Credit Reference Agencies - Who Really Uses Who? II

big_Daddy_Dave

ahh right

thanks

i guess ill just have to sign up to experian and then phone them up and ask as Im not a customer and they wont take my calls

mdr75

Hello..
Newbie here..
I applied for a Tesco Credit Card yesterday and got refused.
I studied their website first and found under the Credit Card-Credit Rating-Your Credit Rating tabs, a section where they specificaly state they use the Experian Credit Reference AGENCY (Singular, not plural i.e Agencies!).
I know from checking with Experian this week that i have a 995 score with them so no problems you would think??!
However, they(Tesco) also used CallCreditCheck where my file shows a default from a 5 year old debt for £294 that i am currently disputing as it is incorrect. I do not owe this money!
My point is, regardless of the incorrect default on my CallCreditCheck account, their (Tesco) website specificaly states they only use Experian! I have the screen grab of the page that says this.
Is this enough grounds for me to contact Tesco and ask them to reverse their decision based on inaccurate and misleading information on their website or am i just a minion who will be swept aside into the infinity of space that is a call queue and be on hold forever?
Thank you in advance for any help you can offer.

john1002

You can try but I doubt you will get very far, also as has been said so many times before in many threads, the experian score means nothing in the real world of credit, there may be loads of reasons why you have been declined, debt to income ratio, electoral role info, how long you have lived at your address, how long in work and so on, tesco should give you an idea why they have declined you, but they most likely will say credit score and then it is anyone guess.

john

mdr75

Thanks for your quick reply John.
I have yet to recieve the "Get Lost" letter from them yet anyway so will see what they say... I suspect it will be along the lines of we use a number of CRA's and suggest you check with them etc etc.
I would like to kick up a little bit of a fuss just to make myself feel a bit better ha ha.
My electoral role info is all up to date and have lived at my current address for 2 years and have no significant borrowing etc.
I'll ring and say my piece....
Thanks again.

sfax

Was accepted for a Tesco CC in September and they only searched Experian. I keep tabs on Equifax (subscription) and CallCredit (noddle) and neither were searched by Tesco (TESCO PERSONAL FINANCE LIMITED). I doubt they will reverse their decision if you complain about who they searched and they are unlikely to give you the reason why you were rejected. The Experian score isn't relevant to Tesco.

mdr75

Thanks sfax.
I've just got a bee in my bonnet about them stating they only use Experian. I'm a bit of a stickler when it comes to things like that.

BugsyBrowne

mdr75 wrote: »

Thanks sfax.
I've just got a bee in my bonnet about them stating they only use Experian. I'm a bit of a stickler when it comes to things like that.

You failed Tesco's credit scoring and they don't give a monkies what score Experian gives you as tesco uses their own scoring system.

People who have been discharged bankrupt have excellent credit scores with Experian but as they don't lend money their scores are irrelevant.

sfax

The funny thing about the scores is that they are out of 1000 and accurate to the nearest whole number. For example my Equifax score is currently 509 (I get my score every now and again more out of curiosity than anything else, because I have a half price subscription with Equifax). The granularity of the score suggests some clever algorithm is at work behind the scenes and a slight change would yield a score of +1. The reality is that it's a guess, and for many people not a very good one. I used to get my Experian score quite a lot and in the past it was a good reflection of my application success or failure. It isn't any more (my score is much lower than my acceptance rate) and I see a lot of people who get straight rejections with scores in the 900s. One thing that I do think is quite useful sometimes for people unfamiliar with scoring is the guidance that comes with the score. E.g. your current address is less than 2 years, you have unsettled accounts at a previous address etc. but you can easily read about these rules elsewhere and apply them to your own report

Oh, I think it's "monkey's" as in "monkey's uncle"....

mdr75

I'll double check on Equifax but will certainly get CallCredit to pull their fingers out and get rid of the wrong info of my report!
I'm guessing, judging by the reponse, getting on to Tesco about their decision is a complete waste of time then? ha ha ha
Thanks again for the help so far.

BugsyBrowne

Experian and their scores are one big massive unreliable mess that charges people with this false inaccurate information.