Government Gateway access

tigerspill

I did this for my father on Friday.  He only has a driving license.
Took me 5 attempts tp get through it.  You need to ve VERY careful to answer the questions exactly correctly as they know the right answer.  I had to search his phone bills to find the date he started his mobile contract for example.

RG2015

tigerspill said:

I did this for my father on Friday.  He only has a driving license.
Took me 5 attempts tp get through it.  You need to ve VERY careful to answer the questions exactly correctly as they know the right answer.  I had to search his phone bills to find the date he started his mobile contract for example.

How do they know the right answer? They can only get this from my credit report

My first credit card was opened on 22/09/1978. This never appeared on my credit report. Does the Government Gateway database have this information?

tigerspill

RG2015 said:

tigerspill said:

I did this for my father on Friday.  He only has a driving license.
Took me 5 attempts tp get through it.  You need to ve VERY careful to answer the questions exactly correctly as they know the right answer.  I had to search his phone bills to find the date he started his mobile contract for example.

How do they know the right answer? They can only get this from my credit report

My first credit card was opened on 22/09/1978. This never appeared on my credit report. Does the Government Gateway database have this information?

I dont know how it works.  But if you answer correctly, your identity is confirmed.  If you answer wrongly, the identity check fails.  So they can only do this if they know the answers.
On the example you gave, the long dated questions dont ask for the year - just whether you got the card over (maybe 5) years ago.  Maybe then they ask another question.
All I know from the experience a few days ago was that I had to get the right answers to numerous questions to have a successful identity check.
PS. Most companies/organisations have access to your credit details through companies such as Experian and Expedia.  I know DWP use this as I worked on the implementation of the IT solution for this many years ago.  

RG2015

tigerspill said:

RG2015 said:

tigerspill said:

I did this for my father on Friday.  He only has a driving license.
Took me 5 attempts tp get through it.  You need to ve VERY careful to answer the questions exactly correctly as they know the right answer.  I had to search his phone bills to find the date he started his mobile contract for example.

How do they know the right answer? They can only get this from my credit report

My first credit card was opened on 22/09/1978. This never appeared on my credit report. Does the Government Gateway database have this information?

I dont know how it works.  But if you answer correctly, your identity is confirmed.  If you answer wrongly, the identity check fails.  So they can only do this if they know the answers.
On the example you gave, the long dated questions dont ask for the year - just whether you got the card over (maybe 5) years ago.  Maybe then they ask another question.
All I know from the experience a few days ago was that I had to get the right answers to numerous questions to have a successful identity check.
PS. Most companies/organisations have access to your credit details through companies such as Experian and Expedia.  I know DWP use this as I worked on the implementation of the IT solution for this many years ago.  

I think you are missing my specific point. Namely that the old credit card is not on any credit report, be it Experian, Equifax or TransUnion.

DWP along with other Government bodies will have access to your credit report, so that is how it works. Your credit report is a database so they will only know the answers to information held in that database. I do not believe that there is an enhanced database that DWP can access.

If my credit card is not on the database it doesn't matter if is 40 years ago or over 5 years ago, they do not see it. 

Also, forgive me being pedantic, but Expedia is a travel shopping and comparison site. 

tigerspill

RG2015 said:

tigerspill said:

RG2015 said:

tigerspill said:

I did this for my father on Friday.  He only has a driving license.
Took me 5 attempts tp get through it.  You need to ve VERY careful to answer the questions exactly correctly as they know the right answer.  I had to search his phone bills to find the date he started his mobile contract for example.

How do they know the right answer? They can only get this from my credit report

My first credit card was opened on 22/09/1978. This never appeared on my credit report. Does the Government Gateway database have this information?

I dont know how it works.  But if you answer correctly, your identity is confirmed.  If you answer wrongly, the identity check fails.  So they can only do this if they know the answers.
On the example you gave, the long dated questions dont ask for the year - just whether you got the card over (maybe 5) years ago.  Maybe then they ask another question.
All I know from the experience a few days ago was that I had to get the right answers to numerous questions to have a successful identity check.
PS. Most companies/organisations have access to your credit details through companies such as Experian and Expedia.  I know DWP use this as I worked on the implementation of the IT solution for this many years ago.  

I think you are missing my specific point. Namely that the old credit card is not on any credit report, be it Experian, Equifax or TransUnion.

DWP along with other Government bodies will have access to your credit report, so that is how it works. Your credit report is a database so they will only know the answers to information held in that database. I do not believe that there is an enhanced database that DWP can access.

If my credit card is not on the database it doesn't matter if is 40 years ago or over 5 years ago, they do not see it. 

Also, forgive me being pedantic, but Expedia is a travel shopping and comparison site. 

Exactly.  So when you answer that you last got a credit card decades ago (the over xx years ago answer), they will know that isnt on the database dnd hence the answer will be deemed correct.
PS.  They companies dont hold a credit report as such.  They hold a ton of data that client companies can use to run through their own algorithms too assess your credit risk based on their specific requirements.  There are generalised credit reports they try to sell, but these are very generic and not what the majority of companies/government departments use.  

