Experian Help! Losing the will to live with them...!

emmlar

Hi all,

I am hoping someone might be able to help me out in the best way of dealing with Experian.

My problem seems to stem from having an address that not all computer systems can cope with (Flat Number, Building Name, Road Number, Road Name, Town, Postcode) to add complications the Road name has a St. which can be recorded with or without the .

Equifax and CallCredit seem be to able to deal with it OK, but about a year ago Experian decided that I was no longer on the electoral roll (I was) and said it ended in 2010 (but only change this and backed dated it about a year ago).

Numerous calls to the council and the utterly useless idiots in the Experian call centre and about 6 months I finally managed to get Experian to put an address version of mine that picked up the electoral roll entry, but this created a second problem (which I did not associate at the time) and because there were two current versions of my address just slightly different I ended up having everything duplicated on my record (two mortgages, two credit cards (the same one), two finished loans etc) so it looked like I had twice as much credit and was using twice as much. I got this corrected and guess what!? Yup, I'm now back off the electoral roll again.

This issue is entirely Experians fault, neither CallCredit nor Equifax have issues with this and even more frequently searches don't ever appear on my Experian search history. (I don't want to do too many for obvious reasons, but nothing shows up).

I'm losing the will to live with the staff at Experian. Whenever I call them they tell me it is the council, or the lender who searches fault, or that there is some mystery issue with my credit file that only lenders can see and I can't (!!! because apparently, despite having to pay their £9.99 a month ransom so I can keep checking this and calling them when there are problems, I'm not actually entitled to see what the lenders see, only what Experian can show me based on my sign up details!!).

I'm tired of going round in circles with them. I was looking to move last year (hence the attention to the file) and luckily I had a good mortgage broker who had a good relationship with the companies and she was able to get them to try multiple versions of my address until it hit my file, but since that sale fell through a couple of other non-broker quotes I have tried to get just fail because they can't match me up to my Experian file and I end up in catch 22 with Experian saying it is the lenders fault for searching incorrectly and the lender saying there is nothing they can do "computer says no".

Does anyone know a good way to get this resolved with Experian? Customer services are utterly useless and I get passed about and told someone will sort it, but nothing ever gets fixed properly and then I end up speaking to a different person and having to go through the whole "it's not our fault" palaver all over again. :mad:

I've got great scores with all three companies (5/5 CC, 527 Eq, 999 Ex) and I know Experian is the problem because it always says I have no recent searches against my file when I know there should have been one.

I'm really at a loss as to how to deal with them. I know Watchdog did a bit about how rubbish these companies are when things go wrong and how it was really hard to get anything fixed and I can certainly attest to that being an issue! ... but if anyone has any suggestions as to how I might put a proverbial rocket up them it would be great to hear! I'm thinking about Information Commissioners Office, Financial Services Authority or maybe my MP but I'm not sure where is best to start or how best to go about it or what really actually needs to be done to fix my issues!? Has anyone had any luck with fixing a similar issue?

Thanks in advance!!

Hazzinho

They have Experian Reps on here, keep bumping each day and I'm sure one will respond. Unfortunately useless staff make it hard work, as you say the other two managed it no problem.

Also ignore the scores they mean nothing, only you see them, just make sure the data is accurate. Best to get the £2 reports with Experian and Equifax and the free one with Noddle for Callcredit.

triple_choc_chip

Oh, you have my sympathy, I gave up after hearing the same excuses as you, I demanded they find someone who understands English not just speaks it but to no avail.

My 'problem' is that I live on a farm the name of which they record after the house name on the same line. Of course this means there is insufficient space on the line so they record Fm instead. No one searches Fm, why would they? so I don't exist!

Experian are unable to record the address properly over two lines but cannot explain why. I scanned and sent bills to show them how it should be but no change. Consequently none of my cc's etc are showing since I moved in 7 yrs ago. Sorry this is no help but you're not alone

emmlar

Thanks Hazz, good to know there are reps on here. Hopefully they might be a bit more 'with-it' than the normal numpties I end up on the phone to. The one person who seemed to know what they were talking about was the one who finally added the address that got my electoral roll to finally show, but then someone else manage to make all that hard work go away.

