Is there a way to get copy of credit record without your request updating your credit record?

BadDebtor

One of the ways I manage my mental health problems exacerbated by debt is to stay totally off radar, I do not have any credit or buy any product or service that requires a credit check, nor do I vote because I know the credit reference companies send alerts to the scum DCA's et al.

I had an overdraft of £2k that my bank was reducing each year by about £300, I was living on the breadline and could not afford to reduce it in time so my bank gave me 10 months to reduce it to the new level.  What I was not aware of is that when they do this they do a credit check which I never consented to but I guess they can do due to some term somewhere.

One of the DCA's was alerted to this, despite the alert showing my address they issued a backdoor CCJ at an address I was at 15 years before, then when they got the Judgement they miraculously send me a demand for the debt to the correct address. I examined the timeline and it confirms what others say this firm does regularly as a tactic.  It was a futile stunt, I have not contacted them and they will not get one cent from me.

I am not aware of any of the other DCA's doing this, I imagine they would see that this firm got their CCJ but it was not serviced so nothing was achieved.  Also it would seem strange to go for the debt at a different address after they have been sending me the autoresponder letter cycle, these seemed to stop last year when about 5 credit cards hit their 6 year anniversary 

I had other debt that has probably gone off statute by now, I want to know if there is a way for me to get a copy of my credit reference that does not trigger an alert as I still have a handful of other debts that will go off next year.

I tried to get it via a subject access request but this was not responded to properly, instead they have a page called Data Access Request, this page does not tell you how to get a Subject Access Request. 

Instead it refers one to what they confusingly call a Statutory Credit Report, when I contacted them to say I did not want a Statutory Credit Report but a Subject Access Request they try to use this process to either gather my latest information or they just refuse to provide the SAR, saying I can only get the Statutory Credit Report.  

In my opinion not only does the SCR masquerade as a SAR but it is designed to grab more or your data on the pretext of fraud prevention, but they ask for all the information that is requested if you register for credit reference including a plethora of previous addresses.

They even say that they may move your data outside the UK to areas that are not protected by GDPR. 

Their website makes it look as if they will comply with an SAR but when you ask they send you down this rabbit hole.

If you search their website for Subject Access Request it says 113 results but shows just two, both of which are this damn Statutory Credit Report 

I asked the ICO and they expressed concerns that the firm were quoting the wrong parts of GDPR which suggested less rights, it seems that this agency not only avoids providing you with your data, but it forces you to provide more data and it sends that data abroad.

What I want to know if whether I can force any of the credit reference agencies to provide the SAR , without giving them any more data and without triggering yet more alerts which trigger information being sent to other CRA's and the scum DCA's?

Once my debt has gone off limitation and is below £20k I will be able to do the DRO and finally get rid of it all.  I am hoping this will happen next year.  

Before you ask, bankruptcy is not an option. 

PLEASE either help me with my query or do not reply.  Thanks in advance.

sourcrates

Why don’t you simply view your credit reports online ?
Doing so will not alert anyone.

Sending a SAR to a credit reference agency is only ever going to get you a statutory credit report as that is all they are concerned with.

What else do you expect them to send you, they only process information given to them by the creditors, which is provided to you via a credit report, that’s it.

If you want information on you held by the creditors, then SAR them instead, your wasting your time sending it to the CRA.

What exactly are you trying to find out ?

BadDebtor

I have no way to view online other than by signing up for a 30 day trial which of course kicks off activity alerts.

I do not wish to participate in this big brother system that puts alerts on my movements by bartering data provisions not when credit is used but just by living at an address and being a client of a utility company.

The ICO told me that there is no such thing as a "statutory credit report" that it was a term invented by these companies to not comply with GDPR except by providing what they already provide, along with the alerts it triggers.

I have seen a PDF of the corporate document that the CRA's give to the corporate sized companies, it has what they call activity triggers, subscribers to these get a notification with ANY activity on the account, even me looking at a copy of my own record. 

It also offers to barter data with search credits, so if a company uploads it's customer records every month they get a percentage of free searches, enough to make them essentially free.

An SAR is much more than the fake statutory credit report offered, for example under GDPR I have the right to ask for who gave them each item of information, who they shared my data with, how the data is stored, where it is stored, I can also request copies of the definition of any coding schema.  For example imagine there is a field on my file that says "PINA728" I have the right to definition of what it means and in some circumstances other choices for that field.

