Credit file and GDPR

antrobus

T-G-C wrote: »

Whilst you have complete freedom to contact a CRA with your objection at any time, you should know that under the General Data Protection Regulation, your right to object doesn!!!8217;t automatically lead to a requirement for processing to stop, or for personal data to be deleted, in all cases.

Because of the importance of the credit referencing industry to the UK!!!8217;s financial system, and the important purposes the personal data is needed for (like supporting responsible lending, and preventing over indebtedness, fraud and money laundering) it will be very rare that the CRAs do not have compelling, overriding grounds to carry on using the personal data following an objection. In many cases, it won!!!8217;t be appropriate for the CRAs to restrict or to stop processing or delete bureau data, for example, where the result would be to hide a poor credit history that could enable a person or organisation to get credit they otherwise wouldn!!!8217;t be eligible for.

I have no idea whether or not the 'right to forget' will allow individuals the right to delete their credit file.

But if it did, I suspect that lenders, insurers, mobile phone companies etc would take the the non-existence of a credit record as a blinkin great big red flag. As in the individual concerned is really sub sub-prime. Instant decline.

Sparx

The CRAs have your lender's contractual obligation to store and keep your data still.

So it's still fair and within reason it's stored for 6 years before deleted - AKA nothing changes.

[Deleted User]

Banks are obligated to keep records on you for at least 6 years (under the money laundering regs) and can chose to do so for longer if they have reason to do so.

No one is getting their CRA records deleted. No one will be 'forgotten' and be able to use any financial services. You can keep your tin foil hats for another time.

T-G-C

Sparx wrote: »

The CRAs have your lender's contractual obligation to store and keep your data still.

So it's still fair and within reason it's stored for 6 years before deleted - AKA nothing changes.

The law can override contractual agreements between companies, however, the law is on their side with this one, no loophole at all.

Aside from KYC and numerous other financial regulations, the lenders and credit bureaus are legally compelled (overriding the GDPR) to retain data for a minimum of 2190 days in the aid of preventing money laundering, fraud and abuse of the credit industry.

Whilst the GDPR does, to some extent, have an impact on the credit bureaus (such as allowing free access to your credit file), in terms of the actual data itself, there is no difference in retention period; data storage or handling.

If someone did file a request under the forgotten right, the credit bureau would always, unless the person hasn't been financially active for 6 years, refuse to do so.

PixelPound

antrobus wrote: »

I have no idea whether or not the 'right to forget' will allow individuals the right to delete their credit file.

But if it did, I suspect that lenders, insurers, mobile phone companies etc would take the the non-existence of a credit record as a blinkin great big red flag. As in the individual concerned is really sub sub-prime. Instant decline.

people seem to think just getting rid of it all will mean its forgotten. If it was allowed lets just await the threads "I got my file deleted and now I cannot get any credit". Just soo hope it did work like that and the smart alecs who did it could then never get any credit of any kind :rotfl:

The CRA's only report what companies tell them, so even if they were deleted somethings would go back on, like defaulted accounts with DCA.

sargeantsalt

There are 1000's of people who neither need nor want credit. For those people, they should have a right to erasure so they can sleep better at night without having to worry about CRA data breaches leaking their info.

If you have a clean file with no ongoing commitments, I do not think the CRA has much justification in refusing.

Only in cases where there is bad history or outstanding obligations should the CRA be allowed to refuse.

Dobbibill

sargeantsalt wrote: »

There are 1000's of people who neither need nor want credit. For those people, they should have a right to erasure so they can sleep better at night without having to worry about CRA data breaches leaking their info.

If you have a clean file with no ongoing commitments, I do not think the CRA has much justification in refusing.

Genuine curiosity - How do you see that working with bank accounts? Or are you thinking pre-paid debit card for these people/requests?
And then for utilities, car insurance etc where credit checks are done.

Just thinking about paying bills/DDs/receiving wages type of thing and how many refusals it would lead to.

sargeantsalt

Dobbibill wrote: »

Genuine curiosity - How do you see that working with bank accounts? Or are you thinking pre-paid debit card for these people/requests?
And then for utilities, car insurance etc where credit checks are done.

Just thinking about paying bills/DDs/receiving wages type of thing and how many refusals it would lead to.

The OP's question was about the legal right to erasure. It is up to the market to provide services which meet the preferences of the customer.

Dobbibill

sargeantsalt wrote: »

The OP's question was about the legal right to erasure. It is up to the market to provide services which meet the preferences of the customer.

I never disputed that - I asked a genuine question about how you see it working in day to day life.

As per the example above - do you see it going with pre-paid cards? Do you see energy being pre-paid meters only? Car insurance being paid up front?

Perhaps you don't have any thoughts on what it would look like and would be open to alternative suggestions. Someone to market a suitable option(s).

My thoughts at present are, would they come at a cost to the consumer?(from a money saving angle) more expensive energy tariffs, paying for services provided via pre-paid cards etc etc.

sargeantsalt

I am sure that there is a market to provide high net worth individuals with financial services that meet their needs. Assuming they are wealthy enough to never need debt and can actually afford trivial outlays such as an entire insurance premium and that they do not care too much about saving every last penny then what justification is there for CRAs keeping their info? There is no law that says sharing information with CRAs is compulsory.

This site is more geared to the typical consumer who works hard their whole life whilst up to their eyeballs in debt and thinks getting a cheaper loan is "saving". In fact the concept of "saving" money to accumulate wealth to spend on what they desire has been replaced by the obsession with improving one's credit score to accumulate debt to spend instead. They are then trapped in a viscious cycle or work and debt whilst the rich get richer.