Confused.com quote led to multiple credit searches

ruggedtoast

Experian alerted me to new searches on my credit report, so I logged on and:

1) RBS PLC IRO OF PRIVILEGE - INSURANCE QUOTATION

2) AA INSURANCE SERVICES - INSURANCE QUOTATION

3) ROYAL AND SUN ALLIANCE INSURANCE PLC - UNRECORDED ENQUIRY

They all correspond to a date when I was hunting for car insurance on Confused.com

I had no idea that price comparison websites could authorise companies to run credit checks on you.

I think no.3 is ok as it doesnt affect a credit score, but 1 and 2 look like actual searches. Anyone able to confirm that?

keith1950

Hi, most of these type of searches are purely to check you are who you say you are and are only visible to you , they are not visible to anyone else. They are probably done when you click that you want to pay monthly which is in effect a credit request.

lisyloo

I don't believe an insurance quotation would affect you looking for credit.
I have these too and I didn't ask for credit (pay monthly).

Next time you could do quotes for Mr Mickey Mouse or Mr Donald Duck, then it will show on their credit reports :-)
I don't know if this will exclude you from some quotes if they cannot verify your identity.
Also make sure you use a false phone number and email address. Mickey gets all my spam.

ruggedtoast

Confused does harvest a lot of personal data and they pass it all on to every company, I had trouble before amending a quote I actually wanted with Elephant because I couldnt remember the fake mother's maiden name I had given confused.

adamc260

They're identity checks and go as 'Unrecorded entries' on your credit report... or did at least on mine! So they're not visible to any one else. As above, it's just to check you are who you say you are based on credit applications/electoral roll etc.

If you apply for car insurance on a monthly basis they probably do a further check to see if your eligible for credit as not everyone is guarenteed the right to pay monthly as they could have a poor lending history and the insurer may think its too much of a risk to offer the monthly payment option.

oscarward

So why do a search just for a quote?

Wouldn't make more sense when actually buying to do a search and refuse if there is a problem?

adamc260

oscarward wrote: »

So why do a search just for a quote?

Wouldn't make more sense when actually buying to do a search and refuse if there is a problem?

I did a quote before with fake details about me (ie: name... address etc) and it brought a diff price to when I searched with my real details. Don't know if this is still the case, was a wee while ago I actually bothered checking.

*Kat*

Just for a quotation though? I could understand if you were signing up for one...but that's just weird.

noh

ruggedtoast wrote: »

Experian alerted me to new searches on my credit report, so I logged on and:

1) RBS PLC IRO OF PRIVILEGE - INSURANCE QUOTATION

2) AA INSURANCE SERVICES - INSURANCE QUOTATION

3) ROYAL AND SUN ALLIANCE INSURANCE PLC - UNRECORDED ENQUIRY

They all correspond to a date when I was hunting for car insurance on Confused.com

I had no idea that price comparison websites could authorise companies to run credit checks on you.

I think no.3 is ok as it doesnt affect a credit score, but 1 and 2 look like actual searches. Anyone able to confirm that?

From confused.com Privacy Policy
Credit searches - Insurance

Many insurance providers operate a credit scoring system and will carry out checks with credit reference and fraud prevention agencies. These checks may include electoral roll and credit information. Some insurance checks are registered as ‘general insurance searches’ and may be viewed by other credit or insurance companies if you apply for their services. When using our price comparison service, the insurance providers may use their credit scoring system before returning a price.

mondello

I have the same three companies on my credit search too. It's really annoying that they can do this without consulting you, afterall it's only a quote. I will use these comparison sites with more care in the future.