Are credit reference agencies government regulated?

agarnett

I guess you weren't around, ArchiBald, but like to think you know what was around.

My parents never rose beyond infant school classroom assistant and warehouse foreman, yet when I left school, I was one of the 5% (so they tell me) that went to university. I hadn't a bean to my name and my parents didn't pay a penny to see me through college, but the day I opened my first bank account was after the day I left school but before the my first day at university, but it was the same day I was given a credit card.

Now something tells me that no CRA file existed on me the day I opened those two accounts. I was just 18 by a few weeks. The first Barclaycard was issued just 9 short years before I got one, and it was before my parents ever had one despite starting with nothing and now owning their house. In fact they have never had a credit card or wanted one. Although the first ATM was introduced in the UK 8 years prior to me getting my credit card, I am not sure I have yet ever put a credit card into one! I am however sure that my parents have never put any card into any ATM.

I do remember an interview with the bank manager to be assessed for account opening, but I have a feeling he had a hunch I might be a reasonable bet, and I don't think he called anyone else up to get their opinion ... certainly not Equifax, nor any other upstart data cornerers/hoarders whose names started appearing publicly in the early to mid 80s, and who obviously got their start-up data under dubious circumstances bearing in mind there was little or no Data Protection legislation and neither me nor the next bank customer had authorised it.

And millions of people got sold endowment policies because they were a very good idea - one that was already a decade old at least when I started my first one 5 years after I opened my first bank account. What was naff was the successor boards of directors of insurance companies who later reneged on the endowment mortgage promises, and who even today are conspiring still to steal funds from within what you would probably far too easily and simplistically call obsolete With Profit investments to which their shareholders have absolutely no rights whatsoever.

And you might be surprised to learn exactly who I have attempted to persuade to stop stealing monies held in trust.

The problem is that it takes more than blunt language to persuade those at the top of banks and insurance companies to stop what they have become used to doing in recent decades. It takes something heavier like a big hammer to stop them in their tracks or at least knock the stuffing out of them. Then, on the basis that most of the critters shed heavyweight attention as easily as water off a ducks back, then maybe a long spell behind a heavy lock on a set of 3cm hardened steel bars could serve to remind them they were indeed on the wrong tracks and that the hammer was inevitable eventually. They don't need CRAs where they ought to be.

So tell us again what your point was, if there was a point ?

PS As I said in my last post, using the word parasite on the same webpage as 35-70% of all the webpages Google finds which include the word moneylender, is not evidence of my personal choice of language, but evidence of the language the world tends to use to link two apparently quite-well related concepts.

Archi_Bald

agarnett wrote: »

So tell us again what your point was, if there was a point ?

The point is that the vast majority of consumers has greatly benefited from the advances we have seen in the financial industry over the last 40 years. This includes the introduction of the CRAs.

agarnett

The point is that the vast majority of consumers has greatly benefited from the advances we have seen in the financial industry over the last 40 years. This includes the introduction of the CRAs.

So are you saying that in some way my experience of getting started in life with my first credit line without involvement of CRAs wasn't valid? You have given nothing in evidence to back up your assertion that CRAs have greatly benefited anyone at all except lenders who no longer think for themselves but now make profits without a care.

Who wants advances we have seen in the financial industry which work against us anyway? That's what this thread is about. I have already explained that I personally have had problems in consequence of mismanaged data held at CRAs. It is devilishly time-consuming and inconvenient to ever get it fixed. Their complaints departments are as bad as any other, and the banks blame the CRAs who blame the banks and round it goes. And God help you if a fraudster starts impersonating you. Then the banks and CRAs close ranks and will not disclose to you the correspondence they have had with fraudsters in your name and claim it would be a breach of DPA if they did, because it wasn't you they were corresponding with was it? It was a fraudster!

One really has to laugh at the persistent claptrap spouted in favour of the status quo with lendng systems and CRAs to be seen by the rash of moneylender apologists inhabiting this forum in particular. But actually it ain't funny.

