FAO of Experian Company Rep

InsideInsurance

Hi James

Apologies for the indirect approach but was interested in your view on a thread that has drifted into your area and you dont accept private messages.

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/4870013

In it a website has been highlighted (http://www.freeidprotection.co.uk/) which states a foolproof way of protecting yourself from ID fraud is to send a notice of correction to your company and your competitors with a thumb/ finger print with the text saying that this must be checked for credit to be accepted.

Your own website states that Notice of Corrections must be taken into account but doesnt say they must be followed (nor does it say that a finger print can in any way be stored).

It would be good if you could comment on the thread as to if this method of protection works or not. Evidently its not as complete as the website claims as not all lenders do CRA checks.

Many thanks

Experian_company_representative

Finger prints can't be stored in this way. Actually, the suggestion is that lenders are advised, via the notice of correction, to only accept credit applications where a thumbprint is provided to them with or on the application. Of course, they have no way of checking the thumbprint is genuine and any fool could create a false one, so not something we recommend at all.

If there is a heightened risk of fraud we suggest people arrange a Protective Registration with CIFAS and also a notice of correction with the CRAs containing a password. But this is not something we would encourage people to do for just general fraud protection as these things put a huge spanner in the works for legitimate credit and ID checks.

Lenders do have to read these notices by the way.

James

PS. Official company reps aren't allowed to accept private messages unfortunately.

InsideInsurance

Experian_company_representative wrote: »

Finger prints can't be stored in this way. Actually, the suggestion is that lenders are advised, via the notice of correction, to only accept credit applications where a thumbprint is provided to them with or on the application. Of course, they have no way of checking the thumbprint is genuine and any fool could create a false one, so not something we recommend at all.

<snip>

Lenders do have to read these notices by the way.

Scan reading is serving me badly these days.

Lenders having to read them is different to lenders having to follow them. Assuming someone did this, and ignoring the false finger print issue, would the lender be forced to follow it?

Certainly from the former thread on the topic the person who highlighted the website stated that liability would be with the lender if this instruction was ignored.

rizla_king

Whole link is co.ck and bull.

Experian don't, can't and won't store a fingerprint on a NOC. Not even if you believe the nonsense in that link and give them one.

So putting one on an application would be pointless, as there is nothing to check against. Which is what I think James is trying to say.

NOCs are just there for info. They are not there to instruct creditors what to do, and while they have to read them (or say they have), they don't have to take a blind bit of notice of the contents if they don't want. They certainly don't have to follow any instructions, or you have any getout on liability.

matttye

I think everyone is misunderstanding the thumbprint idea.

The idea is simply that a notice of correction will say that no credit applications in your name should be accepted in the absence of a thumbprint. If there is no thumbprint, or there's a print that doesn't match any of your digits, then you have pretty solid evidence that it was a fraudulent application and has nothing to do with you. It's about comparing the thumbprint on the application to your actual thumbprint but only in the case of fraud.

Of course, it would only work if lenders had to follow the notice of correction, which I don't think they do.

VictimOfImpersonation

I think I'm going to put an NOC on mine to make sure they check my date of birth, full name, telephone numbers, email address, a real one of my bank account numbers (any will do), a reasonable stab at my current income, my employer's name, and well ... can anyone think of any others that shouldn't be too difficult for the CRAs to pass on as a simple request to any prospective lender? :whistle: