Experian's Fundamental Breach of Data Protection Act 1998 29 December 2013 at 2:57PM edited 29 December 2013 at 3:09PM in Credit File & Ratings 102 replies 14.6K views

goonarmy

This is definately the place to clean up an act...

VictimOfImpersonation

1 Negative factors

• You have recently opened 1 or more new credit accounts. [No I didn't. A fraudster did. With an incorrect date of birth] Your bank of umpteen years and umpteen products issued it and told your CRA of umpteen years that you are 8½ years younger than they have you down for. Experian swallowed it and coincidentally as this is a new credit agreement marked your file with this red negative factor and downgraded your credit score. Experian knows about the date of birth mismatch problem - it is a general problem onboard the good ship CreditExpert. It is easy to see everywhere on the ship. Not cleaned up yet though - costs to swab the decks ? Can't admit the decks are a in a bit of a state - bad show. We are the captain of the ship - it is all beneath us. Grandstand and brass it out. [Costa Concordia style ?]
  

0 changes since last report

» See more ? Regrettably we expect so. Next clean-up status report tomorrow.

goonarmy

Cant wait. So far, so good.

VictimOfImpersonation

me wrote:

Experian_company_representative wrote:

Not at all. We do care and we carry out rigorous checks on incoming information.

Clearly you are misinformed.

You have maintained a large file on me for decades. It contains numerous records all with the same date of birth except the last one. Clearly there is no rigorous check that flagged up the new record for rejection or even for investigation. None whatever.

Do you doubt that what I have said has happened?

Explain carefully please.

We still seem to be missing a careful explanation of how this could have the escaped the net, or an explanation of the net itself (which I am entitled to doubt actually exists).

Meantime latest status report on my Experian Credit Report:
1 Negative factors

• You have recently opened 1 or more new credit accounts. [No I didn't. A fraudster did. With an incorrect date of birth] Your bank of umpteen years and umpteen products issued it and told your CRA of umpteen years that you are 8½ years younger than they have you down for. Experian swallowed it and coincidentally as this is a new credit agreement marked your file with this red negative factor and downgraded your credit score. Experian knows about the date of birth mismatch problem - it is a general problem onboard the good ship CreditExpert. It is easy to see everywhere on the ship. Not cleaned up yet though - costs to swab the decks ? Can't admit the decks are a in a bit of a state - bad show. We are the captain of the ship - it is all beneath us. Grandstand and brass it out. [Costa Concordia style ?]
  

0 changes since last report

» See more ? Regrettably we expect so. Next clean-up status report tomorrow. Maybe with more news from the bank too who are saying they haven't contacted the CFAs or CIFAS because I hadn't got the forms back yet that simply confirmed that I did not open a new account with them using a totally wrong dob (wrong day/wrong month/wrong year) and using someone else's bank account details with another bank. I only offered to complete the forms as a goodwill gesture because the Customer Relations guy seemed extremely apologetic and had relented in the face of the obvious to give me the dob info and the third party bank account detail. Marvellous isn't it?

kirkbyinfurnesslad_2

Is this guy obsessed or what?

VictimOfImpersonation

KirkbyinFurnessLad wrote: »

Is this guy obsessed or what?

I am not sure it affects the price of eggs in KirkbyinFurness, lad(/dette), if that's what you are worried about.

No I am not obsessed, just a bit of a pain when I get the bit between the teeth on stuff that company men don't want discussed.

Anyway, see yer tomorrow with another crucial update if you can't stop yourselves! Meantime read again and digest if you've nothing better to do - and you meer53 if you don't wish to properly answer that question I posed on the other thread

1 Negative factors

• You have recently opened 1 or more new credit accounts. [No I didn't. A fraudster did. With an incorrect date of birth] Your bank of umpteen years and umpteen products issued it and told your CRA of umpteen years that you are 8½ years younger than they have you down for. Experian swallowed it and coincidentally as this is a new credit agreement marked your file with this red negative factor and downgraded your credit score. Experian knows about the date of birth mismatch problem - it is a general problem onboard the good ship CreditExpert. It is easy to see everywhere on the ship. Not cleaned up yet though - costs to swab the decks ? Can't admit the decks are a in a bit of a state - bad show. We are the captain of the ship - it is all beneath us. Grandstand and brass it out. [Costa Concordia style ?]
  

