Unknown source for linked address on credit report

rhodesmjr

I have used the MSE Credit Club Experian Credit Report to view my linked addresses. I've noticed an error on 5 of the 35 linked addresses and had a note put on my file against these. The wrong house number has been incorrectly used consistently on these 5 records. The stated source on these records is usually a bank name and I have previously successfully got the Bank of Scotland to change an error by contacting them directly. In this case the source is "HS7580", I don't know what organisation this is to follow up with them. Is there any way of finding out?

eskbanker

Ask Experian - as they (rightly) say that inaccuracies must be corrected by the supplying institution then they have to tell you who that is.  Hopefully they'll do so in response to a routine request via the normal customer service channels, but if they're reluctant then you can file a Subject Access Request under the Data Protection Act, which obliges them to explain any codified data they hold about you.

rhodesmjr

Thanks for the advice eskbanker. I have added a query to my credit report three times through the MSE Credit Club which provides an email response from Experian, in each response they indirectly suggest the source is Halifax, Bank of Scotland or TSB, different with each response. I then contacted each bank in turn who state it's not their information and they have the correct address details held for me and I don't get the impression they have sight of the information they submit to my credit report, only what's held 'on their system' in front of them. I have never even had a Halifax account and I've been in store to ask them (I realise Halifax and BoS are part of the same overall group) but they said it's not their information. BoS said I have to go to into a Halifax store as I'm in England as they don't hold my telephone banking security information anymore.

I followed your next advice and submitted a Data Access Request to Experian, however this just provides a PDF of the same credit report presented through the MSE Credit Club tool. It suggests TSB is the source so I phoned them and they said they would have to pass it to their backroom staff and I haven't heard anything back. I phoned Experian customer support (which I was told is actually an external over the phone style paid subscription service), the person I spoke to said that even with a membership to their service all they would do is contact the source in the same way as any other external credit report advice service would and therefore the response they receive back would again fail to answer the question in the same manner. They suggested I ask the MSE Credit Club customer support, but I explained that function is provided by Experian.

6 months of patience and trying now, but getting nowhere. Does anyone have any suggestions of what I could do next? Is there an MSE Credit Club customer service communication channel I can try? Experian simply can't answer the question and generically point to asking the source but there seems to be no function to challenge Experian on what the source is. None of the potential sources seem capable of confirming what they have submitted for my credit report, and can only look at what's on 'their system'. Ideas welcome, thanks.

MallyGirl

have you looked at the other 2 CRAs to see if the same error is there? They might show the source in a different way if it is

yksi

What MallyGirl said. I was seeing "almost correct" addresses in mine and I eventually tracked it to find out which one was reporting it incorrectly, I placed a notice of dispute and explained in the details, it took a while but it was eventually corrected. Look at Credibility, ClearScore, CreditKarma, TotallyMoney, MoneySupermarket. They each show your accounts differently and this can help you to examine the information that different banks and institutions actually report.