Who to trust?

Carl2510

Hi,

Which companies should we trust when looking at are credit scores, especially with the vital info like electoral register, credit accounts etc,

Should you only trust Experian, Equifax and TransUnion?

are these the main 3 that the lenders use or do Lenders use the ones like credit Karma or ClearScore?

cymruchris

They all record factual data - so you can trust them all. The scores may give a rough indication of your ability to gain credit - but it's only you that sees them, so don't worry about which CRA produces which score - just focus on making sure the recorded data is accurate. 

Carl2510

I don’t care about the score correct it’s mainly the info, as what I would call the main ones Equifax, transunion have my correct date but then like credit karma don’t? Yet there suppose to get the info from them so how is that correct 

cymruchris

If it's new data - it can take a few weeks for the free providers such as credit karma to catch up as they update less often. If it's data that's old - and is inaccurate - you can raise a dispute with each of the CRA's to get it put right. Not every financial institution reports to all of the agencies though - Bank X might only report to 1 - Bank Y might report to them all. So it is possible to see data on one provider that's not on another - but not within the same family of information feeds (eg transunion and credit karma should show the same data - bearing in mind my previous comment about newer data taking time to catch up).

Carl2510

Well I’ve checked Equifax, and TransUnion and ClearScore and they all say my current address for Electoral Register, yet Credit Karma doesn’t and Experian has my old address on there but not my current address, I remortgaged last year so I’m guessing they’d of checked it I was on the electoral register or I wouldn’t of been accepted? Am I right in thinking I’m fine with my electoral register?

Speedbird676

It's important to recognise the difference between the CRAs (Credit Reference Agencies) and other services which allow you to see your CRA data and show you a credit score.

The CRAs are Experian, Equifax, Transunion. Lenders and financial institutions generally report data to all three. They will use one or more of these to make lending decisions when they perform a credit check. You can see the data each of these holds by requesting your statutory credit file, which incurs a small one off fee. Alternatively, each offers their own service which allows you to view your file any time for an ongoing monthly fee.

There are other services that allow you to view the information held by the CRAs for free. These are predominantly:

1. MSE Credit Club for Experian
2. Clearscore for Equifax
3. Credit Karma for Transunion

These obtain your credit file data on a monthly (weekly in the case of Credit Karma) basis for free. The data is largely accurate but there can sometimes be lags as the data you see is on the last pull from the CRA and there may also be a lag for institutions reporting data to the CRA.

I moved house in October last year. It took a few weeks for my council to update the electoral roll which got updated from 1st December. The data was then reflected with the CRAs in January.

Carl2510

But I’ve been at my house 3 years and 4 months now so I would of thought the likes of Credit Karma and Experian would be updated by now?

Carl2510

I’m currently looking to move house, when all this lockdown is over so just making sure everyone is up to date and correct.

Steve_KCS

Carl2510 said:

I’m currently looking to move house, when all this lockdown is over so just making sure everyone is up to date and correct.

I'm in the exact same situation and so is my wife. 
I'm on the electoral register for Transunion and Experian but not Equifax. 
My wife is on the electoral register with Transunion but not Experian or Equifax. 
We have been on this previously and no idea why this had dropped off. We've lived at the same address since 2015 and been registered every year. 
I've had a dispute in with equifax since February and they are being no help, saying they will contract my local council. I have no faith this will be resolved and considering putting in a complaint. This could affect a mortgage application for an administrative error on the CRAs part. It's not acceptable. 

Carl2510

Steve_KCS said:

Carl2510 said:

I’m currently looking to move house, when all this lockdown is over so just making sure everyone is up to date and correct.

I'm in the exact same situation and so is my wife. 
I'm on the electoral register for Transunion and Experian but not Equifax. 
My wife is on the electoral register with Transunion but not Experian or Equifax. 
We have been on this previously and no idea why this had dropped off. We've lived at the same address since 2015 and been registered every year. 
I've had a dispute in with equifax since February and they are being no help, saying they will contract my local council. I have no faith this will be resolved and considering putting in a complaint. This could affect a mortgage application for an administrative error on the CRAs part. It's not acceptable. 

Yes it is a pain in the butt, shouldn’t be so difficult to be correct considering some do have the right info. And especially considering I get my postal vote at my current address so I must be on it. 

DCFC79

Carl2510 said:

But I’ve been at my house 3 years and 4 months now so I would of thought the likes of Credit Karma and Experian would be updated by now?

The agencies can only display what data they are provided with.