Cifas question

cheekykid

Any idea how long a cifas mark takes to appear on your credit file from the moment x company requests it?

Would I need to wait whenever my report updates again(in 24 days) to see if any cifas has been applied?

Lastly, suppose i made 2 applications on the same date and one cc provider accepts me and opens my account while the other applies a Cifas due to suspicion of fraud. Would the cifas from one company affect my successful application with another ?

Capital one has screwed me up telling me they placed a Cifas because they couldn't verify my employment info and believe the application for credit was intentionally false (????).

boo_star

If you're getting your report for free then it will only be updated once a month.

If you're paying for it, it will show on any credit reports obtained after it was applied.

boo_star

cheekykid wrote: »

Capital one has screwed me up telling me they placed a Cifas because they couldn't verify my employment info and believe the application for credit was intentionally false (????).

They will refer to CIFAS who will have data regarding your previous applications.

It's understandable that if there are inconsistencies they may assume fraud.

You can SAR CIFAS if you want.

Candyapple

cheekykid wrote: »

Any idea how long a cifas mark takes to appear on your credit file from the moment x company requests it?

Would I need to wait whenever my report updates again(in 24 days) to see if any cifas has been applied?

Lastly, suppose i made 2 applications on the same date and one cc provider accepts me and opens my account while the other applies a Cifas due to suspicion of fraud. Would the cifas from one company affect my successful application with another ?

Capital one has screwed me up telling me they placed a Cifas because they couldn't verify my employment info and believe the application for credit was intentionally false (????).

CIFAS marker won't necessarily show up on your credit files, read thread below for answers to your questions:

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/5626323

StopIt

cheekykid wrote: »

Any idea how long a cifas mark takes to appear on your credit file from the moment x company requests it?

Would I need to wait whenever my report updates again(in 24 days) to see if any cifas has been applied?

Lastly, suppose i made 2 applications on the same date and one cc provider accepts me and opens my account while the other applies a Cifas due to suspicion of fraud. Would the cifas from one company affect my successful application with another ?

Capital one has screwed me up telling me they placed a Cifas because they couldn't verify my employment info and believe the application for credit was intentionally false (????).

Why couldn't Capital One verify your employment info? What steps did you take to prove employment?

cheekykid

StopIt wrote: »

Why couldn't Capital One verify your employment info? What steps did you take to prove employment?

They only asked for employers phone number/location. Not sure my manager would simply hand info to someone who calls claiming to be from Capital One. Would anyone?

Candyapple

You 100% definitely do not want anything to do with having a CIFAS marker against you so do all you can in your power to get Capital One to remove it. Have you tried asking your boss to write a letter to them outlining your job title and length of employment? All they would have required when they called was to confirm that you worked there, your job title and for how long. Not sure why your manager found that so difficult to answer?

StopIt

cheekykid wrote: »

They only asked for employers phone number/location. Not sure my manager would simply hand info to someone who calls claiming to be from Capital One. Would anyone?

So why didn't you tell your line manager/whoever the number would've gone to that they would expect a call from them? Or once they had refused the call, told them to contact Capital One to correct it before they took this action. They can still remove this marker (They're the only ones who can) so I'd be getting proof of employment ASAP.


I had to do the same because my work initially refused a call from a referencing agency when I moved house. It's a pain but better than a CIFAS marker in your case and being turned down by the letting agency in mine.

Arleen

cheekykid wrote: »

They only asked for employers phone number/location. Not sure my manager would simply hand info to someone who calls claiming to be from Capital One. Would anyone?

That's not how it works. If it gets to the telephone stage, they call, make sure to speak to HR, and then ask if a person called XYZ, living at YZA works in your company as PWD with the salary of LKJ. They either get a yay or nay and if they got a nay, that means some of those parts were not true.

So your employer doesn't share any details with someone calling them, capital one is sharing the details you've allowed them to share with the phone number you've provided. If what you've said to them initially is correct, get proof in writing from your HR and send it over to capital one.

Though it's worth adding that for them to issue a fraud cifas marker they must believe that your action was deliberate and not a mistake. So giving out a wrong job title, not a biggie, those things change. But giving out wrong salary figure by a large margin is hardly a mistake.

boo_star

Arleen wrote: »

That's not how it works. If it gets to the telephone stage, they call, make sure to speak to HR, and then ask if a person called XYZ, living at YZA works in your company as PWD with the salary of LKJ. They either get a yay or nay and if they got a nay, that means some of those parts were not true.

So your employer doesn't share any details with someone calling them, capital one is sharing the details you've allowed them to share with the phone number you've provided. If what you've said to them initially is correct, get proof in writing from your HR and send it over to capital one.

Though it's worth adding that for them to issue a fraud cifas marker they must believe that your action was deliberate and not a mistake. So giving out a wrong job title, not a biggie, those things change. But giving out wrong salary figure by a large margin is hardly a mistake.

I would have thought that confirming details given by a third party is as much a breach of the DPA as just giving them out.

It would be the employer in this instance rather than Capital One but if I was asked about an employee, even if the caller got all of their personal information correct, I'd refrain from doing anything unless I'd spoken to the employee and got consent to do it.

In all but the smallest of companies it's simply impractical to do that, HR have a full plate already just dealing with the normal day-to-day operation of the business.

Arleen

boo_star wrote: »

I would have thought that confirming details given by a third party is as much a breach of the DPA as just giving them out.

It would be the employer in this instance rather than Capital One but if I was asked about an employee, even if the caller got all of their personal information correct, I'd refrain from doing anything unless I'd spoken to the employee and got consent to do it.

In all but the smallest of companies it's simply impractical to do that, HR have a full plate already just dealing with the normal day-to-day operation of the business.

Confirming such details do not constitute a breach at all unless there is some part of data protection act that I've missed; happy to be corrected if you can point specific case/article or interpretation.

Though people nowadays faff so much about their data protection while posting so many details on the open net that this pretends sensitivity makes me chuckle. That is why people here are advised to use obscure pseudonyms because they leave so much stuff behind them on the open web. But lo-behold, someone may call my employer and ask do I work there and make what I claimed, and they holler DPA.

It is also worth adding that if someone refused to speak with them to verify employment, then there would be no grounds for a fraud marker. Fraud is when you intentionally misleads, and when they simply can't confirm they cannot be sure that they were misled. So either the phone person denied it (not was unsure), or there was something in ops application that was evidence enough. Like an employer who is known for giving bogus job references. I doubt we will ever find out as op was here recently, but didn't feel like contributing.