Avoid paying Equifax for reports?

chrisdepends

As part of opening a new joint bank account, we've been told to complete an Equifax (or other) Credit Report.
It seems that now, (I don't think this was true in the recent past), in order to be able to email a copy of the report to the bank, we have to sign up and pay for Equifax Membership.  I know we can cancel afterwards but we still have to give all our data to them, which they then own.

I worked in IT Security before retiring and feel this demand is unfair and perhaps unethical.  I don't mind the bank having whatever data they need but do I have to give my data to an external privately owned American company?  🤔

RacingDriver

Which bank?

This seems a bit odd to me as usually when you apply for a bank account the bank will conduct a credit search as part of the application, you do not usually have to obtain your own credit report and then send it to the bank.

TimSynths

This sounds well dodgy.

PRAISETHESUN

I agree that it sounds dodgy - most reputable UK banks will be able to get that information directly from the CRAs.

If you've satisfied yourself that it is all legit, then you can request a copy of your statutory report directly from Equifax for free. You can then download a pdf version of your report for your records: https://www.equifax.co.uk/Products/credit/statutory-report.html

colsten

No bank would ask you "to complete a credit report". What can happen is that if your applications has been rejected, they can suggest you look for explanations in your credit report. In no event do you have to obtain a a credit report and email it to a bank.

You can, and should, access all your credit reports for free: https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/loans/check-free-credit-report/

If you are concerned about them having your data: they have them already, and it is legal that they do.