Credit Report inaccurate - need help please

YorkshireMatt

Please help. (obviously I'm a newbie so please be gentle!)

I had an account with Creation Consumer Finance back in 2006, that after a few missed payments went to Red Castle Recoveries. They offered me a reduced settlement figure, and I paid it off on 13th November 2008.

In April of this year I started paying for my Experian credit report, and sat on my credit report is a "status 6" to Creation Consumer Finance for a balance of £2138, and is been updated (to this day) as a status 6.

In the last three months I have made a call to Red Castle Recoveries (who couldnt help as the entry was made by Creation, not them) and 13 calls to Creation, who have now closed the account on their system but don't appear to be making any effort to amend my credit file.

As you can imagine, after nearly 3 years of status 6 entries on my file, my credit score is "very low". I have no idea what to do to get this resolved. I have all the paperwork from Red Castle that I have paid and settled the account. I've sent this to Creation twice, but nothing seems to be happening..

Are Creation regulated by the Financial Ombudsman? The CSA? Do I go to the Information Commissioner? Its getting to the point where I'm debating whether to just drive to their office and refuse to leave until someone has updated my credit report to show an accurate reflection of me!

Any help or advice would be greatly appreciated.

Saints2011

Have you tried contacting the CRA's for them to contact Creation for you?

(Can add notice of dispute)...

YorkshireMatt

Hi there

Thanks for replying. I asked Experian to contact Creation three months ago when this first started. Creation took the full four weeks to reply and said that the information was accurate. Do you think it would be worth trying again now that Creation have closed the account on their system?

Experian did put a notice of dispute on but my credit report / score still sits in the 400's..:(

izools

Write a formal written complaint to Creation enclosing copies of the proof from Red Castle (again).

Give them 30 days to update Experian, Equifax, and Call Credit.

If they fail to do so, report them to the ICO *and* the FSA (they are regulated by both)

Good luck!

YorkshireMatt

:)Thanks for the advice - I'll do it tonight and let you all know how I get on!

PsyberPixie

I have been informed by Experian, Credit Safe UK and my solicitor that there is currently NO UK regulation for credit reference agencies as I have had an issue with Experian holding incorrect details.

Its only companies that actually supply a person/company/entity with credit that are FSA, Financial Ombudsman, etc regulated.

Sorry for the bad news but i personally think its shocking that credit reference agencies can get away without being regulated in the slightest.

YorkshireMatt

So its pretty much a case of keep going with Creation until they put it right? I can kinda see why the credit agencies can't be held responsible as I guess they're only showing what they've been told is accurate.

Really frustrating though when some companies don't even have the courtesy to reply (i've got two incorrect address links, emailed the companies and didn't even get a response)

I'm assuming that even incorrect address links can adversely affect my credit rating?

somethingcorporate

A score in the low 400s means nothing, only that a company that DOESN'T loan money gives you a bunch of meaningless figures.

What is important is that you do what you can to get the incorrect bits on your file accurate and up to date. Anything that is wrong on there needs fixing so incorrect addresses, for instance, can all have an impact on credit-worthiness (moving around a lot can lower ability to get credit).

Please do not confuse this with a meaningless score a business gives you, credit scores are just there to generate income for the companies supplying them.

Experian_company_representative

Not quite. Most lenders obtain data and scores from the credit reference agency or agencies they use - so the scores are certainly not meaningless. But what you have to remember is that these are just credit report scores - lenders factor additional data into their decisions.

On the Creation issue I would definitely get back in touch with us and ask us to raise this with them again. If you disagree with the subsequent outcome we will explain your next steps at that stage.

We are licensed by the Office of Fair Trading and therefore covered by the Financial Ombudsman Service. As a data processor, we are also registered with the Information Commissioner's Office, which oversees much of our work and ensures Data Protection Act compliance. We actually work very closely with the ICO and hold regular meetings. Many of the individual data sources we take are also governed by specific legislation, such the the electoral roll and the Representation of the People Act.

James Jones

YorkshireMatt

Well, I've attacked this from both angles. I've emailed Experian asking them to contact Creation to get their permission to update the entry, and also sent a letter to Creation with proof of settlement (including a copy of the bank statement that had the payment on it) and given them 30 days to resolve it. I'll let everyone know how I get on...

Would just like to say a thank you to everyone who's helped me out so far - really has been appreciated. Sometimes its difficult to know which way to turn with all this! 13 calls to Creation...sure it would have been cheaper to drive over and see them!

TrAr

Hi,
I thought I would reply to this to give you some hope as I have had a similar problem with Creation.

Several years ago I got a Faith store card that was managed by Creation Finance. Young and naive as I was I didn't pay the full amount, avoiding interest and ended up paying a hell of a lot more for the boots I wanted! I paid the full balance off in 2005 and cancelled my account.

Last year I started paying for Experian and noticed that according to my credit report my Creation account was still active. Given that it was 5 years later I didn't have any of the account details, but duly wrote to Creation using an Experian template, with the details I could give them and requested that they update my account. I got a letter back saying they couldn't find me on the system.

I emailed Experian and explained this to them in September last year, they contacted Creation who agreed to update my account accordingly. Which it did, for about 2 weeks, and then reverted to active again. I went back and forth with Experian, and them to Creation several times before giving up in April/May this year, when I wrote to the ICO and the FSA providing credit reports showing the account as settled, and then a few weeks later showing active. The ICO did !!!!!! all, but the FSA wrote back to me informing me they had written to Creation and had given them 8 weeks to rectify the situation. A few weeks later I got a letter from Creation apologising for not updating my account, apparently it was due to an "admin error" and they have now updated it to show as closed from May 2005. They are also sending me a cheque for £50 for the inconvenience.

I've checked my credit report and it's all updated, and due to the 6 year rule has now disappeared completely! :T

So if you still don't get anywhere with them, send your proof to the FSA and ICO and they should sort it out pretty quickly for you. I didn't even have proof of settlement or closure, but Creation obviously did. I must say as well Experian were fab, definitely worth my £6.99 a month! They've recently sorted another discrepancy out too! :T

Good luck! Tara