PPS I sait Experian, not Expedia.  And Experian do carry out credit checking (I worked with them on exactly this with both the companies I mentioned)

RG2015

tigerspill said:

RG2015 said:

tigerspill said:

I did this for my father on Friday.  He only has a driving license.
Took me 5 attempts tp get through it.  You need to ve VERY careful to answer the questions exactly correctly as they know the right answer.  I had to search his phone bills to find the date he started his mobile contract for example.

How do they know the right answer? They can only get this from my credit report

My first credit card was opened on 22/09/1978. This never appeared on my credit report. Does the Government Gateway database have this information?

.
PS. Most companies/organisations have access to your credit details through companies such as Experian and Expedia.  I know DWP use this as I worked on the implementation of the IT solution for this many years ago.  

tigerspill said:

RG2015 said:

tigerspill said:

RG2015 said:

tigerspill said:

I did this for my father on Friday.  He only has a driving license.
Took me 5 attempts tp get through it.  You need to ve VERY careful to answer the questions exactly correctly as they know the right answer.  I had to search his phone bills to find the date he started his mobile contract for example.

How do they know the right answer? They can only get this from my credit report

My first credit card was opened on 22/09/1978. This never appeared on my credit report. Does the Government Gateway database have this information?

I dont know how it works.  But if you answer correctly, your identity is confirmed.  If you answer wrongly, the identity check fails.  So they can only do this if they know the answers.
On the example you gave, the long dated questions dont ask for the year - just whether you got the card over (maybe 5) years ago.  Maybe then they ask another question.
All I know from the experience a few days ago was that I had to get the right answers to numerous questions to have a successful identity check.
PS. Most companies/organisations have access to your credit details through companies such as Experian and Expedia.  I know DWP use this as I worked on the implementation of the IT solution for this many years ago.  

I think you are missing my specific point. Namely that the old credit card is not on any credit report, be it Experian, Equifax or TransUnion.

DWP along with other Government bodies will have access to your credit report, so that is how it works. Your credit report is a database so they will only know the answers to information held in that database. I do not believe that there is an enhanced database that DWP can access.

If my credit card is not on the database it doesn't matter if is 40 years ago or over 5 years ago, they do not see it. 

Also, forgive me being pedantic, but Expedia is a travel shopping and comparison site. 

.  

PPS I sait Experian, not Expedia.  And Experian do carry out credit checking (I worked with them on exactly this with both the companies I mentioned)

You appear to be suffering from the Boris syndrome of denying the facts in evidence.

Thrugelmir

tekiM said:

penners324 said:

The vast majority of people have a passport and the vast majority of people know when they last opened a credit card.

The %age of people without will be miniscule.

A quick google shows that about 17% of people don't hold passports - a significant minority, many of whom will pay tax.  Having to fork out 85 quid for I passport I don't need just to access my own tax records is a scam - or the introduction of ID cards by stealth - depending on the level of your paranoia...

We could always return to the good old days of paper communication. When I first started work the KPI for responding to a written letter enquiry was six weeks....... Never dealt with anybody directly on the telephone. Deemed to be an inefficient way of working. 

woolly_wombat

I was able to log in quickly and easily, but only because I filed a tax return for the first time in my life last year and was able to check the date and payment amount easily, and this was one of the options I was offered!

As to when I last applied for a credit card, it was so long ago that, perfectly understandably, I just wouldn’t have a clue.

This is not just a problem for Gateway access; a friend wanted to cash in some index linked certs and had to state when she opened her bank account because the amount was in excess of £10k (she had no idea).

This is not acceptable.

RG2015

woolly_wombat said:

I was able to log in quickly and easily, but only because I filed a tax return for the first time in my life last year and was able to check the date and payment amount easily, and this was one one the options I was offered!

As to when I last applied for a credit card, it was so long ago that, perfectly understandably, I just wouldn’t have a clue.

This is not just a problem for Gateway access; a friend wanted to cash in some index linked certs and had to state when she opened her bank account because the amount was in excess of £10k (she had no idea).

This is not acceptable.

Two things:

1) Your friend can see this date on her credit report which can be obtained free of charge from Clearscore, Credit Karma or the Money Savings Expert Credit Club. Failing this, she should be able to get this by phoning her bank and some banks may even show this in online banking. 

Edit. if the account is over 20 years old it may not appear on the credit report.

2) Index Linked certificates are like gold dust. With inflation at 9% and rising, this is 4 or 5 times higher than anything available commercially. If at all possible she may wish to reconsider cashing in.

I do apologise if this is an inappropriate comment and there is a compelling reason for cashing in.

woolly_wombat

RG2015 said:

Two things:

1) Your friend can see this date on her credit report which can be obtained free of charge from Clearscore, Credit Karma or the Money Savings Expert Credit Club. Failing this, she should be able to get this by phoning her bank and some banks may even show this in online banking. 

Edit. if the account is over 20 years old it may not appear on the credit report.

2) Index Linked certificates are like gold dust. With inflation at 9% and rising, this is 4 or 5 times higher than anything available commercially. If at all possible she may wish to reconsider cashing in.

I do apologise if this is an inappropriate comment and there is a compelling reason for cashing in.

Unfortunately friend’s bank account would have been over 20 years old.

As to the index linked certs being like gold dust, I agree with you, but then again I was able to renew mine for 5 years just before they changed from RPI to CPI linked. There was no compelling reason for friend to cash in but she took the decision last year because CPI linkage didn’t look so attractive back then. I have no intention of cashing mine in!