These companies see GDPR as a threat to their business, when I called one such company after two written requests and a formal complaint that went nowhere I called them again and got put through to a lawyer who was clearly trained in how to obstruct GDPR, I pointed this out to him and he admitted it.

When a company does not comply with GDPR and engages in questionable practices one cannot trust them to act honourably.

The ICO have asked me to go through the process again as the dates were too far apart, they will then take it forward and involve the Financial Ombudsman as they said they had concerns.

That is going to take some months, so I was hoping someone on here might have a method to get this data without triggering alerts.  Some companies are worse than others, but if they share the activity with each other it is as bad as providing to data to those who are worse.

What I am trying to find out is whether it shows credit card balances as past limitation, also whether there are any more CCJ's (I found out in 2015 that I got a CCJ in 2012 completely without my knowledge but unlike the backdoor one, it was at my address at the time, I received no letter before action, by the time I found out I figured I might as well wait out the 6 years).

When I look at the debt based forums on here and all the mental health problems it creates I think these CRA's just make things worse.

I no longer want credit of any sort and what I would like to see is an option to OPT OUT of the CRA system, obviously this should not be able to facilitate fraud, the way I would see it working is that if you selected this option you would have a setting on your CRA that simply says OPTED OUT DO NOT LEND UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES.  That would meet the so called purpose of the CRA's of whether to lend or not.

This tracing system is also morally wrong especially as it is mostly done without notice or explicit consent, the CRA's were established to determine whether you were credit worthy, but now they collect data when there is no credit agreement at all.  

The ICO and FSA should bring out new rules that force them to comply with SAR's. that ban the sharing of data without there being a proper credit purchase, for example buying a mobile phone with a data contract is clearly taking out a credit agreement and is governed by the consumer credit act, but taking out a broadband contract, energy supply, or no contract sim contract should not be allowed to be registered on the CRA systems.

An example of the complete abuse of this is Smarty mobile, on the front of their website they say "no credit checks"


but if you look at the terms on the PDF download it says

"To conduct credit and fraud checks if you apply  for a monthly price plan account, and to help verify your identify and to decide whether to accept your 

application or future application. 

We and other organisations may use your personal information to make other credit decisions about  you and other members of your household, and  for identification purposes, debt tracing and the prevention of money laundering as well as the management of your account."

Note all customers are on a monthly price plan.
It is important to understand that the company does NOT offer credit, you actually pre-pay online via their portal on your debit card and you can set up a monthly charge against that card, they do not operate direct debit.

So when I called them to query this the operator was confused, at first they said they did not do credit checks, then I referred them to their terms and they put me on hold while they spoke to a manager.

They then came back and said 
We might share the details in case if it is required.  So, if you aren't comfortable with the terms and conditions we respect your decision.
I queried what "required" meant and they said "if we want to"
So here you have a company that says on it's home page that it will not share your data, but the terms are written to do the exact opposite.

MSE used to be good at advising in the promotion when a deal was subject to a credit check, but less so today.  Plusnet and NowTV are heralded as not needing a credit check and there seems to be some confusion over Sky, some sites say they do credit checks but when I called them they assured me that they do not do credit checks on pay as you go SIM only contracts.  When I asked them why they feel the need to do a credit check on Broadband when they disconnect the service and charge £7 to turn it back on again (according to the chap who lives across from me), he said they did not do credit checks on Broadband customers and very interestingly said "we can establish all identity we need by taking the initial payment on the debit card, the banks will certify the address and that is perfectly adequate".

I very nearly signed up with Sky broadband, but when I saw this uncertainty I just decided not to go with Sky. 

So is it any wonder that consumers do not trust this whole credit reference system or the companies that use them when no consumer credit is being provided.

I know that some members on this site will just say "what is the big deal just go bankrupt" but my uncle who was like a second dad to me got into debt problems and went around in circles with these CRA's and debt enforcement people, he did go bankrupt but they still came after him and he took his own life shortly after.  I myself have felt the same way at times which is why I try to keep these scum at arms length,  when some High Court Enforcement people came I was very close to killing them.  I had seen all the tricks they do on TV and youtube to mislead people and they tried to kick my door in (it cracked the plaster on the door frame which had just been painted).  If they had got in they would be dead now.

Of course their body cams were off and they were not allowed to do that for a civil debt, but as we have seen on TV they will try to get in and say they found the door open.

