubcard points when they purchase finance products. This strategy is highly effective because it can be combined with in store offers which results in customers spending higher amounts of money, often on non-food items in order to increase sales across all product lines thus causing sustainable yet competitive growth which allows them to deal with control for market control with ASDA.
The company is currently trialling a finance centre in six stores throughout the UK, including the Glasgow Silverburn Extra store providing free financial advice and quotes for insurance and loans, this service is staffed by trained Royal Bank of Scotland staff. The centre also has a Euro cash machine providing commission free Euros and a Bureau de Change run by Travelex. If successful this trial will roll out to a number of other key and flagship stores.
[edit] Name change to Tesco Bank

In July 2008, Tesco announced that they were buying out the Royal Bank of Scotland's 50% stake in the company for £950 million, and the transaction was completed later that year.[1][2]
During 2009 Tesco plan to open 30 branches in store, branded Tesco Bank. The products have always been promoted in store with posters and leaflets (the low cost of advertising in existing premises is one competitive advantages of a retailer-owned financial services company), but these direct customers to contact Tesco Financial Services by post, phone or via the internet.[3]
In October 2009 Tesco Financial Services was renamed Tesco Bank.[4] The company is adding mortgages and current accounts to its product range."

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Also their website states they use Experian (no mention of Equifax)...

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"Tesco Bank uses a company called Experian to check applicants' credit history. If you are turned down for credit, this is not a decision made by Experian, but by Tesco Bank, based on our own criteria."

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Dr_Cuckoo3

UNDERGROUND wrote: »

Any other thoughts on this?

UNDERGROUND

I'm more interested in accuracy of information and the source of the information ,whether it is based on the poster's personal experience or not.

The Thomas Cook and Hilton HHonors Barclaycards were previously issued by other companies, HFC and FDR (Thomas Cook still used the FDR Basildon address on the Barclaycard website) , they may have used a different CRA .

If the information differs from the majority , then I would be interested in the credibility of the information eg is it from memory many years ago or recent

Dr_Cuckoo3

Metro Bank searched Equifax in my case for a current account , There is no search on Experian , I have not checked Call Credit

http://www.metrobankonline.co.uk/personal/metro-bank-accounts/

Metro Bank's literature states they may search Equifax ,Experian or Call Credit

http://www.equifax.co.uk/About-us/Press_releases/2010/METRO_BANK_INVESTS_IN_EQUIFAX_RISK_MANAGEMENT_TOOLS.html

Vipul5

I notice that this hasn't been added -the existing info on Santander suggests they use Experian all the time but this is definitely not the case for loans

paulmcerlean

Well would you elaborate and tell us who they use as well?