Credit file - our rights

PeeJayJay

I have spent hours trawling the net to learn, however, information is scant.

I am sure I am in good company here in wanting to know just what are our rights in terms of confidentiality, security and privacy in respect of our credit file. It seems that any company can perform a search willy-nilly. I often find searches from companies I have never heard of. This could be indicative of identity theft, i.e. a criminal making an application for credit using my name. We seem powerless to find out or protect ourselves. I have alerts set up so that every time my credit file is searched I get a email so I can go take a peek.

Very unhappy about this - who can can provide more information please? Paul :-)

[Deleted User]

The searches aren't entirely either willy or nilly.

Hard searches require your permission, while soft searches can be carried out as a pre-cursor to marketing activity (eg the pre-approved offers you may have received), or by companies with whom you already have a relationship (and will have given permission to do so).

If there are searches by companies you don't wish to deal with, you can exercise your right to restrict their processing of your data.

DCFC79

Who has carried out the searches ?


Applied for any credit to warrant the searches ?

-taff

Or used any comparison insurance websites?

PeeJayJay

Thanks for your replies :-)

No, haven't been using insurance sites, not applied for credit, I have emailed the company in question to ask why, whether they will reply remains to be seen.

The information describing differences between hard and soft searches is very vague, the willy nilly I refer to is random unexpected searches by companies unknown to me so even for marketing I personally take great exception to this. Having nearly lost my house due to npower screwing my credit file I am hyper sensitive to credit file accesses and guard my 999 credit score vigilantly. We have very little - actually no - way of seeking redress or being compensated for the damage that erroneous credit file entries cause. There have been many articles about people losing mortgage offers/denied credit because of errors on their credit file. The consequences can be catastrophic as they were for me.

jimbo26

Is this serous?

Carrot007

To address two of your points.

PeeJayJay wrote: »

Having nearly lost my house due to npower screwing my credit file

They would either have had good reason of you ignored it or did not give them your address when moving so you did not get a final bill. All bad ideas and all would be removed from the credit record if you were in the right and not obstructive.

PeeJayJay wrote: »

I am hyper sensitive to credit file accesses and guard my 999 credit score vigilantly.

Do you care about the score at the other agencies where 99 is not the top? What I am getting at is why do you even care about a made up score that no one you appply for thing to is ever going to see. Even the companies that use experians credit scoring do not see your experian credit score as they all add in additional details and get a differnet score. worry about your credit history which brings us to as above.


No offense but you come accross as someone so paranoid about petty thuings that you probably get in the way of things working as expected. Please try to relax a little. Mistakes are made, such is life, if they are not your fault they can be easily rectified.

antrobus

PeeJayJay wrote: »

...
The information describing differences between hard and soft searches is very vague,...

The distinction is very clear. You and the CRA can see soft searches, no one else can.

PeeJayJay wrote: »

the willy nilly I refer to is random unexpected searches by companies unknown to me so even for marketing I personally take great exception to this.....

Your posts refer to one search, what others have there been?

PeeJayJay wrote: »

...
Having nearly lost my house due to npower screwing my credit file ....

How did that happen?

(I suspect 'lost my house' means prospective purchase almost fell through?)

PeeJayJay wrote: »

...
I am hyper sensitive to credit file accesses and guard my 999 credit score vigilantly. ....

I have an Experian 999 score as well. You do know it's largely meaningless?

PeeJayJay wrote: »

...
We have very little - actually no - way of seeking redress or being compensated for the damage that erroneous credit file entries cause. There have been many articles about people losing mortgage offers/denied credit because of errors on their credit file. The consequences can be catastrophic as they were for me.

What damage have you suffered from the search you are now questioning?

And there are ways of seeking redress.

Parkingfines

Ok How much compensation are you after?

