No Credit Report Available

tvshopper

I've been trying to help my brother's partner find her credit report and am having no luck.  She knows that in the past (2009) she had accounts with Provident and other money lending services, but when I try to find her report with Clear Score and Experian, it can't seem to find her?  I am putting in the correct DOB, addresses (only had 2 - her current and her last address) and yet it says she can't be found? 
She had been on benefits prior to retiring and had no bank account or any credit cards, only a card to receive her retirement pension and disability pension.
Can anyone advise how I can move forward and get a credit report, please?
Many thanks

ThisnotThat

She may well not have one.  With no accounts reporting (from the sounds of it) after 6 years she'll essentially be forgotten about.

[Deleted User]

She'll need to speak to the CRA directly, maybe in writing, but if she's not got any current credit, only has benefits coming in and isn't on the ER then it's quite possible to essentially have no credit file - why would she even need it?

Incidentally, if you were looking at complaining about pay day loans etc, anything closed more than 6 years ago is deleted from the file anyway so you wouldn't find it that way, you'd need to DSAR the firms directly and there is a fair chance they would time bar any complaint

tvshopper

Deleted_User said:

Incidentally, if you were looking at complaining about pay day loans etc, anything closed more than 6 years ago is deleted from the file anyway so you wouldn't find it that way, you'd need to DSAR the firms directly and there is a fair chance they would time bar any complaint

Actually, its Provident who have contacted her as they are the ones who currently wish a scheme of arrangement.  They ask about previous ccj and payment arrangements from other firms - she knows she has had these and in fact opened her Provident account to borrow money to pay off another loan company.  Provident ask for dates of such arrangements and I can understand how this would show their irresponsible lending, as her credit score was appalling.  Dates of previous default borrowing would lend weight to her application and hence the reason for tracing dates for the previous loans and credit.

[Deleted User]

More than 6 years ago the data is wiped to give her a clean slate, she'd need to remember who she was with unfortunately and probably ask them what records they have left (which may be deleted if over 6 years old)

Please note, her credit "score" is meaningless, no decision on lending is ever made based on the fictional score

tvshopper

But a credit check which wouldve shown bad debt and ccj’s would be indicative of someone’s credit worthiness?

[Deleted User]

tvshopper said:

But a credit check which wouldve shown bad debt and ccj’s would be indicative of someone’s credit worthiness?

A full credit check would have shown the lender anything that was on the file of the CRA they used, yes including defaults, CCJ etc. Perhaps they didn't do a credit check though and she didn't tell them?

PRAISETHESUN

Accounts are only listed on your credit files for 6 years, so if she has had no account for longer then that there will be nothing on her file. I had a very similar issue when I first moved to the UK (had no file to speak of).

The best way forward is to write directly to Experian, Equifax and TransUnion and request copies of her statutory credit reports. They are legally obliged to provide this information under GDPR so they have to provide it if asked. If/when they are unable to do so they usually ask for ID. If they don't then you'll need to make a formal complain to get them to play ball. Provide what they ask for and it should establish groudns for her to start monitoring her reports on a regular basis. 

sourcrates

What people are trying to tell you is that its pointless looking for her records as they no longer exist.
Closed accounts, or accounts that defaulted, only stay on your file for 6 years, they are then automatically purged from the system, and cannot be re-instated.

If provident are considering a scheme of arrangement, its pointless complaining anyway, Wonga entered a similar scheme, the average pay-out, per person was around 4% of what they would have been owed normally.

So basically it would be a very long wait, around a year Wonga took to pay out, and for very little gain.