Best CRA?

ferry

Quick question but of the big 3 which one if any is generally better all round than the others due to most accuracy of data and presentation of detail?

Thanks as usual

MrSilk

In my experience I'd say CallCredit and Experian are more accurate than Equifax

rizla_king

Why? If you are thinking to just check one then that usually a bad idea. Get all 3 £2 reports to check everything they hold on you.

VictimOfImpersonation

MrSilk wrote: »

In my experience I'd say CallCredit and Experian are more accurate than Equifax

And interestingly my experience says exactly the opposite.

CallCredit had a security hole a while back that enabled organised fraudsters to obtain my full credit report online and then cream off eight thousand quid from two of my dormant cards in a week.

With Experian I have an ongoing dingdong on MSE because they accepted false dob data with regard to a new fraudulent card account set up a couple of months ago and alerted no-one even though it was from an existing card provider of mine whom I've been with for years, and even though Experian already possessed, and have now linked to the wrongun, umpteen credit agreements registered in my name all with the correct dob. Clearly the one hand the bank doesn't know what the other (the CRA) is doing or vice versa, and neither of them know what they are doing full stop.

My address hasn't changed for years, and I have opened no new agreements for years other than a couple of phone contracts for the kids.

Equifax knew nothing about the new agreement and have written to say so. It seems that bank (a very big one) does not use Equifax in quite the same way as they use other CRAs. Doesn't help any of us that the lot of them are fiddling while Rome burns. I was using them as my alert service so that means they did not alert me to the new agreement.

CallCredit ("Noddle") have been asked to delete their entry (which may or may not have had the dob on it - unlike Experian's online info, I cant see but I would be surprised if it didnt arrive with one from the bank), and have not replied in three days

None of the CRAs notified the bank of the error which has persisted for two months since the account was opened.

I only found out when I cam home to find an over credit limit £12 charge letter :rotfl:

In two weeks since I told the bank something was up, they have still not registered me with CIFAS as far as I can see via the CRA websites. They said they would immediately.

So take your pick, they are all worse than useless.

But if you can without spending too much money, see if you can get access to them all to see what a cockup they've each made. Don't expect too much though and don't spend too much - get a bank or card provider to pay for it or use a free trial. Whatever you do, don't add any extra data that they invite you to give them.

forgotmyname

How did they get your card number/pin/CV number from your credit file?

VictimOfImpersonation

forgotmyname wrote: »

How did they get your card number/pin/CV number from your credit file?

They called all the Lost and Stolen lines and convinced them (using the CRA data) I was calling. "I've lost my wallet" "Have you the card number?" "No sorry I can't remember it - its a long one I know that!" "Don't worry, we can find it - name? first line of address? postcode? inside leg measurement? - are actually we see you have three accounts - would you like me to cancel and replace them all?""Yes please""Oh sorry Sir, we see one of the accounts has become dormant through inactivity so we can't replace that one.""Why not?""Because we did tell you if you did not wish to use it then we would not be replacing it at last renewal date""Well I want it replaced""Sorry, we won't be replacing that one - you can reapply for one if you like""No - put me through to your supervisor..." (Yes they were that cheeky!)

Amazingly Lost and Stolen departments often offer reminder or new PINs with the new cards :rotfl:

As I said, £8,000 went west within one week of the CRA report being obtained online and that was with me and one card provider having discovered fraud within 3 days (my usual card stopped working so I called to report a damaged card and blundered into "But you ordered a lost card replacement just yesterday??"

Didn't find out about the CRA file part until 4 months later when I got a letter from CallCredit out of the blue telling me that the email on my account with them appeared to be incorrect and asking me to contact them. I had no account with CallCredit so too right I wanted to contact them! I remember there was no telephone number on the CallCredit letter! By the time I spoke with one of their senior customer services peeps I was pretty miffed.