In theory the £2 reports should be more efficient, but when I am having to check the changes every day and make constant attempts to have details changed to fix it that just wouldn't work as I would have to send off for one every day. The £9.99 seemed the cheaper option while I was trying to get it fixed. (Obv CallCredit one is free with the Noodle service and I did a free trial + cashback for the Equifax one just to double check it this time before I applied for the loan - it will be cancelled as soon as I know where I am with the other lot or the free ends, whichever is sooner!)

I know the scores in general are meaningless, it was a short hand for I've got perfect credit everywhere (or at least I should have!)!

I have a credit card, which I have had for about 10 years, I do all my general spending on it and I pay it off in full every month. I use between 5% and 10% of my overall limit, so I never have a bad debt to credit availability ratio. (There was a small inaccuracy with one item, but it was minor and shouldn't have made any difference and I am having the corrected from the lender end.)
• I have a mortgage which is 5 years old at the start of next year, it is up-to-date, always has been.
• I have nothing that hasn't been paid exactly on time for at least 10 years (well past the time anything should be on any file, if it is 'hidden' from me, like the odd bit of student inability to do things exactly on time)
• I have only moved once in the past 7 years and have always been on the electoral register (the edited one)
• I'm on a higher than average salary and I have enough spare at the end of the month to put significant amount into savings.

I really should be the perfect customer to any financial deals, yet I've been turned down for one of those credit-building credit cards (I was after it for the cash-back offer they were doing) and have just got a shocking interest rate offer on a loan, when given my circumstances they should be falling over themselves to offer the best deals around!

Experian_company_representative

Hi Emmlar,
I would like to put your mind at rest that the duplicated information appearing when you view your report online would not be seen by lenders when they search your report.
From what you have said it seems that there is information recorded under different versions of your address, in order to ensure that you can see the information when you view your report they have both been added to your CreditExpert profile.
When you view your report using the CreditExpert service any information in your name under the addresses that are listed on you profile are retrieved, as your address is listed under two variations then this has caused some accounts to be retrieved twice, however they would only be seen once by lenders conducting a credit search.
I’m sorry to hear that you still have this problem and that our customer service team have not yet be able to resolve this for you.
The electoral roll may also have been entered under a different version of the address on the last update we received and this could cause it to “drop off” your report, although it sounds likely that it will be recorded but not under the version of your address searched.
When a lender searches your report it would depend on the format of your address that they search under as to what information they would see, if they are not using the same format of your address as your information is recorded under then they may not be seeing anything at all, which could in turn lead to a decline.
So that I can look into this for you and help get this sorted for you, I would ask that you please email your details (name, DOB and report Reference number) to me, at [EMAIL="UKsocialsupport@experian.com"]UKsocialsupport@experian.com[/EMAIL]
I understand that this must be very frustrating for you and appreciate the opportunity to help with this.
Kind regards Neil

BigHairyFinn

Ha, I'm in the same boat... or house.

My problem is the electoral roll is "all wrong" as they use some daft land registry entry from when someone decided to make flats out of two Victorian terrace houses numbers "21" and "22" on "Downton Road" they named the resulting estate "Abbey Court". But the houses are in fact separate and the name only reads in some legal papers.

So lets say I live in "Flat 3, 21 Downton Road", where obviously I have my council tax, electricity, water etc. bills for as "proof of address". The dropdowns you get usually list the "outer door" as Flat 2-8, 21 Downton Road. But I live in 3 and not in 2, 8 or any others... And as to why we don't use the "Abbey Court" there is "Abbey Square" in the same postcode - and guess where the mail to "3 Abbey Court" ends up? So nobody in their right mind ever uses the imaginary "house name" - except the council of course. :doh:

So Experian claims I am not registered in the electoral roll, while I am, and how can I prove the council is having a silly address nobody uses. :mad:

Callcredit and Equifax seem to be happy enough. Meh.