Do credit reference agency have a duty of care?

Essex1

3 years ago I moved house and used the Royal Mail redirect service, which appears to be the route of my problems, as soon after I started to receive letters in my name from debt collection agencies about debts I know nothing about. At first I contacted them and set the record straight, but the letters kept coming as the debt is resold.
In an attempt to correct this I registered with Noddle and Experian (30 day for free deal) and found loads of inaccurate entry's relating to accounts, address, wife's ect that don't belong to me. On reading the report it soon became clear that the record relates to 2 people as although my name is quite common and we share a date of birth ( I know the odds are slim) our middle names are different.
Noddle have finally got my record straight after numerous request from me.
Experian have been less than helpfully charging me £14.99 for reopening my account and when I reported the errors that are still there a year later I just get a standard reply of "xyz credit believe the entry to be correct therefore we cannot remove it" even though anyone with a brain can see that there are two sets of records. The net result is they take the their word as fact and will not listen to the consumer.
Sorry it's a long post but help needed :mad:
Cheers

glentoran99

They report what they are told, its that simple, if something is wrong you need to take it up with the creditor

Marktheshark

As a publisher of a journal of information they are covered by Libel laws.

Essex1

Thanks Marktheshark that's what I thought. Also surly the banks that use them to check a new application have a right to expect the information to be correct as they are paying for it.

Marktheshark

The laws on publishing are quite clear "publish and be damned" is the rule of thumb.
The duty to make sure what you publish is factual and not damaging to any person is the responsibility of the publisher.
The buck stops with them legally

tomtontom

Marktheshark wrote: »

The laws on publishing are quite clear "publish and be damned" is the rule of thumb.
The duty to make sure what you publish is factual and not damaging to any person is the responsibility of the publisher.
The buck stops with them legally

Absolute nonsense. The role of the CRA's would fall under qualified privilege.

OP, have you contacted the CRA's to dispute the information? You should also contact the organisations that have made the reports for them to investigate, and Action Fraud also.

Essex1

OP, have you contacted the CRA's to dispute the information? You should also contact the organisations that have made the reports for them to investigate, and Action Fraud also.[/QUOTE]
Yes i have contacted the CRA 's I assumed that they would be keen to sort it out but no they just take their word and mine has no value. Action Fraud is not appropriate as it is not fraud but just some lazy Muppet working for a debt collector whose done a quick online search found my change of address with Royal Mail and link my address with a third parties debts as we have 2 out of 3 names in common. The problem is that CRA's only act on what finance companies say whether it is correct or not.

Essex1

Essex1 wrote: »

OP, have you contacted the CRA's to dispute the information? You should also contact the organisations that have made the reports for them to investigate, and Action Fraud also.

Yes i have contacted the CRA 's I assumed that they would be keen to sort it out but no they just take their word and mine has no value. Action Fraud is not appropriate as it is not fraud but just some lazy Muppet working for a debt collector whose done a quick online search found my change of address with Royal Mail and link my address with a third parties debts as we have 2 out of 3 names in common. The problem is that CRA's only act on what finance companies say whether it is correct or not.[/QUOTE]

Nebulous2

Formal complaint and then go to the data commissioner. It maybe that you can do that already if you already complained to Experian and that was their response.

Ben8282

As you would appear to be in possession of the other persons name and address details have you though to try to contact them? They will probably be shocked when they find out what is happening and may perhaps assist you.

Thrugelmir

Essex1 wrote: »

just some lazy Muppet working for a debt collector whose done a quick online search found my change of address with Royal Mail and link my address with a third parties debts as we have 2 out of 3 names in common. The problem is that CRA's only act on what finance companies say whether it is correct or not.

Have you written to the Data Controller at the debt collection agency?