My twin brothers details on my credit report

gazoo

Hi everyone,

I'm hoping somebody can offer me some advice. I was recently declined for a credit card application, even though my credit history is unscathed. The detective in me decided to try and find out why. I applied for a credit report from Equifax and to my disbelief, all my brothers details are on there aswell as my own. I can see his credit card history, bank accounts details, the lot. The fact we are twins is obviously why this has occurred. To me, that is an unsatisfactory explanation. We are different people with different addresses at present. I find it unbelievable that they would just assume we are one and the same person. Apart from having to create a financial disassociation, what other options do I have? I don't see why I should have to do that when we have never had a financial association in the past. To me, this is a serious breach of the data protection act and I want to take this as far as I can. All Equifax tell me to do, is to create a dispute via their website but this doesnt erase the fact that this has happened and I have been able to view information that should never be that freely available to me, let alone possibly affect my credit score.

What is the best course of action please? Any help or advice would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

Olipro

the fact your are twins has nothing to do with it.

credit reports are identified by two bits of information, specifically: your name, your address, they don't store a picture of your face.

The only way your brother would get on your credit report is if he opened financial products using your name and address, so you might wanna have a little chat wtith him.

huckfinn

This is definitely Equifax's problem, whatever way their system works, it seems that it can't tell the difference between you and your twin. This happened with a friend of mine and his father in the past. Equifax will get rid of the information off your report but the damage has already been done and they certainly won't accept responsibility. I'd make sure to keep a copy of your report the way it is now, before they go and change it and I'd contact The Information Commissioner’s Office as this is surely a breach of the data protection act.

gazoo

Thanks for the replies.

I don't think he has applied for credit using my details as this information comes under the section for "attributable data" - which appears under his own name. The section under my name is exactly how I would expect to see it.

For the record, I have sent off my complaint to the ICO and am still awaiting for a reply. Also Equifax have yet to reply to my online dispute...