What exactly do credit reference agencies know about us?

martin57

Hi all,

With the government discussing letting private companies have access to credit reference agencies (CRA) especially for those on benefits I am curious as to the extent of info CRA’s hold on us anyways.

1 Do they know our monthly credit card bill from month to month? I know they probably know what cc’s we have and the loans we applied for and who did a credit check on us, but the cc spending from month to month do they also know this?

2 Do they know what our utility bill is from month to month; probably I feel they may know the name of our utility companies but the actual bills?

3 The accuracy of the information that they do hold. A lot of us have filled so called surveys from these companies to enter a prize draw and may have ticked random boxes just to get it finished quickly?

4 How exactly will the government collate this information? Does paying your cc off every month equate to having loads of money or on the other extreme does having a large debt on your cc equate to having a lavish lifestyle? I find this so confusing.

Any views appreciated.

Martin57

Reaper

You will find the answers to most of your questions in the Credit Rating: How it works article. In particular see the What They Do/Don't Know About You sections. In brief they are concerned with debt - the total amount you have available to borrow, how much you have actually borrowed, and most importantly of all how many months repayments you have missed.

martin57 wrote: »

The accuracy of the information that they do hold. A lot of us have filled so called surveys from these companies to enter a prize draw and may have ticked random boxes just to get it finished quickly?

Credit Reference Companies are different to marketing companies. Those online surveys will not be in your credit report.

How exactly will the government collate this information?

They don't. CRAs are nothing to do with the government, and private companies can already access them to see whether to lend you more. They are sent information by companies you have debt related products with e.g. credit card companies, plus the Electoral Roll to identify you.

I suggest you request one of the CRAs to supply you with all the information they have on you then you can see. It now only costs £2 and can be done online. See the article for details.

kinglewis

CRAs hold info about credit outstanding, on loans, cards, mortgages etc and this will show the monthly payments also (indicating how much someone might be paying out each month in debt repayments). It is quite possible they will hold info from people who have applied for credit.. for example how much they say they earn in order to obtain credit. (Often people give one figure to obtain credit (higher) and another to obtain benefits(lower). This will encourage people to tell the truth.

I have wondered for years why the government / tax inspectors don't use this information to catch benefit thiefs.

Although I think it is a bit 'big brother'... it is a fantastic way for the government to reduce benefit fraud and I think the only people that will fear this approach are those who fiddle the system to obtain additional benefits.

The more they catch the better in my opinion. Lets give it to those who deserve it.

Sceptic001

You can get a free 30-day trial at http://www.creditexpert.co.uk/ to read your file for free.

Just remember to cancel your membership before the 30 days are up. I was surprised how detailed (and how accurate) the information was. They even knew about an overdraft facility I didn't even know I had! :j

atypical

martin57 wrote: »

4 How exactly will the government collate this information? Does paying your cc off every month equate to having loads of money or on the other extreme does having a large debt on your cc equate to having a lavish lifestyle? I find this so confusing.

As Reaper said above, the Government doesn't collect the information, private companies do. The Government won't be given all the information by credit reference agencies (though they have access to it). The credit reference agencies will be doing all the analysis and identifying potential benefit frauds for the Government. For everyone they identify correctly they get a payment. At least that's how it's looking that it'll flesh out, nothing is definite yet.

Large amounts of spending will probably be one trigger but it's a pretty crude way of doing it. I've read examples where they check if others are financially linked to an address but haven't been declared on benefit applications - this can effect single parent benefits, council tax discount and the like. For more serious benefit fraud where systematic applications are made for non-existent people, there's an element of commonality between applications e.g. addresses. The credit reference agencies say they can spot this.