ID Fraud Affecting Credit Rating

Rob877

Hi everyone, apologies for the long winded post.

I was the victim of ID fraud where someone set up two bank accounts, a store card and two credit cards in my name and withdrew a lot of money. I was working abroad at the time so was unaware of the pile of letters mounting up asking me to pay these debts. I eventually sorted this out and proved these accounts weren't set up by me and was cleared of any debts. I was also placed on an anti fraud register and told that I didn't need to do anything else and that this wouldn't affect my credit rating.

This was all fine until earlier this week when I had a meeting with Halifax (who I bank with) to apply for a credit to use on an upcoming trip to America at the end of April. I was declined credit and told that i should check my credit rating. I did this and found that my rating was 'very poor'. I have always been good with money and my mortgage and bills have always been paid on on time. I have never been refused credit before although this was my first time applying for a credit card. 

I'm not really sure of my next steps as to what I should do to remedy this as I need to have it sorted quickly for my upcoming trip. Any advice on who to contact or what to do would be much appreciated. 

Thanks is advance!

D_M_E

You probably got declined because you're on antifraud register.

Have you tried explaining to them your past problems - in branch, not on the phone?

If you do go in branch, take ID with you, such as passpoert, proof of address etc.

Rob877

D_M_E said:

You probably got declined because you're on antifraud register.

Have you tried explaining to them your past problems - in branch, not on the phone?

If you do go in branch, take ID with you, such as passpoert, proof of address etc.

Thanks for the speedy reply. I was actually in branch on Monday (with all relevant ID and proof of address) and was told that they had done a preliminary check on my records before I came in. The lady I had the appointment with couldn't (or wouldn't) give me any more information than that. Her advice was to check my credit rating and then go back if it was good. I was expecting my credit rating to be good and was quite surprised when it came up as 'very poor'. I'm thinking that I'm going to have sort out my poor credit rating before speaking to Halifax again regarding the credit card.

[Deleted User]

You can't sort out your rating.  It's a meaningless number generated by a CRA.  They can change it to excellent and it wouldn't change anything.

Lenders will only be looking at the data on your files. Have you checked all three, plus CIFAS?

PRAISETHESUN

As above, check the data on your files from all 3 CRAs, not the scores (which are meaningless). What do they say? Have all the fraudulent accounts been removed? Are all other accounts in good standing? (payments on time, not over limits, etc). Are there any CIFAS markers? If so you may want to submit a SAR to request a copy of your personal data from CIFAS.

Rob877

Thanks so much for the replies. I have looked at my credit file and have now found the source of my issues (a credit card which I want aware of), so I'm now going through the process of disputing these items. 

Once again thanks for your help.