Letting agency "credit checks" and experian scores - fair?

Trajal

Thanks Fermi, very helpful, I'll print take a look at how they operate and compare it with some of the legislation. I am starting to form a view on this already, but happy to be enlightened.

I am not unfamiliar with documents of this nature sadly so I'll plough on through!

Trajal

Heh,

"Data will be shared on the principle that subscribers receive the same credit performance level data that they contribute, and should contribute all such data available "

Their own document rather succinctly makes my point.

fermi

I seem to recall that there are some limited exceptions to that principle buried somewhere in the document. Don't ask me what or where though.

Trajal

I suspect they are talking about what they refer to as an aggregated risk score. However, just because they've mashed all the private information about lending etc up and blended it into a score which they then add other info to and called it a 'risk score' or whatever doesn't mean that they should be able to make use of elements of that algorithm to people who don't share and have no legal right to that information.

Getting through it now, but I think I've read enough from their own voluntary industry steering committee, time to start on the legislation soon as I'm not at all convinced this is really allowed.

I can see how they're trying to cover it by including geostatistical analysis and suchlike which is all public. But at the core of it the truth remains that if you have defaults, you will score very poorly. It therefore becomes indicative to those who are not permitted to see that information that you have defaults which in turn means that general 'backround radiation' about your private financial details is being leaked to an unacceptable extent.

I imagine this is an ICO thing at this point.. not sure though.

brians_daughter

In the info provided by the letting agency who will be letting a property for me states

We can offer a FULL credit history check including:
Existing credit agreements, including arrears
County Court Judgment (CCJ) search
Bankruptcy & IVA data search
Linked address checks
Electoral roll presence
Credit Score


That to me, if they can see existing credit agreements and see arrears then its quite a comprehensive check. They did say as one of the "selling points" that they gain permission from the prospective tenant to conduct a much more through check than is usual?

Experian_company_representative

Landlords and letting agents should not have access to credit account records, or scores derived from credit account records. The risk scores we provide to landlords are based on public data.

brians daughter - if you'd like to share further details of the information provided by the letting agent you quote (including their name) we'll happily look into it: customerrelations@uk.experian.com

Thanks
James Jones

Trajal

Experian_company_representative wrote: »

Landlords and letting agents should not have access to credit account records, or scores derived from credit account records. The risk scores we provide to landlords are based on public data.

brians daughter - if you'd like to share further details of the information provided by the letting agent you quote (including their name) we'll happily look into it: [EMAIL="customerrelations@uk.experian.com"]customerrelations@uk.experian.com[/EMAIL]

Thanks
James Jones

James,

Thank you for taking the time to respond to my concerns. Your comments about what a landlord or agency should be able to see are in line with my interpretation of the legislation, hence my stunned outrage at what several agencies are claiming they can offer.

For the avoidance of doubt, are you able to confirm that any risk or credit score received by a Lettings agent is not affected by any defaults, 'arrangements to pay' or existing credit lines from an individuals credit file in any way?

Many thanks.

Experian_company_representative

That's right.

James

Trajal

Thanks very much for this. If I come across any that fail me, I'll send them your way for questioning as all my public information is great!

The_Boss

Tia0101 wrote: »

As a Letting Agent myself (don't hate me!) I can only speak for my particular company but whilst we apply for a credit reference we only see public record information. We basically see a score, confirm identity and see any CCJ's and if they're settled or not. I have to stress though that this is Not the only factor in renting a property to a client. We always rely more on previous landlord information, employment reference etc. We are working on behalf of a landlord (in our case they're not our properties) and we have to be able to demonstrate we've done all we can to protect the landlord's investment while remaining fair to our tenants. As someone with a less than perfect score myself I absolutely understand that a credit score isn't the be all and end all and we ALWAYS look at other options, its very rare for us to turn away a tenant and certainly not on a credit score alone. We don't all operate the same!

The fact that several excellent scores are reported as having defaults associated with them must be of concern to you then.