PeeJayJay

I dare to say I have probably had more experience of issues with credit files than many of you here and indeed the ignorance in some of the responses reflect that. It is always surprising how people are quick to draw conclusions buy slow to elicit all the facts of a situation. npower - if anyone is actually interested then try starting with a google of 'npower system problems'. Major IT screw up which I conclude caused my problems. I had done nothing wrong. I had finished building my house and could not get a mortgage to pay off the commercial 12 month loan which was being called in - yes, repossession because I could not get a mortgage to pay it off. Several N1 court claim forms emailed to Paul Masara the then CEO swiftly got the 6 month black entries removed the very next day (don't let them fob you off and say it takes longer - as someone who works in IT I know that is BS) The three CRAs use different scoring scales, 999 is top on one of them as you should know. To say it is largely meaningless is a matter of your opinion, I beg to differ. But I still want to know more. In the world of ID theft, a search could mean a criminal is using your details to apply for credit in your name. And yes, a little paranoia keeps me on my toes to guard my credit file. I use a lot of finance for property so is key to my business.

To say things can be "easily rectified" - dream on! The experience I had was horrendous and cost me £thousands in high interest on the commercial loan, a 4 £figure commercial loan renewal fee to allow me to borrow beyond 12 months while I battled for MONTHS to rectify the problem. Oh, and npower removed the entries, put them back on, removed them, put them back on, removed them - they stayed off this time. I have 500 pages of npower transcripts, letters, bills to prove it.

No-one here has been able to provide a detailed explanation of what info a company has access to when a soft search is done v the info they can access on a hard search which is really what I want to know.

So what are the ways of seeking redress? There are no legal case precedents, there is the Durkin case but nothing else. I'd be keen to learn more of what you know.

There are many others who have experienced horror stories due to credit file issues. I hope none of you here ever have an issue, when you do you'll feel the pain.

Nasqueron

PeeJayJay wrote: »

I dare to say I have probably had more experience of issues with credit files than many of you here and indeed the ignorance in some of the responses reflect that. It is always surprising how people are quick to draw conclusions buy slow to elicit all the facts of a situation. npower - if anyone is actually interested then try starting with a google of 'npower system problems'. Major IT screw up which I conclude caused my problems. I had done nothing wrong. I had finished building my house and could not get a mortgage to pay off the commercial 12 month loan which was being called in - yes, repossession because I could not get a mortgage to pay it off. Several N1 court claim forms emailed to Paul Masara the then CEO swiftly got the 6 month black entries removed the very next day (don't let them fob you off and say it takes longer - as someone who works in IT I know that is BS) The three CRAs use different scoring scales, 999 is top on one of them as you should know. To say it is largely meaningless is a matter of your opinion, I beg to differ. But I still want to know more. In the world of ID theft, a search could mean a criminal is using your details to apply for credit in your name. And yes, a little paranoia keeps me on my toes to guard my credit file. I use a lot of finance for property so is key to my business.

To say things can be "easily rectified" - dream on! The experience I had was horrendous and cost me £thousands in high interest on the commercial loan, a 4 £figure commercial loan renewal fee to allow me to borrow beyond 12 months while I battled for MONTHS to rectify the problem. Oh, and npower removed the entries, put them back on, removed them, put them back on, removed them - they stayed off this time. I have 500 pages of npower transcripts, letters, bills to prove it.

No-one here has been able to provide a detailed explanation of what info a company has access to when a soft search is done v the info they can access on a hard search which is really what I want to know.

So what are the ways of seeking redress? There are no legal case precedents, there is the Durkin case but nothing else. I'd be keen to learn more of what you know.

There are many others who have experienced horror stories due to credit file issues. I hope none of you here ever have an issue, when you do you'll feel the pain.

The credit score is 100% meaningless, you will never get, or be refused, credit based on the score. The score is not even seen by lenders, they access the data and form their own score which you will never see. There are people on here who are bankrupts with a 999 score, there are those with a 999 score who can't get a simple mobile phone contract. There are people on here with a rubbish score who get loans and cards without any issues.

Your issue with npower should have been sorted and suitable compensation given as you had a quantifiable loss. Other firms doing soft searches on your record are meaningless.


very next post to yours - someone with 900+ score with 12 defaults on their account and cannot get a loan



https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/5952108/good-score-but-zero-chance-of-credit