How do they know you're you and not someone else with the same name?

Chickabiddybex

Just a quick question - if you're not on the electoral roll (I am in case you're wondering and have been since I was old enough to!) how do they know if John Smith applying for a credit card is or isn't the same John Smith who has defaults at X address he used to live at? If he wasn't on the electoral roll til for example 2 years ago at a new address? What is stopping him telling the credit card people "I lived at Y address" (even though he didn't) to hide from his defaults?
Could he say that the John Smith at X address is just someone with the same name?

(I just did a credit check and had to give them my past addresses which made me wonder about this - how do they know where you lived before if you don't tell them?)

rizla_king

Proving false information to the credit reference agencies is likely to be legally dodgy especially if he then makes credit applications on the back of it. The CRAs also use more than just the address history and electoral role data to link a history together so unless he has been hiding under a rock for the past 6 years without a bank account or credit or utility bills then it properly wont work anyway and would look very suspect to anyone checking the file.

Tixy

It is sometimes the case that a person's debts from a past address do not show on their credit file.

Usually a link between the 2 addresses will be made on your file when you move home and update your existing accounts with your new address. So e.g. you tell your bank /credit card provider / mobile phone provider etc that you have moved and this is your new address - when they do their next monthly update they show the new address and that usually create a linked address.

The other way they can be linked is, as you say, if you provide details of past addresses to the credit reference agency.

Or if you apply for a new credit account and tell that company about your past addresses.

Finally a debt collector/tracing agent may link the addresses and that would make the old debts/past accounts appear on your file.

Chickabiddybex

Thanks, I thought there must be some way! I just couldn't figure out how

fromtheshires

Unfortunately they don't.

My other half has the issue of another person born on the same day with an identical name. This other person racks up default after default and they keep appearing on his report as the agencies seem to think this person is the same.

We are currently in the middle of a battle with a CRA as they won't have it and disputes are being rejected.

Im confident they will back down when they get a letter re the DPA and information held has to be factually correct under Principle 4 but I am giving them every opportunity to correct first.

Rgds
R

PasturesNew

There have been some mistakes made, that "Get Dom" consumer programme on morning TV covered some bloke who had this problem.

What happened there is that the original debts were sold/resold to other companies (happens a lot with old/dead debts) - and their sytems/processes were inadequate and this guy had a common name and he'd been declared on their system as being the defaulter with the debt.

Took him ages to sort it out (with Dom's help) - might be worth you finding/watching that when it's on next (it's too old to be on iplayer/4od now) ... and/or you might be able to find it still running somewhere else (e.g. youtube). I've mentioned this before on MSE, I'll try to do a search for the episode/guy's name and if I find it in the next 5 minutes I'll update this post.

Edit: Found it, programme ran on 28 April, the iplayer link's dead now. Here's the post with a link to the BBC site for the specific episode: https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/65447047#Comment_65447047

fromtheshires

Thanks. I will have a read

wrkactjob

Some fraudsters in the past have used other peoples credit files in conjunction with their own newly developed ones to boost credit applications only later to go AWOL.

The police a few years ago closed down one such site offering this srvice, though doubtless this kind of thing will re-surface.