Does anyone think Equifax & Experian are like the mafia?

franked

Ive just bought a flat. But when i applied to buy an O2 mobile phone i got declined. O2 do not tell you the reason why. They say phone Equifax the credit reference agency that they use. Here in lies the problem...

I phone up equifax to ask what the problem is. they can't help. you have to buy your credi reference from them, which they put together. they then make scores about themselves.

I cant believe that you have to pay for a report based on all your details which you probably know about, so effectively you're buying back information about you, your accounts and credit history which you created from a company which sells off this private and confidential information.

I dont get it. If i entered a new town, where all the shops and restaurants were protected by the local mafia in the town, who stated that if you wanted to use these shops and restaurants, you had to first come to the mafia to buy permission to use the shops... in my mind thats extortion surely?!!!

I hate the fact that these companies not only get hold of your private and confidential info but then have the cheek to sell it back to you. They can also write anything they want about you which the credit/loans/banks/mobile companies etc, trust implicitly... and it causes the poor member of public the problem.

Okay i can understand that these credit companies etc need to protect their money and ensure that they are not getting ripped off but at the end of the day your credit reference from these companies is based on basic data entry, and when you have about 60million people in the UK owned by these mafia type credit reference agencies, the probability of inputting incorrect data is huge!

Im at the scale with regards to my credit problems that i've just moved to a new place where the previous vendor had huge bad credit...but not only can O2 nor Equifax tell me where exactly im failing? So im just having to guess my way along fixing the problem... seeing that i have no debt, pay all my credit cards in full each month for the past 5 years, have a wellish paid job and have just bought a flat, but i still can't buy a mobile phone?! Got figure.

Anyone else agree/disagree/had a similar problem? Please share your experiences.

Thanks :mad:

tripled

You can get the statuory report for two pounds, which I don't think is wholly unreasonable.

YorkshireBoy

I can understand your frustration, but you are making incorrect assumptions about 'how it works'. For example...

1. They can't write "anything they want" about you.

2. The probability of inputting incorrect data is not huge.

3. Whoever lived at your address before you does not affect your credit rating.

You may find Experian's Your credit report explained booklet an interesting read. If you order your £2 statutory report, they'll send you a hard copy free of charge.

moonrakerz

YorkshireBoy wrote:

3. Whoever lived at your address before you does not affect your credit rating.

SHOULD not affect your credit rating !

Astaroth

Does not affect, if there is an affect it is generally due to people intentionally or accidentally giving wrong information at some point. It is easily enough sorted by a simple notice of disassociation.

All the credit reference agencies do is store your history and given a lenders own algorithm calculate a score based on it. They dont decide what goes in your history, you do, they dont decide the scoring system, the lender you approach does.

£2 for a copy of your file really isnt bad value for money.

YorkshireBoy

moonrakerz wrote:

SHOULD not affect your credit rating !

Credit report myths

Can information about the previous occupants of my home affect my creditworthiness?

No. Lenders can only carry out credit checks with the individual’s consent and on people, not addresses. When you apply for credit, the lender will only see credit information about you and anyone to whom you are financially linked (called your financial associate). As a result, information about previous occupants of your home is not retrieved and can have no bearing on your creditworthiness.

..........

thesaint

I agree that it should read should not affect....

I looked at my credit report with Experian, I left my previous address in 2001.
I had an entry for Orange Telecommunications dated 11th February 2006 that had the name of the new occupier. I have never had any connection financial or otherwise with this person.

I printed it off and have sent it to Orange asking for the entry to be removed.

franked

thanks for your posts.

I still think its extortion, for two main companies to firstly get hold of your personal data very easily and secondly to sell your own info back to you!

Anyway i got my credit report for free... none of this rubbish statutory report for £2. Check out Martins hints on getting your report for free.

i'm now in the process of trying to sort out the equifax rubbish. i'm still very irrate about the whole situation.

The best bit is neither the lender nor the credit reference agency can tell me what is preventing me from getting credit! Whats the point of that - no you can't buy our product because our computer says, "No"... What a useless system!

PBA

franked wrote:

The best bit is neither the lender nor the credit reference agency can tell me what is preventing me from getting credit! Whats the point of that - no you can't buy our product because our computer says, "No"... What a useless system!

Think about what you're saying for a sec. If a company told you the exact reason your application got declined, wouldn't that just be an invitation to submit a new application lying about that piece of information, knowing that you'd then be accepted. Credit scoring was designed entirely to cut down on this type of application fraud.

tomstickland

Get your report for nothing the MSE way. Actually, you can earn £5 cashback for one of the agencies, which is nice.

ManAtHome

But don't forget to cancel before the trial period finishes...

And if you want to abolish reference agencies and go back to calling in to see/grovel to your bank manager, you're welcome to that!