Mortgage broker asking for download of my full credit file, is this a scam?

juliushibert

My mortgage broker has told me they can't find my details with any lenders and is asking for me to provide my full credit file via Check My File. Is this a scam?

I've been recommended this broker via an estate agent here in Scotland. I was using Habito as a broker but they have said they won't be able to find any lenders that will lend on a property above or near a commercial property. In Glasgow that means a lot of properties aren't possible to get mortgages on which can't seem to be right?

Whilst using Habito and speaking with my building society, neither of them has had issues finding either my or my partner's details with credit / lenders. And neither of them have asked for a full credit file or asked me to use a third party credit checking service. I'm signed up with the MSE recommended free credit services (Clear Score, Credit Karma, etc). Just seems odd I'm being asked to sign up for a paid service and have to provide a download of my full credit file. Which makes my gut say something isn't right.

We're first time buyers and buying a property in Scotland. I suspect both Habito and my building society (both England based), may not the same awareness of properties in Scotland and the differences, etc. 

MaryNB

A lot of lenders won't lend on properties above commercial premises. The quiet 9-5 cafe you bought a flat above could become a late night takeaway which could reduce the value of the property. You need to find a specialist lender for it.

Don't pay for check my file. You can get a full free copy of your  Equifax, Experian and TransUnion reports by looking for the statutory credit report on their websites. 

ACG

Checkmyfile is legitimate and we ask customers to get a copy of their credit report, checkmyfile is ideal as it has all 3 credit reports on there. 

This sounds legitimate and the broker is doing a thorough job, the amount of people who tell us they have no bad credit and either did not know about or forgot about those 3 defaults from 2 years ago is quite surprising. 

csgohan4

I can't see Checkmyfile has a statutory free one, unless you sign up to their trial

kingstreet

When we have a case with credit issues we also ask for CMF as it shows a full report by all three CRAs. The other things mentioned such as Clear Score and Credit Karma no longer produce a downloadable report and frankly, the credit "scores" aren't worth a fig!

Subscribe to CMF, download your file then cancel your subscription.

csgohan4

kingstreet said:

When we have a case with credit issues we also ask for CMF as it shows a full report by all three CRAs. The other things mentioned such as Clear Score and Credit Karma no longer produce a downloadable report and frankly, the credit "scores" aren't worth a fig!

Subscribe to CMF, download your file then cancel your subscription.

you can only do it once, and if you remortgage every 2-5 years ....

kingstreet

csgohan4 said:

kingstreet said:

When we have a case with credit issues we also ask for CMF as it shows a full report by all three CRAs. The other things mentioned such as Clear Score and Credit Karma no longer produce a downloadable report and frankly, the credit "scores" aren't worth a fig!

Subscribe to CMF, download your file then cancel your subscription.

you can only do it once, and if you remortgage every 2-5 years ....

We'd like to hope any issues are a few years down the road by then and we aren't worrying about historic adverse.

juliushibert

Thanks for the reassuring advice. Looks like CMF might be the route to go down as Credit Score appears to be the only service that you can download a full credit file from.

MaryNB

juliushibert said:

Thanks for the reassuring advice. Looks like CMF might be the route to go down as Credit Score appears to be the only service that you can download a full credit file from.

As I said above, each CRA provides a full free copy of your credit report, they are required to by law. It's not ongoing access to a live report, it's a single download of a pdf version. I don't know how often you can request it with all of them but with Equifax you can request it as often as you like. If you've already used up the CMF free trial, statutory reports are the best option. 

https://www.experian.co.uk/consumer/statutory-report.html
https://www.equifax.co.uk/Products/credit/statutory-report.html
https://www.transunionstatreport.co.uk/?utm_source=TU