Equifax Fraud Alert Letter

takman

tenchy wrote: »

Are you being deliberately slow-witted, or are you like this all the time? To be clear: He didn't know about Equifax. I did. He got a letter. He showed it to me. I told him about Equifax. Now he knows. Forget about the pub if it complicates things.

I can reply based on information that you provide in your posts. This is the first time you have mention that you actually told him who Equifax were, so how was i supposed to know that until now.

Although, i dread to think what you actually told him about Equifax if you didn't even understand how they got his phone number and thought they did it in some underhand way...

takman

cometomama wrote: »

Do I really need to check the 3 credit reference agencies? How long does it take to register with them and will it actually cost me?

I've read somewhere that it might be worth putting a freeze on my credit. I'm unlikely to require credit in the near future. I've never registered with a CRA in the past and I'm not really certain what benefit this would provide. I realise it would show me if someone has taken out credit with my details but I guess I'd be aware of that now - I mean the lenders would be contacting me asking for payment I guess?

If you read previous posts you will see that you can check the information at all three main agencies for free using the following sites:

MSE Credit Club (for Experian)
Clearscore (for Equifax)
Noddle (for Call Credit)

I would say it's almost essential for everyone to check their reports to make sure they are correct and that there are no errors. Also if someone is taking out credit in your name do you really want to wait until it has escalated and the bailiffs are at your door before you realise?.

So taking 30 mins (at most) to sign up to all three sites is definitely worth it.

Also you may not want credit in the near future but your credit report stretches back 6 years so if there is a problem now and you want credit in 5 years time i bet you will be wishing you had resolved it before.

Dobbibill

cometomama wrote: »

Do I really need to check the 3 credit reference agencies? How long does it take to register with them and will it actually cost me?

I'm not really certain what benefit this would provide. I realise it would show me if someone has taken out credit with my details but I guess I'd be aware of that now - I mean the lenders would be contacting me asking for payment I guess?

Half an hour will probably suffice for all 3 registrations if you can be ID'd easily electronically.

Worth checking all files regularly (perhaps every 6 months or so) to ensure there's nothing on there that shouldn't be.

It is free if you follow the guidelines in several posts within the thread for the 3 main agencies.

Someone may take out a product in your name for ID theft, money laundering, fraudulent activity - there are numerous reasons - free stuff via a Credit Card/loan being just one of them.

pawlala

I've a longstanding Noddle account that found nothing unusual. Is there any point in registering with the other two or do they hold different information?

takman

pawlala wrote: »

I've a longstanding Noddle account that found nothing unusual. Is there any point in registering with the other two or do they hold different information?

It's definitely advisable to check with the other two main ones. Noddle is the least used of the big three so usually has the least amount of information compared to the others 2.