is the same info reported to different CRA's??

midlander81

Hi,
Strange question perhaps.....

Do banks report the same info to the various credit reference agencies, for example if someone had defaulted on their credit card, would the default show on all of the CRA's, or could the account look satisfactory with no default on lets say experian but then show as defaulted on another CRA such as equifax?

Hope this makes sense!

Willing2Learn

Some lenders report account conduct to all 3 CRAs. However, some lenders only report to 2 of them, whilst others will be just the 1.

yksi

You'd think they would all report defaults (after all, it is in their own interest) but there have been people posting here that certain adverse events are not showing on all three of their reports. If you want to know whether a default is visible, obtain your free statutory credit report from all three agencies and have a look.

As for searches, they do not always appear on all three. They could, in theory, check all three, but they often do not, so it depends on the lender and what product you're applying for. That's why brokers are so valuable, because they know which lenders are checking where.

sambaird

Companies don’t have to report to all 3 agencies, but they will (or should) report the same information to the agencies that they use.

As a hypothetical, Credit Card Company A reports to Experian and Equifax only. If your account defaults, then it should show on both as a default.

If it doesn’t, then a mistake has occurred - either on the part of the Card Company sending the data or the CRA itself.

Bear in mind that the reports generated online via free accounts (MSE, CreditKarma, Clearscore) etc, do not update in real time... so depending on the day of the month they refresh (or in the case of CreditKarma, weekly), it might be possible to see the account as defaulted on one, but not another.

midlander81

Thanks, so if the accounts appear fine and up to date on experian then they shouldn't appear as defaulted on Equifax or any other CRA?

stehouk

It all depends on when cra's are updated by the companies and when the cra's update your'e file, i use all three and they are not all updated on exactly the same day every month because they usually update on the anniversary of you opening the account which is often different, you will also find that not all your'e accounts are on every cra's.
If you have not defaulted on any of your'e accounts then all will/should show exactly the same information at some point within a 2 month period on the cra's they are reported to.