PaulW922

meer53 wrote: »

We do have a system that works. Lenders report information to the CRA's. If someone has an issue with the information on their credit file they should query this with the lender concerned, they will have a complaints procedure to follow. Inaccurate information can be quickly removed, by the lender, if it's proven to be inaccurate.

That simply is not the case for many people. You will find many examples here where people are pursued for others debts - especially catalogues etc, and once the debt is sold on, find that getting the inaccurate data removed by debt purchase company sis very, very difficult. I think CRAs fulfil a useful function, but they have the ability to ruin your financial life too.

meer53

If a debt is sold on, then it is still a debt, whether it is a catalogue or a bank or a mobile phone company. A default is a default, End of. If the default is applied in error, it can be removed. CRA's don't ruin peoples financial lives, they simply report the information given to them.

As for Agarnetts wafflings, i despair. If you have to use Google searches to prove a point, there really is no hope. I think you'll find that the majority of people who type "money lenders" and "parasites" into any text on the internet are usually those who have difficulty understanding the concept of responsible borrowing. They're also the first ones to cry "irresponsible lending"

Agarnett, try to remember that times have changed. The CRA's provide a service that benefits millions of people, but of course, they won't be posting about it on the internet. Think about the bigger picture, not your narrow minded view.

agarnett

May we take it your views were formed whilst making a living in moneylending ?

meer53 wrote: »

Think about the bigger picture, not your narrow minded view.

Yes I agree you should try it, just for once.

CRAs are very shady organisations who have been largely kept out of many countries because they are not wanted. They are still there as sleepers of course, waiting to pounce on any opportunity to globalise culture the American way. The sort of culture that supports them is however incompatible with fair living and respect for the individual.

The majority of the people in most countries are sheep. When government is weak and the establishment has become corrupt then easy money becomes the only game in town, and when men are men and the sheep are restless, the cockroaches roam freely and get fat.

CRAs provide no service worthy of the name to individuals. They pander only to parasite lenders. Take a look at the Erudio Student Loans threads to see how despicable it has all become.

meer53

I make my living in the financial industry. I have been involved in lending, i have also been involved in removing lending and applying defaults. I have also had many years of dealing with CRA's. I have a very rounded view of the CRA's and the service they provide.

You might not like it, but they aren't going anywhere yet. Your view is formed by your experience and that of a few people who take the time to air their views on the internet. A very narrow view.

Thrugelmir

agarnett wrote: »

CRAs provide no service worthy of the name to individuals. They pander only to parasite lenders.

The answer to your issues are simple. Only use cash. Prepay your bills. Then you'll never to need use these lenders or have dealings with businesses that use CRA's to ascertain whether an individual is worth trading with.

agarnett

meer53 wrote: »

Your view is formed by your experience and that of a few people who take the time to air their views on the internet. A very narrow view.

You need a mirror (a very narrow one will do, I think). You again mention service but that is no service to individuals.

I also worked in the financial industry - several different parts with a number of different organisations in different roles including selling, underwriting, systems, and even compliance including data protection compliance - over a long period. I got out years ago because I didn't like what it had become - a bit of a rat's nest whichever way you turned - or rather a complete rat's nest - an over-promoted hierarchy of "survival=seniority=obvious-expertise" fear-driven suckers-up doing the dirty work of people who should have been locked up.

That's who your CRAs serve.

meer53

agarnett wrote: »

You need a mirror (a very narrow one will do, I think). You again mention service but that is no service to individuals.

I also worked in the financial industry - several different parts with a number of different organisations in different roles including selling, underwriting, systems, and even compliance including data protection compliance - over a long period. I got out years ago because I didn't like what it had become - a bit of a rat's nest whichever way you turned - or rather a complete rat's nest - an over-promoted hierarchy of "survival=seniority=obvious-expertise" fear-driven suckers-up doing the dirty work of people who should have been locked up.

That's who your CRAs serve.

Your opinion. A very negative one. Just like your posts.