Twin sisters details showing on credit file

Keith1985

Hi all,

I'm hoping someone can help with a bit of an unusual situation.

My fianc! has an identical twin sister, same registered address and obviously they have the same date of birth.

We have just checked her credit file through Noodle, and lots of her sisters accounts are showing, where they haven't been able to differentiate between the two of them (luckily I can tell who is who or I might accidentally end up marrying the wrong one!). This includes a large loan for a car, two credit cards and a store card. There are also recent searches on my fianc!'s file which actually belong to her sister.

My question is, how do we go about untangling this web? Should we write to the companies involved and ask them to remove the details from her file, or should we go direct to Noodle. Also, I'm thinking it's worth checking the other credit reference companies to make sure the same mistake hasn't happened. We will check Experian and Equifax, are there any others we should check.

Would really appreciate any help or advice anyone could offer.

fermi

Presumably any accounts reported by creditors include different first names in the data, so any failure to differentiate in that case lies with the CRAs.

Complain to Noddle/Callcredit, that they are incorrectly matching her twins accounts against her, potentially with a significant detrimental effect to her.

That if they do not make sure the siblings accounts and details to not appear on each other's credit reports, then you will be making a complaint to the Financial Ombudsman and will be reporting the CRA's mishandling of the data to the ICO.

And yes, it would be wise to check the other CRAs.

Keith1985

The accounts clearly show a different name. Thanks for the info that it's the CRA's failure to differentiate between the two of them, we shall complain to Noodle.

Thanks again.

fusionx212

well it's not CRA'S direct fault it's the companies searching. they have some responsibility to ensure the profiles show correctly.

GingerBob_3

fusionx212 wrote: »

well it's not CRA'S direct fault it's the companies searching. they have some responsibility to ensure the profiles show correctly.

When reporting accounts to the CRAs do the reporters provide the account number? I would suggest they do. Account number is unique, so how do records get confused?


Answer: the CRAs have an inadequate, i.e. almost non-existent, QA protocol for verifying incoming data. It's a good bet that the CRAs are 100% to blame for this.

Keiths1985

Thanks for the input everyone. We have contacted the CRA's to arrange the correction. Hopefully that should get it sorted!

Dobbibill

I noticed you had used Noddle the free version for Call Credit. Are you aware there is a free alternative for Equifax too, it's called Clearscore. Only meaning Experian CR will cost you, but at £2 for your statutory report, it's not too bad.

boo_star

I had an extraneous account on my credit file...

Barclaycard with a 20k limit, opened in 1990..

The status was deceased and it was obviously my (deceased) fathers as I was 8 in 1990 (and not currently dead) but we only shared a middle name.

I complained and they fixed it.

Keith1985

Dobbibill wrote: »

I noticed you had used Noddle the free version for Call Credit. Are you aware there is a free alternative for Equifax too, it's called Clearscore. Only meaning Experian CR will cost you, but at £2 for your statutory report, it's not too bad.

Thanks for the tip. I had heard of clearscore but wasn't aware it was the free version of Equifax. That will save me a couple of £, thanks very much!

Keith1985

boo_star wrote: »

I had an extraneous account on my credit file...

Barclaycard with a 20k limit, opened in 1990..

The status was deceased and it was obviously my (deceased) fathers as I was 8 in 1990 (and not currently dead) but we only shared a middle name.

I complained and they fixed it.

Reassuringly, that sounds like it was fairly simple on your part, here's hoping it's as easy for us!