Credit Ref Agencies Updates

ramsdenraven

Hi All

After being recently declined for a Virgin card I thought I should check my reports. Everything was fine with Equifax and they had managed to pick up on the fact that I moved in November 06 along with my updated electoral roll info etc, all of my other cards, phone and bank account etc had also been updated to my new address. With Experian however we have a completely different story. Despite there being address links from Vodafone, Halifax and Capital One they still have me living at my old place along with electoral roll information there to. After a call with them I've been told its up to me to tell them I've moved and to be honest I had no idea I had to do this. I need to supply a copy of my passport, drivng liscense or birth certificate and a couple of original bank statements or utility bills. Has anyone else come up againt this where one agency realises you have moved and the other one hasn't? It makes sense now why Virgin blew me out becuase when they look at Experian I'm not on the electoral roll. I'm kind of guessing that they didn't check Equifax because on the rejection letter it only mentions to get in touch with Experian to view your report.

Anyway this is just a heads up to anyone moving, make sure all of your details are updated before you apply and don't assume they are all correct like I did.

smithja

Experian staff are a mine of disinformation in my experience, while Equifax know what they are doing. Recently, a member of staff a Experian said to me on the phone "it sounds like me dont know what we are doing doesn't it?". I did not reply. It is not up to you to tell them, they update the electoral roll from the local authority on a regular basis, and as soon as you tell the people you have a credit agreement with and they report that agreement to an agency it automatically gets changed to the new address and creates a link. Another thing a Credit Reference Agency might try and tell you is "sorry we cannot change the information as it belongs to the bank, credit card company etc.." That is a lot of nonsense. Under the Data Protection Act they are the data holder, and have a duty to ensure it is accurate, they often tell you to ask the company to contact them, if they do ask them to use their disputes procedure on your behalf. James
Just to add, when you contact Equifax everything is given a reference number but you only get the one number per complaint and it stays the same until it is resolved. With Experian everytime you send them an email you get a reply back with a different reference number which causes you to get several replies (and some contradictory) from different members of staff about the same thing, as it is not all "tied together". My only experience of Call Credit it that they hold much more information on credit accounts, they give the monthly balance, and credit limit, so a creditor can see how much you owe, how much you pay off, and if you have exceeded your limit.