Credit file data check from lenders

summerb64

Hello all,

I hope you are well!

I have a general topic to put out there for people’s discussion and insight if possible. 

When a lender runs a check on you for say a credit card or a mortgage, do they see the live credit report on that day, or do some only get a snapshot of when they pull data from the credit lender?

I’ve heard that Halifax for example only have a data feed once per month between the 10-15th of each month. 

I ask really as I have the only adverse credit falling off my credit report on the 20th December, so rather than applying to day Halifax on the 1st December I should run an eligibility checker apply after the 15th January in this example. 

Just wanted to know if there are any other lenders that do this. Or if it is just a myth and they get a live feed to your report on whatever date you apply?

Many thanks,

Helen

MorningcoffeeIV

The data will be removed on 6th December, This is separate from any monthly update by Halifax.

Lenders get data from the CRAs, not other lenders.

[Deleted User]

CRAs will update in real time, not a chance they just check and update once a month

KoshB5

Lenders see the current state of the credit file for an individual, but this will not be the current "live" status of an individuals accounts.

Credit file account data for an individual is normally only sent once a month to the CRAs. The data doesn't get updated immediately as it goes through quality checks. CRAs provide the ability to do ad-hoc updates outside of the normal update cycle.

Electoral roll data is submitted once a year for all entries held by councils with periodic updates provided by them to CRAs through the year, to deal with changes. 

CIFAS data is returned in realtime through a direct call to CIFAS, only CIFAS members get to see the CIFAS status of an individual.

Simplistically, CRA credit files operate as a shared database for the companies that submit data I.e. if you submit data you can do credit checks against all the data, one of the reasons why utilities companies, mobile providers .... started submitting their data.

There is no statutory requirement for a company to submit data to all three CRAs, many do, which is why you need to check all three CRAs to get a view of your complete credit history.

[Deleted User]

^ I think this hit the nail on the head, Halifax may UPDATE the CRAs once a month, but if you applied to them, they would check your file(s) on that day - they don't download an update once a month and use that for their purposes.

If you have an adverse thing on your account, the CRAs will remove it the day it expires, it might take time to appear on the free reports but if a lender did a check on the 21st it should, in theory anyway, have gone.

Purely theoretical but if you had a blemish from Halifax, regardless of when they removed it, if you applied to them again they are quite within their rights to reject you as they can keep a blacklist internally, separate to the CRA reports. If it was a mark from another firm, they wouldn't see it when they checked you.

summerb64

KoshB5 said:

Lenders see the current state of the credit file for an individual, but this will not be the current "live" status of an individuals accounts.

Credit file account data for an individual is normally only sent once a month to the CRAs. The data doesn't get updated immediately as it goes through quality checks. CRAs provide the ability to do ad-hoc updates outside of the normal update cycle.

Electoral roll data is submitted once a year for all entries held by councils with periodic updates provided by them to CRAs through the year, to deal with changes. 

CIFAS data is returned in realtime through a direct call to CIFAS, only CIFAS members get to see the CIFAS status of an individual.

Simplistically, CRA credit files operate as a shared database for the companies that submit data I.e. if you submit data you can do credit checks against all the data, one of the reasons why utilities companies, mobile providers .... started submitting their data.

There is no statutory requirement for a company to submit data to all three CRAs, many do, which is why you need to check all three CRAs to get a view of your complete credit history.

Deleted_User said:

^ I think this hit the nail on the head, Halifax may UPDATE the CRAs once a month, but if you applied to them, they would check your file(s) on that day - they don't download an update once a month and use that for their purposes.

If you have an adverse thing on your account, the CRAs will remove it the day it expires, it might take time to appear on the free reports but if a lender did a check on the 21st it should, in theory anyway, have gone.

Purely theoretical but if you had a blemish from Halifax, regardless of when they removed it, if you applied to them again they are quite within their rights to reject you as they can keep a blacklist internally, separate to the CRA reports. If it was a mark from another firm, they wouldn't see it when they checked you.

Thank you both for your insight, that was actually really helpful and makes a lot more sense to me now! I hope others find that useful who maybe in a similar position to me and weren’t sure which was causing stress!  

Thank you so much 😊 

martinbainbridge1975

Speaking from experience earlier this year i helped a friend tidy up his finances after a separation / divorce. I suspect that how the adverse data affects your applications will vary from lender to lender. if it is due to be removed this year that suggests that a 6 year period has elapsed.

With a payment arrangement on a store card and an old Vodafone default near to 5 years, this did not prevent my friend successfully obtaining car finance at a very competitive rate, payment history since the adverse event may well be a defining factor.

One tip I was once given - never have everything with your bank, as it can work against you 

[Deleted User]

Really interesting thread and all the advice given was very helpful for me! I am in a similar situation and was worried applying for a mortgage. I had a default that ‘fell off’ my credit report a few months ago, what I noticed was that when I checked my free credit report just ate it dropped off, some of the ‘offers’ from high street lenders were showing, and then when I checked a month later a few more high street lenders were showing as ‘available’. I waited a few months just to make sure then applied for an AIP with Halifax, my default was with another bank who I avoided for obvious reasons, I was still worried and nervous to find the outcome. However, my AIP went through fine, I still had a doubt about whether when it gets to underwriting they might work off an older version of my credit report and could potentially see something no longer there, but all went OK!