Worried about identity theft after having to leave the country

bbarroso

Long story short, just before leaving home for overseas work I found out Mrs had an affair. Too short notice to actually act on it.

I changed as much of the utilities to her name as possible, closed a shared bank account, etc. In the meanwhile I've found out, two weeks leaving, the guy is living with her. Shes quickly adding up debit to her credit cards and making other mistakes

I have many hard files with personal data in there (NINO, Bank statements, payslips, etc), which leads me to think nothing could stop any of them of committing fraud in my name, to get a loan or a credit card. I'm stuck with my banks, as I have no other address in the UK to send my post and they don't accept a foreign address.
Can I add a note to my credit file indicating, well, I no longer have a fixed address in the UK? What would my best coarse of action be?

Noddle has a nice service that lets me know when a new change to my credit file happens, for example a new credit account opened, but it has a 3 month delay. Anything similar I could use that would notify me immediately?

Thanks in advance

DCFC79

Theres other agencies other than Noddle, maybe look into them.

eddddy

You can try adding a Notice of Correction about potential id theft to your Experian, Equifax and Callcredit credit reports.

It's not what Notices of Correction are intended for, but some people claim it works:

Also over the years these [Notices of Correction] have tended to be used as a means of posting ‘excuses’ on your report and as such it is often the case that lenders will ignore the entry. Such a Notice can act as a free alternative to a CIFAS Protective Registration if you are worried about identity theft. Simply record a note explaining that you're worried about third parties using your details to fraudulently apply for credit, and any applications in your name will be subject to additional manual verification checks, to ensure that the applicant is you.

Link: https://www.checkmyfile.com/jargon/notice-of-correction.htm

But it also means that if you genuinely apply for some types of credit (e.g. a phone contract), you may be automatically refused.

bbarroso

Useful.

I don't plan on having any new credit/bills
Might be an issue when i return to the UK (Ill have to rent a place), but can't think of a much better way.

Should i do it with the 3 agencies, or is the notice of correction added globally?

eddddy

bbarroso wrote: »

Should i do it with the 3 agencies, or is the notice of correction added globally?

You have to ask each of the 3 agencies to add a note individually.

Because as Experian say...

If you only add a note to your Experian report...

... Banks and financial institutions will only see your Notice of Correction if they use the Experian Credit Report. You can also ask Equifax and Callcredit to add this notice to their credit reports for you.

Link: https://help.creditexpert.co.uk/help/sv635/report_guide/notice_of_correction

Candyapple

I'm surprised no-one has mentioned about CIFAS Protective Registration:
https://www.cifas.org.uk/pr
https://www.cifas.org.uk/pr_faqs

If your ex or anyone else applies for credit in your name, the application won't automatically be accepted /declined, instead it would be referred until the lender could carry out additional checks.

bbarroso

Im not totally clear regarding this.

So the applications are subject to extra checks. My Ex. has acess to a whole lot of my personal information. This includes tax office letters, bank statments, utility bills, pay slips, birth dates...

She could very well ask this lover boy who shes having an affair with to pretend it was me and simply feed him any required information.

Are these things still going to protect me if that is the case? If so how?

Thrugelmir

bbarroso wrote: »

She could very well ask this lover boy who shes having an affair with to pretend it was me and simply feed him any required information.

Why would she do something so stupid? Be plainly obvious.

bbarroso

Just because she can. she's used all her credit cards until they were declined (exceeded credit limit) and then just paid by the minimum.

There's a lot going wrong which I don't understand now, I'm unsure if she just thinks she's 17 again and wants to have a period of fun or if she's being tricked by the 'love of her life'. Whatever the case it's simply too easy for me to get dragged...

bbarroso

Well I added the CIFAS note and the next morning had a notification from noddle, so at least that seems to work pretty well!

One particular Card issuer doesn't show on my credit file for whatever reason, need to contact them and ask whats happening.

[Deleted User]

Does it not appear on any of the three files?

Is it a particularly old account?