Searches on Credit Record

scottishblondie

I have just looked at my Experian credit record as I am thinking about applying for a 0% purchases card, and I wanted to see if the card I closed recently was showing as settled yet. I have several CCs (all paid off in full monthly), so I closed one to bring down my available credit.

Anyway, in late July I applied for a Clarity CC from Halifax. I was obviously credit searched for this, but it's showing up 4 times! Twice on the 22/07 and twice more on 12/08. I don't understand why it has multiple identical checks listed - and now I'm worried that so many searches will look pretty bad to other potential lenders. Can I ask to have the multiple entries removed? Does it really matter?

I've always considered myself fairly savvy in financial matters, but this is new to me as I've never bothered to check my credit report before!

lisyloo

Check the "type" of search.
2 of them may well be generic identity checks.
This is just checking that you are who you claim to be and is not a credit search.

So you probably have 2 and not four.
However it does seem to be double.

Have you asked Halifax about this?

scottishblondie

It says "Application Type: Credit Card" under all 4 of them.

I haven't asked Halifax about it yet, I literally looked at the report 10 minutes ago. As I'm unsure about all this stuff I thought I would arm myself with some more info before contacting them

lisyloo

I have personally had totally different different experiences.
Sometimes you will be told that they only report what the lender says and cannot do anything as Halifax reported it.
If you got a statutory report then you can email experian but there are quite long turnaround times (10 working days).
If you are on a free trial you might have a phone number where you can speak to them.

Other times I had had CRAs remove addresses/aliases, but they might be more sticky on a credit search.

I suspect you will need to speak to Halifax to get this sorted as CRAs generally just report what lenders say and they will be reluctant to change it just on your say so. They might remove a duplicate on the same day, but they might not on the different dates.

You are basically going to have to ask them, but I have not seen a great deal of consistency between what they will do and what they wont.

scottishblondie

Interesting. I think I'll speak to Halifax first and see what they have to say! Thanks for the advice.

Silvafox

scottishblondie wrote: »

Interesting. I think I'll speak to Halifax first and see what they have to say! Thanks for the advice.

Email Experian and they'll remove the duplicated ones. It will still leave you with two searches, one in each year - but that's better than four.

I recently did the same as Natwest had done two identical searches on the same date and Experian simply removed one of them.

YorkshireBoy

Silvafox wrote: »

It will still leave you with two searches, one in each year

The second two were the following month, ie in August. Four credit card applications (which, to all intents and purposes, is what the OP has made) in the space of a few weeks smacks of desperation to anyone searching your file. Remember...other lenders will not be able to see that these searches were all made by the same company.

I'd be going this way myself...

http://www.halifax.co.uk/contactus/howtocomplain.asp

kev.s

Silvafox wrote: »

Email Experian and they'll remove the duplicated ones. It will still leave you with two searches, one in each year - but that's better than four.

I recently did the same as Natwest had done two identical searches on the same date and Experian simply removed one of them.

i had the same, but they won't simply remove them, they have to contact the company who applied the search first, only if they are happy that it's a duplicate entry will the company tell them to remove it.

scottishblondie

Thanks YorkshireBoy, I phoned them up and asked about it. The girl I spoke to said she didn't know what had happened. I have to send them a copy of my credit report and letter detailing my issue, and then they will look into it.

Sigh. I wanted to get a 0% purchases card to pay for my car insurance in 2 weeks, there's no way this is going to be sorted out in time. Looks like I'll be dipping into my ISA instead!

YorkshireBoy

scottishblondie wrote: »

I wanted to get a 0% purchases card to pay for my car insurance in 2 weeks, there's no way this is going to be sorted out in time.

You may have been a tad optimistic with that timescale anyway...even without the issue that's come to light.

Had you allowed a month or so I'd probably have suggested throwing a speculative application in, being as the searches were recorded some 7-8 months ago. If you were then declined (whether or not due to the 4 searches), it would have given you more 'ammo' for your complaint to Halifax.

scottishblondie

Yes, I know I left it too late really!! I hadn't realised my ready cash was all going to disappear - my brother called in a long-term loan, and my income has been slashed from this month on, I topped up this year's ISA, plus I need a new laptop... you get the idea!

Once this is resolved I'll apply for a card and if I get one I'll use it for the computer so I can pay it off over a longer period, which should ease my cashflow issues over the next few months. My problem isn't a lack of cash per se, it's a reluctance to withdraw money from my ISA reserves!