Do debt collectors have access to credit file?

bradztheman

Question for a friend of mine..

Do debt collection agencies have access to your credit report?

If so what can they access, everything you can access yourself?

can they see amounts owed to different companies? And can they see addresses??

MovingForwards

Depends if they pay for a licence.
Pretty much.
Name, address, accounts (not companies), amounts, defaults, CCJs, late / missed payments, IVAs, bankruptcy etc same as banks etc can see.

adamp87

They can pull a hard search on your account I believe to verify details & such?

[Deleted User]

They gave the same rights as the lender from who they inherited the debt, if rights have been assigned.

Malkytheheed

I love that you can just "buy" someone's personal details and access to their credit file. So much for data protection! 

Same way DVLA will just sell the details of your car and address to any tom !!!!!! and Harry who says you parked on their land. It's actually ridiculous. Again, so much for data protection and GDPR

[Deleted User]

Malkytheheed said:

I love that you can just "buy" someone's personal details and access to their credit file. So much for data protection! 

Same way DVLA will just sell the details of your car and address to any tom !!!!!! and Harry who says you parked on their land. It's actually ridiculous. Again, so much for data protection and GDPR

Why do you think people who don't pay their debts should have "protection" from being researched if a collector is trying to trace someone? Firms just can't buy sensitive data - they need to have a legitimate purpose with the correct licences. 

No doubt if someone owed you money you would be happy to be told "sorry, we can't help you 'cos GDPR". 

MEM62

Malkytheheed said:

I love that you can just "buy" someone's personal details and access to their credit file. So much for data protection! 

One of the ways in which access to your data is legitimately granted is by consent.  When you sign up for loan or other types of borrowing you give your consent to these searches.  Companies cannot just buy your data in the way that you are suggesting.  GDPR works perfectly well but it is not a mechanism for people to avoid or hide from their debts.       

PaulW922

Debt collectors do not see who your lenders actually are - nor do other credit providers when they search your file. Not just 'anyone' can access your credit file - they need to be complaint with the GDPR. In practice I do not think this is very tightly regulated. There can be both hard and soft debt collection searches. I have never quite been able to get a  full understanding of that but I think the vast majority are 'soft' 

sleepyjones

If people can't see who your accounts are with, how come a sub-prime card looks worse of your file than a main stream lender?
How would they know if you're card is sub-prime, same applies for pay day loans?

[Deleted User]

A sub prime card doesn't look worse.  It looks exactly the same.  A lender may take a guess based on the credit limit, but there's no other difference.

Payday loans are different, as that's a specfiic category.

MovingForwards

PDLs are classed as advance on income.