Help! The credit agencies don’t recognise me!

LSfromHK22

Please can you help me? The credit agencies aren’t recognising me as a person and saying they can’t verify my identity. I have lived abroad for 16 years but had to return quickly due to the deteriorating situation and I need to set up my life here again. I have tried married and unmarried names and neither work. How do I retrieve my credit rating, I have a current account here. I would be very grateful for any help. Thanks

PRAISETHESUN

Sounds like you have a thin/empty credit file. Accounts only stay on your files for 6 years, so if you've been out of the country for longer then that and not maintained any accounts there will be very little/nothing on your files.

A similar thread is discussed here: https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6342023/cra-dont-have-info-on-me. In a nutshell you need to contact each CRA (Experian, Equifax and TransUnion) to request copies of your statutory credit reports. If/when they can't identify you they should ask for identification - if they don't then you'll need to make a formal (written) complaint - you have a legal right to access your data. Once you do this the CRAs should then provide you access to your files that you can monitor moving forward.

Also note that you don't have a credit rating - the "scores" aren't used in the UK by any lenders, only you ever see them. What matters is the contents of your credit file/report, also known as your credit history. Without any credit history, lenders are unable to judge how you will manage credit, so will be hesitant to lend to you.