Mum has no Callcredit history

zudecke

Hi guys,

My mum was curious about her credit scoring after reading some articles, so I hooked her up with Check My File. I predicted it would not be as straight forward as one would hope, because of our address formatting, which has always caused me problems.

So after verifying herself via a security key in the post from Check My File, it appears she has a spotless credit, electoral and everything else history with everyone except for Call Credit... Who hold nothing for credit history (even though she has and has always had at least 6 active accounts including credit cards). Here is an image showing that she does have active and clean files:




Below is the profile, which I know isn't official or anything, but should at least be representative:



So while Call Credit clearly have some details on her, which is why they rate her as 945 for Landlords/Employers and 737 for Lenders, which are they not recording any credit accounts?

While typing this, I also tried to view the online statutory report for £2 through the Call Credit website and it just said "Unable to find. Probably due to mismatch of information held. Please try our postal service here"

So something is definitely awry somewhere..

Any ideas guys?

Regards,

Z

Tixy

I'd just stick with ordering your (her) statutory files from the 3main agencies rather than use checkmyfile, partly because it doesn't have the experian info anyway and because of issues like yours where something clearly doesn't look right - seen a few reports of checkmyfile not showing the same info as the source agencies.

I'd try to order the postal report from callcredit so she can see what is on there.

The landlords bit is only public info that can be seen - ie CCJs, bankruptcy etc so they can pick that up from anywhere - just means there is nothing negative recorded. The 737 who knows?

zudecke

Okay.

What's weird though is why she is forced to apply via post and cannot view it online? What is different about the two ways?

And yeah.. 737 from Call Credit.. Mystery atm..

Paul_Herring

zudecke wrote: »

Below is the profile, which I know isn't official or anything, but should at least be representative:

Don't fool yourself. Anything beyond the bare facts is not representative from any of those companies.

I suggest you have a read of, e.g. this thread.

zudecke

Regardless, it doesn't explain why according to Check My File, they rate her at 788 despite not having any record of any credit accounts at all, as per the screenshot in my OP.

It also doesn't explain why she can't view her statutory report online and was directed to use snail mail version...

Tixy

The reason people are generally asked to request a mail version rather than the online report is either because they are having problems verifying her identity (often this can be do to not being on the electoral roll or an address discrepancy), or if there is so little information in terms of credit accounts etc that they cannot establish her identity.
Using the mail version gives them additional security in terms of them establishing that its her and not any one else trying to access her report.

Gromitt

Unless its experian, who always seem to send you a passcode to download your credit report regardless.

CallCredit and Equifax both allow me instant access. Never happens with Experian.

Paul_Herring

zudecke wrote: »

Regardless, it doesn't explain why according to Check My File, they rate her at 788 despite not having any record of any credit accounts at all, as per the screenshot in my OP.

That thread does a perfect job of explaining the score. To summarise:

They make the numbers up. And still charge for them. 788 means nothing.

Additionally (and is probably what's happening here) not all creditors report to all agencies. Callcredit is probably far down the food-chain of being reported to, since Equifax and Experian are the two usually used/reported to.

And to repeat stuff on that thread, the score 'represents' your history. Companies that actually supply credit (i.e. not Callcredit, since they don't) take into account other stuff like current circumstances - thus the scores are suspect to begin with.

EmmaHerts

I just tried the online statutory report with Call Credit and it seemed to have an issue with the apostrophe in my town's name. Are systems really that lousy?

Paul_Herring

EmmaHerts wrote: »

I just tried the online statutory report with Call Credit and it seemed to have an issue with the apostrophe in my town's name. Are systems really that lousy?

Yes, (if it's dealing with it as I suspect it probably is.)

There are even some systems that disallow 'special characters' (such as apostrophes and semicolons) in passwords in a misguided attempt to stop 'hacking' instead of doing the right thing and actually accommodate them.

For the more technically literate, who are unaware of the cartoon, http://xkcd.com/327/ takes the mick somewhat out of this 'problem.'

shiny76

zudecke wrote: »

Okay.

What's weird though is why she is forced to apply via post and cannot view it online? What is different about the two ways?

By post it's dealt with by a human, who (hopefully) will be able to think outside of some perhaps strict logic that the web applications apply and therefore get a better result. This would seem likely with your unusual address formatting!