My dad's credit card is on my ClearScore credit report

Mahammad

I signed up to ClearScore today because I'm curious. I turned 18 this year and haven't done anything credit related, I'm interested in SIM only contracts so I just signed up. 

Upon signing up after giving my address, name, age etc I was greeted with my 2 bank cards and there was a mysterious credit card under my account. 

I've asked my dad if he knew anything about it and he said it's his credit card, I'm so clueless as to how his credit card is on my ClearScore account. I guess it's something to do with Equifax since they're providing the data after all. 

How could this have happened? I get we live at the same address and have similar full name but we're very different ages, also how do I sort this out? Contacting ClearScore, Equifax or my dad's bank?

IrishSean

Hi; welcome
It could be a few things:
An administrative error on the Card Company or credit ref agency's part
It could be your dad took the card out in your name to help you build credit
It could be your dad deliberately took it out in your name (for reasons as yet unknown)

The fact he knew about it means i'd be leaning towards option 3. You've a number of things to do:

Firstly check all 3 of your credit files for free: does it appear on all of them?
Once you've done this ask your dad if he did take the card out in your name, and if possible ask him why.
It could be a sensitive topic; he has in essence commited identity fraud if he's taken it out in your name without your knowledge or consent: obviously DO NOT  assume this is the reason until you establish facts. 
It does seem weird he would apply for and get a card in your name as you say you've only just turned 18. Check when the CC was set up as getting a CC under 18 is pretty difficult. Check balance and that all monthly payments have been made (grey, pink dots etc).

I hope you get to the bottom of it; if it's an error on Equifax's part you just need to put a note on file by contacting them, then have them remove it; as I said though, your father says it's his, chat to him first.

 

Mahammad

IrishSean said:

Hi; welcome
It could be a few things:
An administrative error on the Card Company or credit ref agency's part
It could be your dad took the card out in your name to help you build credit
It could be your dad deliberately took it out in your name (for reasons as yet unknown)

The fact he knew about it means i'd be leaning towards option 3. You've a number of things to do:

Firstly check all 3 of your credit files for free: does it appear on all of them?
Once you've done this ask your dad if he did take the card out in your name, and if possible ask him why.
It could be a sensitive topic; he has in essence commited identity fraud if he's taken it out in your name without your knowledge or consent: obviously DO NOT  assume this is the reason until you establish facts. 
It does seem weird he would apply for and get a card in your name as you say you've only just turned 18. Check when the CC was set up as getting a CC under 18 is pretty difficult. Check balance and that all monthly payments have been made (grey, pink dots etc).

I hope you get to the bottom of it; if it's an error on Equifax's part you just need to put a note on file by contacting them, then have them remove it; as I said though, your father says it's his, chat to him first.

 

Experian can't find it probably because I've got almost no records. Yeah the credit card is his, it's under his name, he got it around 2013 which is in line with what it says on ClearScore. I can only guess it's mixed up because our first and middle names are extremely similar. Guess it's time to contact Equifax. 

IrishSean

GL Muhammad👍
Experian helped clear a lot of my typos and silly date mistakes (mostly by nationwide not entering details correctly!). I found getting corrections made by them more straightforward on mse credit club than on clearscore.

Sign up for mse credit club for free; you might find the account details for your dad's CC easier to read & understand there: I do.

It sounds like an admin error as 11 year olds don't tend to be given credit cards😂

Maybe ask your dad to check his file; if the cards on his there should be no problem getting it removed from your record. 

Hope I haven't missed anything.

hermante

A similar thing happens on my clearscore and also my equifax statutory report. It links me to another name and another address that I purportedly lived at when I was 7. But I didn't come to the UK until I was 18.

I did not know this other person and his name is completely different to mine, turns out he is my wife's uncle, but that also doesn't explain it since there is no official link, the government wouldn't know that my wife's dad and him are brothers as they both were born outside the UK and moved to the UK independently.

Equifax kind of fobbed me off and just said if it is not you it won't affect your credit rating. Well it hasn't really affected me, so I just left it. There are no financial products from him, he only appears in my "previous addresses" section.

But in your case definitely tell clearscore to sort it out as it is a financial product held by someone else.

IrishSean

Sry, my mistake he has checked; its a duplicate entry by the looks of it, his card should come off your file / files NP then.