Credit agencies/reports - accuracy?

changeforbetter

Hi All,

Just wondered what people thought about using these agencies to keep on top of their finances/debts/DMPs etc...? (I'm personally on a DMP with Stepchange paying 8 different credits every month).

I'm having a few issues looking at my Noddle reports - they have been mostly fine and a good way to follow my balances, but having a number of different credits I do have the occasional concern with accuracy (not done anything about it yet though).

For example, Noddle list often a different section for 'balance history' and 'statement history' for the same creditor, and they don't always match either for the figure - not exactly sure why?

Another issue is that occasionally my balances don't seem to have reduced between some time periods - despite me paying a regular DMP payment every month for last couple of years. Anyone had similar when looking at Noddle reports?

(all my payments are sorted in terms of recipient BTW - DCAs all known etc, so shouldn't be a problem with them getting through).

Thanks for any similar experiences or related advice please?

Willing2Learn

changeforbetter wrote: »

...For example, Noddle list often a different section for 'balance history' and 'statement history' for the same creditor, and they don't always match either for the figure - not exactly sure why?...

I believe that 'balance history' is the balance recorded at the time of the CRA 'snapshot' of the account. Whilst the 'statement balance' should be the amount shown on your statement for that particular month.

changeforbetter

Thanks Willing for that point about the different forms of balance, I can see what you mean.

But, I'm still a little perplexed why some different months on my Noddle report show no decrease in certain creditor balances, when I know I paid Stepchange my usual payment for those months. Sometimes there are two months showing no decrease, then a decrease (accounting for a usual month) shows later, but overall it hasn't dropped as much as it should (according to the Noddle report).

I should add, this shouldn't be any interest/charges either, all my accounts were defaulted at a set amount some time back.

I'm just not sure if this is a common problem when looking at reports like Noddle...have others had this at all?

kram

It maybe worth signing up for mse credit club who are linked up with experian, so you have a comparison to look at.

Worth checking your online stepchange balances as well.

Again things may not show up straight away, it depends when they snapshot your account activity for that month.

changeforbetter

kram wrote: »

It maybe worth signing up for mse credit club who are linked up with experian, so you have a comparison to look at.

Worth checking your online stepchange balances as well.

Again things may not show up straight away, it depends when they snapshot your account activity for that month.

Thanks Kram, good advice. I do know that SC balances are different from the ones showing on my Noddle reports - though not by huge amounts, just missing a few of the payments I would guess in terms of difference (over 2.5 years of payments).

It's basically not as though the Noddle balances show no reduction (then I would worry, lol) rather just some payments seem missing in places....

I could be more active about it, but didn't want to rock the boat so to speak if it was only a small problem or reporting error of some kind, that was sort of why I asked whether others felt CRA were accurate always.

Willing2Learn

Well, if you are going to checking your Experian and TransUnion (ex CallCredit) credit files, you may as well check out the data held by the third CRA for free too.

Clearscore (Equifax)

It is good practice to regularly check your three credit files for accuracy, or for signs of id fraud...