It should never have got that far, but I believe the rot starts with these credit reference companies and the questionable practices that could be highlighted to the FCA and ICO if they complied with an SAR in the same way that other companies are required to by law. 

femalemonarchfemalecanine

MSE credit club for experian, credit karma for transunion/ex-call credit and clearscore for equifax. You can look at your credit reposts on line for free via those.
https://clubs.moneysavingexpert.com/creditclub/login?
https://www.creditkarma.co.uk/
https://www.clearscore.com/

sourcrates

BadDebtor said:

I have no way to view online other than by signing up for a 30 day trial which of course kicks off activity alerts.

Not true.

You can sign up to, and view your credit reports online via various freesites, or on the CRA` s own sites for free, no trial, no alerts.

Again, i`ll ask, what is your end goal here ?

BadDebtor

femalemonarchfemalecanine said:

MSE credit club for experian, credit karma for transunion/ex-call credit and clearscore for equifax. You can look at your credit reposts on line for free via those.
https://clubs.moneysavingexpert.com/creditclub/login?
https://www.creditkarma.co.uk/
https://www.clearscore.com/

Thanks for this, do you happen to know how do they verify who you are?

sourcrates

BadDebtor said:

femalemonarchfemalecanine said:

MSE credit club for experian, credit karma for transunion/ex-call credit and clearscore for equifax. You can look at your credit reposts on line for free via those.
https://clubs.moneysavingexpert.com/creditclub/login?
https://www.creditkarma.co.uk/
https://www.clearscore.com/

Thanks for this, do you happen to know how do they verify who you are?

You have to pass security, answer questions on whats in your report etc etc.

BadDebtor

sourcrates said:

BadDebtor said:

femalemonarchfemalecanine said:

MSE credit club for experian, credit karma for transunion/ex-call credit and clearscore for equifax. You can look at your credit reposts on line for free via those.
https://clubs.moneysavingexpert.com/creditclub/login?
https://www.creditkarma.co.uk/
https://www.clearscore.com/

Thanks for this, do you happen to know how do they verify who you are?

You have to pass security, answer questions on whats in your report etc etc.

That is really interesting, so to apply for an SAR you have to provide NEW information and a plethora of addresses that they may or may not have.

BadDebtor

femalemonarchfemalecanine said:

MSE credit club for experian, credit karma for transunion/ex-call credit and clearscore for equifax. You can look at your credit reposts on line for free via those.
https://clubs.moneysavingexpert.com/creditclub/login?
https://www.creditkarma.co.uk/
https://www.clearscore.com/

Who we share your personal data with

We may share your personal data with:

• Credit reference agencies, for example, TransUnion for your credit data so we can provide our credit information services to you. To do this, we share some of your personal details, such as your contact details and date of birth. Any request for a credit report will leave a soft search on your credit file, which is visible to you, the credit reference agency and us, but not visible to lenders or other organisations when deciding whether to offer you credit. You can find more details about how TransUnion uses your personal information here.
• HD Decisions and Capital One to determine your eligibility for credit cards and Monevo, a credit broker, to determine your eligibility for personal loans in our marketplace. This includes your contact details, date of birth, as well as the information you give us about your employment, income, and housing and employment expenses. You can find more information about their data protection practices in their privacy policies:
  • HD Decisions,
  • Capital One, and
  • Monevo.
• Decision Tech works with energy suppliers to provide you with personalised electricity and/or gas energy tariffs available to you, help you switch if you choose to do so, and answer your queries about the service. You can find further information in their terms and conditions and privacy policy.

sourcrates

I never mentioned a SAR.

I was refering to your access to credit reports.

You will get a much more tailored responce if you just ask the basic question you want answering.

BadDebtor

sourcrates said:

BadDebtor said:

I have no way to view online other than by signing up for a 30 day trial which of course kicks off activity alerts.

Not true.

You can sign up to, and view your credit reports online via various freesites, or on the CRA` s own sites for free, no trial, no alerts.

Again, i`ll ask, what is your end goal here ?

As I explained above I have the PDF from these companies selling the benefits of their service to corporate companies and other where they say that activity alerts are set with almost any activity.  The free site Credit Karma above shows 

" Any request for a credit report will leave a soft search on your credit file, which is visible to you, the credit reference agency and us,"
That counts as activity
I did explain my goal and explained the context in the 11:51 message.

"What I am trying to find out is whether it shows credit card balances as past limitation, also whether there are any more CCJ's (I found out in 2015 that I got a CCJ in 2012 completely without my knowledge but unlike the backdoor one, it was at my address at the time, I received no letter before action, by the time I found out I figured I might as well wait out the 6 years)."