MSE Poll: When did you last check your credit report?

MSE_Petar

Poll started 29 June 2021

Your credit report can strongly influence whether you get a particular mortgage, credit card deal, mobile phone contract or cheap energy tariff, and sometimes even the rate you get. Even a small error on your report at credit reference agencies Experian, Equifax or TransUnion can cause havoc – but when did you last check yours?

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williamsredfive

I regularly check my credit report(s) but after an incident in 2019 I am sceptical about the actual value of doing so, let me expand.

In August 2019, during the process of trying to open a bank account with Santander, issues with my credit report were flagged up by my manager (I already have other bank accounts with Santander). This obviously came as something of a surprise given my regular checks noted above. I duly checked my file(s) again and all seemed to be correct. I went back to Santander and requested a copy of the report they had that apparently included incorrect information. My manager was happy to send me their report. The report they had is clearly marked as originating from Experian but it is different in several (not good) ways from the report I can personally access via Experian. I spent many months trying to resolve this with Experian and for many months their response was that there was no issue with the report, in fact they denied constantly the existence of the incorrect report. I persisted and finally one 'customer service' person suggested contacting a different (almost mystical) department and lo and behold the incorrect report is accepted and after some input from the Financial Ombudsman Experian agree to correct the incorrect information.

My issue is therefore, if Experian actually have (at least) two databases of personal data that are quite clearly not linked (otherwise how do you explain two completely different reports - they cannot both use the same data set) and of those data bases one is not accessible to individuals (indeed Experian denied its very existence for many months), then what is the point checking the report you can see when there is clearly another report sent to financial institutions and how do I ever check that they have complied with their assurances and corrected the database I am not allowed to see? 

I have tried many times to get Money Saving Expert on board to review this as I believe it could be a massive hidden issue. I have factual hard evidence of two completely different credit reports from Experian one of which I cannot access and therefore cannot check. How many more are out there and how many people are paying for regular checks that may be completely worthless as that may well not be looking at the data that ends up with the financial institutions, as was factually and provably the case for me?

Who knows someone from MSE may even contact me now?