Petition for experian to stop ripping customers off.

ALIBOBSY

Prior to experion et al you could borrow, But it was assesed on you as a person, your bank statements/wage slips and affordability.
There was no "quick decisions" no bad thing as credit should not be entered into lightly. There was less credit-see the credit crunch/recent ressesion again not a bad thing.
no computer say no crxp and there was less defaults. Mind you the banks made less profit and had to actually engage with customers as opposed to seeing them as a number to exploit.
TBH without the DCA's or simular the boom and bust of the last few years would not have happened or been a much smaller fall as it took decisions out of human hands into that of a computer prog.


Ali x

A_Flock_Of_Sheep

ALIBOBSY wrote: »

Prior to experion et al you could borrow, But it was assesed on you as a person, your bank statements/wage slips and affordability.
There was no "quick decisions" no bad thing as credit should not be entered into lightly. There was less credit-see the credit crunch/recent ressesion again not a bad thing.
no computer say no crxp and there was less defaults. Mind you the banks made less profit and had to actually engage with customers as opposed to seeing them as a number to exploit.
TBH without the DCA's or simular the boom and bust of the last few years would not have happened or been a much smaller fall as it took decisions out of human hands into that of a computer prog.


Ali x

A far more sensible sytem where a bank actually engages with you and checks your paper credentials and the fact you can actually pay.

adindas

billybear1 wrote: »

Exactly the boat I am in, I can prove that the data is inaccurate, I have sent them the proof it is inaccurate. Yet they will not move at any pace to correct it and can only do so with the lenders permission, EVEN THOUGH THE PROOF IS ON THEIR DESK!

billybear1;52310741
You are not alone. I have been following this issues for quite sometimes in this MSE forum from various threads. There are a lot of people have been talking about this.

The main issue is that they are taking side to the lender and will record all whatever the lenders are telling them. The lender, that is where all of CRAs are getting their power from. Without lenders who want to get their rubbish reports/records.

It is difficult for people to change that records without a huge fight which need a lot of efforts, time and the cost for phone call.

Also to fight them is not worthy even if you win considering that they are not going to fine/punish the lenders who are feeding them with rubbish .....

A_Flock_Of_Sheep

The problem is there isn't really an element of choice for the consumer. If they dislike Experian they can't opt out of being included in their systems. If I dislike Tesco I can actually go elsewhere.

The element of consumer choice exists in a slight fashion. If you don't want to have your financial information passed to these agencies you can opt out but by doing this you can't apply for the credit product in the first place and have to close any open account. You then even have to wait 6 years to see these drift off the system. You cant't even retrospectively forbid permission for the information to be held which is disgusting.

So it isn't really an "opt out" and go elsewhere choice.

The other problem is you can't even opt out of having the council pass on your details to these agencies. The only way round this is to break the law by never filling in the electoral form or maybe not illegal filling in the form with a different name to fill the agency's database with rubbish. What awful lengths you have to go to if you want nothing to do with these agencies!!!

It is very bad that along with a "credit" application you are also conscripted into a system you may not approve of. There should be the option of applying but saying that you wish that none of your information is passed to thse agencies.or processed via their systems. If this means you have to provide paperwork to a bank then so be it.

These third party agencies have almost a monopoly and the consumer has no choice but to go along with it or not have say a mortgage and therefore no roof over their head.

I cannot think of an analogy on this but it is almost like: I choose to shop at ASDA but everytome I do I must also buy something from Sainsbury's as that is part of the deal and I have no choice in the matter or I will have to starve.

seriousDFW

I can't imagine a world without CRAs as they've always been around since I've been using credit, but I must admit that reading these posts does leave me with that rather sick feeling that is so often associated with modern inventions.

I would love a lender to decide on my credit-worthiness by asking me more information about my spending/debts etc but obviously that would rely on trust as they'd have no way of checking. So that would lead to more of a relationship with your main bank, and for most people this would mean far less credit available to them. Of course this needn't be a bad thing, but it does take a lot of choices away from consumers.

Not sure where I stand on this! In a way they're just a business that provides a service to lenders (the service to consumers is evidently secondary).