0 changes since last report

kirkbyinfurnesslad_2

Anyone got some pins to stick in their eyes instead?

VictimOfImpersonation

An update:

The financial services organisation least responsible for the breaches of my personal data security in their processes contacted me out of the blue today. They are able to identify me through past business so can identify me and discuss matters candidly with me.

But in this case they are actually the third party bank whose customer sort code and current account number were input as part of the fraudulent card application in my name on the website of a bank with whom I have done business for years. The name of the third party current account-holder is completely different to mine. I have asked whether there is any address link (e.g. following account takeover fraud) but they have been reluctant to release an assurance* on that yet.

When I first contacted this bank, despite an in depth discussion with a senior customer relations person, I could not get an assurance that they would investigate (using the sort code and account number I passed to them which I'd obtained from the card provider), and especially I got no assurance that they would seek to protect their third party customer whose details were compromised.

Regrettably I told them in my call before Christmas that it therefore had to be logged as an unresolved complaint. Within a few days I received a final decision letter on the complaint which broadly gave me no further assurance. I put it to one side and as yet have not named either bank on MSE.

However, the news is that something has caused the third party bank to think again and to call me and tell me they have picked up the baton again, and I am grateful for their pro-activity.

I just wish the first party bank and the CRAs were as pro-active. I can still see no CIFAS marker for example, and of course the fraudulent account with the completely wrong dob is still sitting on my credit report as if it were mine. I wonder if it will show as unpaid/in default soon ? Hopefully not since I was told the account was "suspended", but shall we see what happens ?

Apparently it takes the average victim of ID fraud 7 months to discover their details have been compromised. I am sure that does not mean they discover all about how it happened. Only the banks and CRAs are party to that kind of intelligence unless we victims stumble upon it.

Let's see how long it takes the banks and CRAs to discover exactly which way is up now we have given them some clues ! It's been over two weeks since I alerted them.

I think it has been some days since I notified CallCredit and Equifax of exactly what had happened. I haven't even had a response from CallCredit ("Noddle") and Equifax simply said that they are not notified of every agreement.

The task I set Experian is more difficult - they deserve it - I can see the incorrect date of birth in my records with them. I can't see the dob on the CallCredit entry, and I can see no entry at all on Equifax. So CallCredit may have, but Experian definitely accepted the wrong dob unchallenged. I imagine the card provider will eventually contact them to tidy things up.

That should make it less of a headache for Experian if they are not going to do a general dob clean-up. But that's not the point, is it?

Maybe that's what James is banking on though? I am not impressed if he is content to let me stew in my own juice if that is how he is justifying things to himself. It's not me that's stewing. It's the whole database with all those obvious unqueried mismatches in it. If it stews long enough on a low heat, will it be tenderised and germ free?

The more I think about this, the more I am beginning to think CRAs have, and are rapidly acquiring, more data than they are willing to manage properly, and the longer that goes on, the less likely that they will ever be able to manage it properly. How fundamental a breach can you get if you are an ICO licensed data controller ?

VictimOfImpersonation

1 Negative factors

• You have recently opened 1 or more new credit accounts. [No I didn't. A fraudster did. With an incorrect date of birth] Your bank of umpteen years and umpteen products accepted it and so did we, your CRA of umpteen years. Yep, Experian swallowed it and maybe CallCredit too but we don't know that for sure because CallCredit don't show dates of birth by indiividual credit agreement. They kind of accept that doesn't need mentioning more than once in a credit report I suppose (at the top!)? Anyway as this is a new credit agreement Experian marked your file with this red negative factor and downgraded your credit score. Experian knows about the date of birth mismatch problems - apparently it is not viewed as a general problem. I think I might contact all my credit providers and alter my dates of birth to something more meaningful - maybe so the first credit agreement shows 01/01/01 and the latest shows as 43/43/43 or something?
  

0 changes since last report, but at least one other bank customer has now got their ID "shored up".

Tiddlywinks

I am beyond caring... but look in to chuckle at how you really are deluded into thinking that your actions will make a difference.

You have been offered the opportunity - by James - to submit details of the inaccuracies for their consideration but you have chosen not to do that.... the continuing issue is there because you have failed to engage despite an invitation to talk.

This thread is just the self indulgent ramblings of an egotist.