http://www.equifax.co.uk/ - Montoring

bigfreddiel

Hi,

I just took a look at http://www.equifax.co.uk/ - they are offering to protect your family against ID theft for £3.95 a month.

Has anyone used this service?

Any opinions?

Cheers

fj

James

A cheaper and more effective DIY system check this out:

www.freeidprotection.co.uk

"we think this new initiative will play a valuable role in reducing the opportunities for fraudsters." Neil Munroe, external affairs director at Equifax

bigfreddiel

Very interesting, please explain the thumbprint part tho' - what sort of ink shouldone use and wouldn't dna be better? i.e - I could just lick the letter and indicate the area by saying 'dna here' and lick it?

bankersmug

Ironically, I had a cold call this week from a firm offering me half-price BT line rental. I asked where they got my number from - Experian they said! They were very apologetic, asked if I was registered with the TPS (yes I was) and said they'd take me off their register right away. I've sent Experian a terce email but I won't hold my breath waiting for a reply.

Paul_Herring

bankersmug wrote: »

Ironically, I had a cold call this week from a firm offering me half-price BT line rental. I asked where they got my number from - Experian they said! They were very apologetic, asked if I was registered with the TPS (yes I was) and said they'd take me off their register right away. I've sent Experian a terce email but I won't hold my breath waiting for a reply.

Erm - the company you should be complaining about is the company that cold called you. They clearly aren't paying attention to the TPS.

James

bigfreddiel wrote: »

Very interesting, please explain the thumbprint part tho' - what sort of ink shouldone use and wouldn't dna be better? i.e - I could just lick the letter and indicate the area by saying 'dna here' and lick it?

Q. What sort of Ink do you use?

A An inkless gel pad is used that doesn't leave a mark on the user's thumb, yet creates a permament record of the users Print. Inkless pads have been used in the cheque cashing process by U.S. Banks for years. There's a link on the www.freeidprotection.co.uk page to one Inkless Pad supplier. You would only use an Inkless Pad if you were submitting an application. Costing around £5 and providing around 1000 prints.

Q. Wouldn't DNA be better?

A. No for several reasons, costs, hygene etc. The primary reason though is RISK, increasing the risk to the perpetrator.

This is not about you providing YOUR print or your DNA, it's all about demanding crooks submit their (if their stupid enough) PRINT if they wish to apply for something using your personal information.

All banks staff have to do is check a PRINT is next to the applicants signature. Besides a PRINT can quickly establish if it's the genuine persons PRINT on an applicion or not. The PRINT can then be checked against the huge National Fingerprint Database.

Some US Banks have this system in situ for account opening. This is the US Bank driving the process. So you'd expect ID fraudsters to target those US Banks who don't use the system.

If you use the www.freeidprotection.co.uk system. YOU drive this process. You protect your ID, you're not leaving it up to others, and it's applicable to ALL lenders and Banks.

bankersmug

Paul_Herring wrote: »

Erm - the company you should be complaining about is the company that cold called you. They clearly aren't paying attention to the TPS.

They said they got my number from the National Database - via Experian.

bigfreddiel

Thanks very much I may be registering once i get the pad.

fj

Paul_Herring

bankersmug wrote: »

Paul_Herring wrote:

Erm - the company you should be complaining about is the company that cold called you. They clearly aren't paying attention to the TPS.

They said they got my number from the National Database - via Experian.

That's about as useful as complaining that Experian are holding your address on file (though I must admit that I don't recall seeing my phone number on the report, not that I've looked for it. But I have had to put my phone number in to get the statutory report,) or your credit history.

And of course you're assuming that the company that cold-called you are actually telling the truth when they tell you where it came from, and they didn't get it from elsewhere. After all, if they're ignoring the TPS, I wouldn't put it past them to dig phone numbers out of a phone directory.

As I said in my OP, complain about the cold calling company. Preferably to TPS.

bankersmug

Paul_Herring wrote: »

That's about as useful as complaining that Experian are holding your address on file (though I must admit that I don't recall seeing my phone number on the report, not that I've looked for it. But I have had to put my phone number in to get the statutory report,) or your credit history.

And of course you're assuming that the company that cold-called you are actually telling the truth when they tell you where it came from, and they didn't get it from elsewhere. After all, if they're ignoring the TPS, I wouldn't put it past them to dig phone numbers out of a phone directory.

As I said in my OP, complain about the cold calling company. Preferably to TPS.

Thanks I shall certainly do that. I do however believe that is Experian's responsibility under Data protection laws not to share my contact info without permission, and given they are in the business of handling personal sensitive data I would expect them to adhere to this rigourously to say the least.

Paul_Herring

bankersmug wrote: »

I do however believe that is Experian's responsibility under Data protection laws not to share my contact info without permission,

I rather suspect they haven't, and you were lied to about the source of your phone number.

AFAIK, all searches (including your own, and this alleged telephone number request) on your credit record are recorded, and any such search would show up if you ordered your statutory report from Experian.

Even the 'proof of ID' searches show up on your report (but not on the report that financial institutions get.)