How to obtain credit reports

Jasper27_2

Just lately I've had a few items of junk mail addressed to someone else at my address. I've never heard of this person and I've lived here for 18 years. Should I be concerned and how can I found out how these companies got this address?

afghanbill

Galstonian wrote: »

The third CRA is Call Credit (http://www.callcredit.com) who offer an annual subscription service for £29.99 (http://www.mycallcredit.com/home.asp) but no "try before you buy" option.

In my experience CallCredit hold very little info. My report had no searches and all accounts that were listed appeared on both Equifax and Experian too.

I think the service you refer to is Check My File (http://www.checkmyfile.com) and they do offer a service to monitor all three agencies for £69.99 but, if I am correct, they only actually obtain quarterly reports and provide some analysis of them (i.e. data you could get yourself for £2 x 3 x 4 = £24). The other services allow you to obtain a new report every day and will send alerts if new searches are made, new accouts opened etc.. They do offer a one month trial but I have not used their service so cannot say if it is worthwhile, if anyone else wants to post a review please feel free.
Also note that because this is a third party service there is a full credit search carried out to obtain the information from each agency each quarter - if you are concerned about the number of searches on your files you might want to avoid this.

I took out the triple agency report 9 month ago @ £12 a quarter, also took same for partner, have kept mines going but cancelled partners after first quarter, this gives you a good idea of whats going on, even if you get it and cancel after first payment (now£19)
You get 3 reports callcredit, equifax and experian, main 2 in my opinion are call credit and equifax as experian doesnt give finance loan acct details, if you can afford the 20 quid take it as it shows a lot of upto date info, incl fraud attempts at addresses, CCJ's etc etc etc takes minutes if you can prove yourself by online ID etc :T

www.checkmyfile.com

afghanbill

fradey76 wrote: »

I have a quick question. Does having too many cards count against your credit rating / report?

Over the years, I've had various cards with various amounts. With the introduction of 0% offers here and there, I've applied for new cards and transferred balances etc (as you do) but I have never closed any accounts I no longer use.

I heard from a friend of a friend that when applying for loans and mortgages, the fact that I have access to quite a lot of money in un-secured credit can count against my rating. Is this true? If so, what is an acceptable amount of credit you can have before it affecting your rating for the worst?

Thanks,

John

John

I left a message on here a short time ago, get a credit report done as it will show you all that is going on in you finances etc, you can also get it for £2 per agency by letter or if you can afford it get it online version, www.checkmyfile .com (£20) does them however there are other sites available.
What my file tells me is how many accts are active and how much used and available etc, it gives a slide bar from low to average to high, what it says is if you are low you are not credit active and if to high then you seem desperate, so my example on my accounts are about average between 6 -10 it says this is usually what credit companys look for, however we are all different, all accounts incl CC, Loans, Mortgage, etc etc, so if you have an average amount and are up to date on all accts then you should be ok, however if you are well above average then you could cancel the cards you dont need ie any high interest ones.
Hope that helps

B:rotfl:

afghanbill

Jasper27 wrote: »

Just lately I've had a few items of junk mail addressed to someone else at my address. I've never heard of this person and I've lived here for 18 years. Should I be concerned and how can I found out how these companies got this address?

Jasper

Try this web site it lets you pull your details from junk mailing lists there is also a similar site for telephone calls. hope this helps. Line out your address and mark it " Return to sender" then post it firms dont like that.....

b:T

http://www.mpsonline.org.uk/mpsr/mps_choosetype.html

hpsauce_2

Hi
I am having abit of a nightmare morning, was off to the doctors this morning when the baliffs turned up claiming we owed £18k in fuel bills. It turned out it was the poeple who lived in the house before us but moved out over three years ago. What I don't get is why none of the final demands or stuff from the court came to us if they are still using our address as they can't be doing a royalmail divert as it is too long ago???
Anyway the real problem is that I applied for a egg credit card to do a bit of stoozing with and got declined, I should have a good credit report so was alittle confused especially as when I asked them they couldn't tell me why but I assumed it was becasue I already have an egg money card with them and thought little more of it.
I am now wondering if it is bacause of this court case against the people who previously lived at our house as the bailiff indicated he is unlikely to be the last person calling wanting stuff :mad: .

If I get a credit report will it show if they are still registered at our address and affecting our credit rating with their financial problems?

Also are the report from experian that you pay a few pounds for as a one off fee the same as what the free 30 day trial contains?

Thanks for any help as this is really worrying me

Moggles_2

hpsauce wrote: »

I was off to the doctors this morning when the bailiffs turned up claiming we owed £18k in fuel bills. It turned out it was the poeple who lived in the house before us but moved out over three years ago. Anyway the real problem is that I applied for an Egg credit card to do a bit of stoozing with and got declined. I should have a good credit report but I assumed it was because I already have an Egg Money card and thought little more of it. I am now wondering if it is because of this court case against the people who previously lived at our house as the bailiff indicated he is unlikely to be the last person calling wanting stuff.

Credit ratings assess people, not dwellings. If you share a financial product (eg. joint bank a/c) with someone else then you are financially linked to them and so their poor management of their own affairs could have a knock-on effect on your credit rating, but simply occupying the same house as someone with a poor credit history, past or present, has no effect whatsoever, so don't let this distract you from tackling the things that matter.

As Egg has turned you down, it's a good idea to check your credit reports. After all this is the information UK lenders see when you apply for new credit facilities.

Are the reports from Experian that you pay a few pounds for as a one off fee, the same as what the free 30 day trial contains?

Yes. You can apply online for your reports using the links on page 1 of this thread. They'll arrive by post within 4-6 days.

Btw, once you have your hard copies, the CRAs seem happy to answer questions over the phone if you quote your reference number. So if, for instance, you wanted to check that particular items had since been updated, there's no need to order further copies of your credit reports

i-Citizen

Hi, 1st post on this thread

I am 18 and just recently registered on the electoral roll and the register was updated as of yesterday by the council, however what I would like to know is how long is it until credit agencies such as experian and equifax get a hold of this as well as credit card companies and how long should I wait to start applying?

Moggles_2

i-Citizen wrote: »

I am 18 and just recently registered on the electoral roll and the register was updated as of yesterday by the council, however what I would like to know is how long is it until credit agencies such as Experian and Equifax get a hold of this as well as credit card companies?

I would contact your Electoral Services Dept. to ask when the credit reference agencies are next updated, as frequency varies between local authorities

i-Citizen

Moggles wrote: »

I would contact your Electoral Services Dept. to ask when the credit reference agencies are next updated, as frequency varies between local authorities

well the council said experian buy it off them 2 weeks after 1st december, so does this mean credit card companies will see me at my address straight away after experian buy it, or will it take longer?

Moggles_2

i-Citizen wrote: »

Well the council said Experian buy it off them 2 weeks after 1st December, so does this mean credit card companies will see me at my address straight away after Experian buy it or will it take longer?

Experian is the credit reference agency used most by credit card companies, but there are two others, of which the chief contender is Equifax.

By the middle of this month, there will be two public holidays in the frame which can slow down the processing of credit card applications so, if I were you, I'd wait until January.

If you don't want to wait, the alternative would be to request the 30 day free trials (details page 1 of this thread). You could then monitor your electoral status online