New free credit report Clearscore (Equifax)

Doc_N

lisyloo wrote: »

Nope there is a privacy policy and legally they can't do what they want.
Thanks for making us aware of the risks but I think you're suffering from paranoia if you think they have "carte blanche".
Your choice of course.

lisyloo wrote: »

Can you define what you mean by "carte blanche".
For example I don't think they can use it to take out a loan on your behalf.
It is absolutely not a "blank cheque" in the literal term.

You are entitled to your views.
I think your are unjustifiably paranoid (and I'm not ignorant of the issues) adn thorwing around unjustifiable terms.

Leaving aside semantics, there are very clear risks here in allowing an unknown company with an unknown track record (and a name change, to boot) to have access to a very large part of your credit file.

It can be used, extremely easily, for identity fraud, creation of bank accounts, and a whole lot more. You have no idea what this company will be doing with the data, and you have no idea how securely your personal information will be held, or where it will be held, and by whom.

If you choose to trust them on this basis, fine. But I wouldn't, and if there were a problem I suspect that banks might take the line that allowing access to personal data like this is not taking reasonable care.

shane1104

I've signed up to them, saw my file, will cancel at the earliest convenience, although im sure its not all as bad as people making out to be.

lisyloo

It can be used, extremely easily, for identity fraud, creation of bank accounts, and a whole lot more.

What you are talking about is illegal and fraudulent. I agree there is some risk, but you are not giving them permission to do this - it's fraud.

and if there were a problem I suspect that banks might take the line that allowing access to personal data like this is not taking reasonable care.

I don't agree with you.
Normal consumers aren't meant to be forensic experts and its' not normal or reasonable to expect everything to be stolen/hacked, so I don't agree.

I accept your opinion that it's risky but Can we consider that we have all been given adequate warning now?

Futuristic

I hope you guys being paranoid know that they can perform checks on anyone if they wanted to distribute those details, also from Twitter they are fca registered and waiting for online directory to be updated.

Equifax wouldn't just hand out such a mass check capability to some unknown, unsecure company without scrutiny. They are also a lot bigger and more widely used than Callcredit and as others mentioned they've noticed errors which they can now correct which they would not normally have been able to do so without purchasing Equifax report.

If you're scared, sign up - view report and delete your account (yes there is option to do so).

keiran

For what it's worth, I logged into my Equifax account (part of a perk with a CapitalOne credit card - one gets 2 free Equifax reports a year, and alerts whenever there's a change to one's file)

In a drop down menu in their "submit a question to our support team", clearscore is listed as a product they "recognise" and would answer questions for.

I've attempted to paste this below, although it hasn't reproduced well

Whilst we should all be careful, one must not become over-paraniod. For those now considering deleting their clearscore accounts, remember if they are a scam outfit, they have all your details now regardless of whether you choose to delete at this stage!!


"""
Select a product

No Value

Capital One - Identity Alerts

ClearScore

Clydesdale/Yorkshire Bank Signature Bene

Equifax Credit Score

Equifax Credit Report
......
......
"""

Doc_N

Futuristic wrote: »

If you're scared, sign up - view report and delete your account (yes there is option to do so).

Scared is an odd word to use - sensible and cautious are more appropriate.

And what would be the point of deleting the account? They'll still have all the personal data.

Futuristic

Doc_N wrote: »

Scared is an odd word to use - sensible and cautious are more appropriate.

And what would be the point of deleting the account? They'll still have all the personal data.

I believe you are scared, perhaps in this day and age you should leave the internet and most definitely not shop online as multi-million companies have been hacked before and customers details and credit card info leaked every other month.

They have your data anyways, they can do a soft search on anyone without any approval just like any other financial institution or business with availability of doing credit checks.

They are approved by Equifax and backed by people who know what they are doing.

Anyways, no one is forcing you to sign up.

Doc_N

Futuristic wrote: »

I believe you are scared, perhaps in this day and age you should leave the internet and most definitely not shop online as multi-million companies have been hacked before and customers details and credit card info leaked every other month.

They have your data anyways, they can do a soft search on anyone without any approval just like any other financial institution or business with availability of doing credit checks.

They are approved by Equifax and backed by people who know what they are doing.

Anyways, no one is forcing you to sign up.

There's an enormous difference between trusting your data to a large, well-known company with the resources to protect it (though even that can go wrong, as you say) and a new, little-known small company like this one with no track record.

You say that it's backed by people who know what they're doing. I've posted details of the directors above - can you specify which people you're referring to?

Futuristic

Doc_N wrote: »

There's an enormous difference between trusting your data to a large, well-known company with the resources to protect it (though even that can go wrong, as you say) and a new, little-known small company like this one with no track record.

You say that it's backed by people who know what they're doing. I've posted details of the directors above - can you specify which people you're referring to?

Go through each director and see what businesses they run, just a quick google of one of the names comes up with a IT company which has worked with BBC/Coca Cola and in existence since 1999. 2 of the directors are directors in companies with assets in total over £100m+

http://companycheck.co.uk/company/05059906
http://companycheck.co.uk/company/03789926

Anything else?

romanian_bird

Clearscore has a 5-yr contract with Equifax.

http://www.onlystrategic.com/Articles/external/id/33/article/73936/key/87da46e8edb78796df0f284ab8b1c5e8