Credit rating ruined by mistake by Equifax

Leifcov

Hi, really hope that someone can give me some help or advice.  I recently checked my credit rating, I'd been turned down on some soft checks for loans and couldn't work out why as my credit rating on Experian was pretty good.  I checked on Equifax and found my rating to be poor as for some reason they said that I wasn't registered on the electoral register (I've been in my current home, registered and voting for the past 16 years).  The report also showed me as having no history of credit - no credit cards, no mortgage, no nothing, which is not the case at all - presumably due to them not being able to find me in the first place!  I've raised the issue with Equifax, and had a few rather frustrating phone calls with their call centre, and all I know is that the complaint has been registered and someone will get back to me, although when that will be I have no idea.  They've amended the fact of the electoral register, but this hasn't been reflected in the credit report, and there's still no history of my credit, I'm still listed as having a poor credit rating.  Does anyone have any advice they can give, or have similar experiences they might be willing to share.  I don't really know how long this has been going on - I'm presuming many years, and I have no idea how many options for credit/borrowing/mortgage may have been affected by this issue.  

[Deleted User]

If your providers don't report to Equifax, there's not going to be any record of them on that particular file.

Check your other files to ensure the appropriate lenders report to each, as they will all be different.

Which accounts do you believe report to them?  Have you checked with those lenders directly?

Remember also that no one has ruined your credit rating.  It's all about the data and how lenders interpret it. They won't tell you what rating they have given you for each applicatioon.

penners324

Do your addresses match up with Equifax and your credit providers? Have you checked Credit Karma as well?

Leifcov

I've checked on both Experian and TransUnion - this is what Credit Karma uses apparently - and both of these are fine.  The only problem is with Equifax, because they've mistakenly said that I'm not on the electoral register, and (probably due to that error) they also have not got any history of any credit that I have.  They have rate me as having a 'poor' credit score, and that my Repayment Conduct Assessment is also 'poor'.  So it would be difficult for any lender who uses Equifax to rate me in any other way, as there is no history of credit on my file and no record of me even being on the electoral register.

[Deleted User]

Which lenders do you believe are missing? Have you contacted them yet? 

It;s either that your lenders don't report or that Equifax haven't located you properly.

[Deleted User]

It is quite surprising none of the lenders you have report to Equifax (maybe it's because of the address issue)?
All my cards (Halifax, Sainsbury's, Barclaycard) report to all 3, my car PCP was on all of them, as is my EE bill etc.
I suspect when your address is sorted and they have you properly aligned it will start working.

Leifcov

I'm pretty certain it's simply because Equifax haven't located me properly, anyone I have borrowing with etc are listed on the other credit agencies.  So not sure I need to contact the lenders.  Once the address is sorted, which it should have been by now, how long should it take to get my credit score back to what it should be?

[Deleted User]

The score probably won't increase.  More likely it will drop, as is normal with any kind of change.

But lenders will see the data, which is all that matters.

[Deleted User]

Your credit "score" is a novelty figure, about on a par with a christmas cracker joke
Lenders look at the actual data and use their own scoring method (some buy in a scoring method from the CRAs but again it's not the score you see) - the idea being to stop people gaming the system. Once the DATA is on there, I'd leave it a month or two to filter through to everyone before you try and borrow again or the lenders will keep seeing an empty file

Yahoo_Mail

Leifcov said:

I have no idea how many options for credit/borrowing/mortgage may have been affected by this issue.  

How many cards have you applied for and been turned down?  Same with mortgages, loans, current accounts etc?

I suspect none?  Likely because I'd be surprised if any lender would only check Equifax and if they come back with nothing from an Equifax search but are getting a full file from Equifax, Transunion or both they're not stupid, they'll understand that there's a problem with that file.

As you don't seem to know how many accounts you've been turned down for I strongly suspect the answer is "0".

[Deleted User]

Some lenders do only use one CRA