Experian problem

treliac

My DD, who has a good job and unblemished financial record plus a history of renting a room in an HMO - she is on the electoral roll and her current landlord of three years has described her as an 'outstanding tenant' - has failed a credit reference check for a new rental.

Experian have confirmed they made a number of errors in her credit check and have made amendments to her report, which now gives her a high score. However the company who processes credit scores for the letting agent still fails her. They have told her to take her complaint up with Experian. Experian refer her back to this referencing agency. Neither will accept responsibility or tell her why. She has her Experian report, there are no negatives and there is no reason to explain why this is happening.

She now stands to lose the flat she had been planning to move into and the money she has already paid for these checks to be done. What can she do next?

ellison007

Try the media, contact the guy who runs this website - radio 4 moneybox or radio 5 live? desperate times call for desperate measures...

Arleen

They simply don't want to rent out to her, move on and rent somewhere else. There doesn't need to be anything adversary on the file for them to do so, and dumping it on "credit report" is a convenient black hole rather than giving out actual reasons.

Although I am not so sure that she isn't entitled to get the checks money back. Check out the agreement she signed in what conditions are they non-refundable.

treliac

Thank you for your replies. The lettings agency have seen a screenshot of her amended report and are trying to be helpful, giving her time to sort this out and saying the flat is still ok. They even did the second credit check at their own expense. This makes it so frustrating.

Thank you ellison. She will take it further. She is not one to give up easily!

Worth mentioning maybe, several people looked at the flat and she met the owner, who chose her in preference to the others in the first place!

RedDwarf82

AFAIK letting agencies can't access the Experian credit report. I don't think their "Credit Checks" are nothing more than calling your employer to confirm you work there.

The Credit Agencies work under the Principles of Reciprocity (http://www.scoronline.co.uk/principles). Since letting agencies don't share information about you I can't see how they could get information either.

Can you see any search in the MSE Credit Club report?

treliac

Thank you RedDwarf. As I tried to explain there is another, intermediary company, a referencing agency I think called Clearview, who have provided the information to the lettings agency. They use Experian and both Clearview and Experian have directed her to the other for more information. Clearview won't tell her anything. She has evidence now from Experian that she has a very good score. But has not been able to get any further.

The lettings agency appear to be on her side..... at the moment. They say they have never experienced anything like this before!

I will pass on all this information to her this evening. In the meantime, if anyone has any more ideas, I will be very grateful. It is scary how these companies can damage someone's life without revealing the issue and apparently free of consequences to themselves.

P.S. Clearview is not to be confused with ClearScore. ClearScore is another credit scoring company she has checked with and they give her a high score, but this Clearview uses Experian.

takman

treliac wrote: »

Thank you RedDwarf. As I tried to explain there is another, intermediary company, a referencing agency I think called Clearview, who have provided the information to the lettings agency. They use Experian and both Clearview and Experian have directed her to the other for more information. Clearview won't tell her anything. She has evidence now from Experian that she has a very good score. But has not been able to get any further.

The lettings agency appear to be on her side..... at the moment. They say they have never experienced anything like this before!

I will pass on all this information to her this evening. In the meantime, if anyone has any more ideas, I will be very grateful. It is scary how these companies can damage someone's life without revealing the issue and apparently free of consequences to themselves.

P.S. Clearview is not to be confused with ClearScore. ClearScore is another credit scoring company she has checked with and they give her a high score, but this Clearview uses Experian.

What information do Clearview provide to the letting agents?. The score provided by Experian is irrelevant because Clearview will use their own calculations.


Personally i would be speaking to the Lettings Agency and ask them exactly what information they are receiving from Clearview that they don't like the look of. If they are on her side then why won't they accept a copy of her credit report and cut out the third party.

RedDwarf82

What Experian offers seems to be this -> http://www.experian.co.uk/background-checking/tenant-screening.html

So they either have an Instant Report like this http://www.experian.co.uk/assets/background-checking/sample-reports/tenant-verifier-instant-report.pdf or a Comprehensive Report like this http://www.experian.co.uk/assets/background-checking/sample-reports/tenant-verifier-comprehensive-report.pdf

Notice that any private landlord can get the comprehensive report for £30 VAT included. And the letting agency could do itself without ClearView in the middle.

Tell them to show you the report and what's they are not happy with. Worse case scenario, offer to pay the landlord the £30 (I guess they have already charged you way more).

treliac

Thank you for your help RedDwarf. She has spoken to Clearview and they say they only get a recommendation from Experian and not a detailed report. So she is now getting back to Experian. Being pushed to and fro again.


She will not lose the flat as she is planning to move in with her boyfriend and he is approved to take the tenancy by himself if necessary. But she is very frustrated and needs to know what is going on for her own future information at least.


With her income, savings, money management and track record as a tenant I don't understand how anyone could get approved if she cannot!

DCFC79

Her score albeit a good one wont get her accepted, what matters is whats on her credit history.

Whats exactly on her credit file ?

RedDwarf82

treliac wrote: »

She has spoken to Clearview and they say they only get a recommendation from Experian

The links I shared don't include a lot more than a recommendation, but there is a bit more.

I am going to argue Clearview is *obviously* lying there. Experian offers only one Tenant Screening service, and is the one I pointed to. If you need to hurt them you can show to the letting agency how they lie (and explain to them they can use Experian directly, probably cheaper), so they lose one client.