To be honest I think the situation would be greatly improved if there were just one CRA as now there's a lot of overlap and it's pointless as they all offer the same thing. There shouldn't be any room for differentiation of product - the CRA should provide an accurate record of credit accounts held by a consumer. In this way it's not really a business but like some government department, but I doubt people would be happy with the government holding this information.

Anyone care to suggest better models for this service, as clearly there is a demand for it, even if it's not great in its current form?

A_Flock_Of_Sheep

seriousDFW wrote: »

Anyone care to suggest better models for this service, as clearly there is a demand for it, even if it's not great in its current form?

The first thing I would suggest is that lenders using the system should only be those reporting the performance of a regulated credit agreement under the Consumer Credit Act. NOT as we have at the moment all in sundry such as Mobile Phones, satellite TV and Gas Bills. I am sorry while these offer an element of "credit" it is these companies I think that provide the majority of the incorrect information and if you take dispute with them and refuse to pay until everything is sorted they then threaten to "ruin your credit history" which is disgusting.

Secondly a robust compensation scheme should exist where the consumer is guaranteed compensation in the event of incorrect information being reported. With this I mean £100s not a token tenner here or there.

seriousDFW

A_Flock_Of_Sheep wrote: »

The first thing I would suggest is that lenders using the system should only be those reporting the performance of a regulated credit agreement under the Consumer Credit Act. NOT as we have at the moment all in sundry such as Mobile Phones, satellite TV and Gas Bills. I am sorry while these offer an element of "credit" it is these companies I think that provide the majority of the incorrect information and if you take dispute with them and refuse to pay until everything is sorted they then threaten to "ruin your credit history" which is disgusting.

Secondly a robust compensation scheme should exist where the consumer is guaranteed compensation in the event of incorrect information being reported. With this I mean £100s not a token tenner here or there.

I would agree with this. I don't believe credit for mobile phones is 'real' credit because operators have the facility to cut off the service if a consumer doesn't pay. This should be punishment enough.

While of course, credit card/loan providers etc are lending actual money that they can't just claw back.

A_Flock_Of_Sheep

seriousDFW wrote: »

I would agree with this. I don't believe credit for mobile phones is 'real' credit because operators have the facility to cut off the service if a consumer doesn't pay. This should be punishment enough.

While of course, credit card/loan providers etc are lending actual money that they can't just claw back.

Mobile phone companies would argue that you are in a contract for a handset but in reality the Handset should be on a regulated credit agreement providing the additional protection the CCA delivers. This is a Hire Purchase Agreement in reality.The line rental shouldn't be part of this.

I would go on a 30 day SIM only arrangement but because these are "reported" along with minimum term contracts then I am remaining strictly Pay As You Go. Very odd as the 30 day contracts you pay line rental in advance anyway and can cancel with 30 days notice so not sure why these are "reported".

MunniMuncha

I have been declined a SIM only contract of £8 pm :mad:and don't know why. I have 95% equity in my house, have NEVER had late payments, always pay my cc bill in full, haven't had any loans/credit cards for the last don't know how many years and yet they turn me down for £8 pm - not even having a phone from them either.:mad:

Have applied to Experian for £2 statutory report (awaiting password through the post so I can then view it on line - which is a joke in itself) but have just been able to view my report from Equifax today (after loads of phone calls to them at 5p per min as they wanted extra proof of my identity) to find that I am not on the electoral roll (don't know how they say that as have just had my polling card this week) and a financial association with somebody I have never even heard of!:eek:

So I suppose my answer is in the fact that I am not on the electoral roll? Waiting to see what experian have to say on my report before I then have the unenviable task of sorting things out, and from what people are saying on here that is not going to be easy.:(

I too agree that these reports should be free and incorrect information should be able to be sorted without any hassle. Also think that they should have freephone numbers instead of the 0845 numbers (but there again, that's more money in the coffers!!)

A_Flock_Of_Sheep

Perhaps the resident Experian Representative could take some of these issues forward.

Perhaps he could be instumental in creating the robust compensation scheme for consumers that are victim of incorrect infomation?

This would be a simple process to administer. Consumer files a dispute with proof of incorrect data. Lender corrects this and then passes a fee of say £300 onto Experian who then forwards a BACS credit to the consumer for say £200.

It must be easy for Experian to build such a thing into the contracts it has with its lenders?