Worried about possible CIFAS marker

tomxlisa

TheBanker said:

tomxlisa said:

Nasqueron said:

tomxlisa said:

@Nasqueron

I haven’t a clue if I’ve got a CIFAS marker or not, that’s my question was just wondering if you get notified if you do have one, cause I could have one without knowing I have one, that’s what I was kinda getting at, like do you know if you have one, or is it the silence marker until you actually check out of curiosity, or do most if not all credit applications get declined if you have one, is that the big sign you have a CIFAS marker, just trying to understand it that’s all. 

If you are concerned you have one, my advice stands - do a DSAR to CIFAS (and National Hunter just in case). You may get warned by the group requesting it, you may not. Hence safest is to ask if you were getting unexpected immediate declines

Are there any signs that you might have one like applications being referred all the time etc, I don’t think I do have one and don’t have any reason to think I will have one just im a bit of a over thinker at times and if one application gets referred I start to think why it could be and could it be a CIFAS etc, like recently I had a application referred for a CC but then my next application was instantly accepted, so maybe it’s just the way it roles sometimes with applications but again as I’m a over thinker I start to wonder why and could it be a CIFAS, I’m guessing if I had one though wouldn’t that mean a decline for any credit applications or do they still get accepted, I’m guessing nothing would be accepted instantly though, would all be referred if someone had a CIFAS?.

A bank is not allowed to automatically decline an application due to a CIFAS marker. They have to investigate. This investigation may, or may not involve asking for more information from the applicant. This depends on the type of CIFAS marker and what information the bank have already gathered as part of the application.

But applications being referred doesn't mean there's a CIFAS marker. Each bank has its own processes, some of which will be more automated than others. Sometimes delays in receiving a decision can be due to system downtime and nothing to do with the specifics of your application. Sometimes a bank will have experienced an increase in fraudulent applications so will refer more applications for review by underwriters. 

Why do you think you might have a CIFAS marker? Have you had bank accounts closed, for example?

Only reason I think I might have one is some of my credit applications have been referred that’s all but I guess that’s a stupid reason to think I could have one, I mean no bank accounts have been closed down which seems to be the thing that happens if you have a CIFAS, but no it’s literally that reason and that’s it, recently applied for a barclaycard and it was referred but later accepted but the application was in the early hours so it could of just been the system was down which I’ve read can be the case at the time of the day. 

tomxlisa

TheBanker said:

In case it reassures you, I used to be involved in approving CIFAS markers. The bar is quite high - it used to be something like there had to be sufficient evidence of fraud that would allow the case to be reported to the police (it did not actually have to be reported to the police, it was just the standard of evidence needed). CIFAS themselves undertook regular audits where they would review the evidence for a sample of cases. Certainly in my bank CIFAS markers were only applied after approval by a senior human, not automatically by a system or as a routine admin task. 

We also know, because there have been a number of published FOS decisions, that FOS apply quite a high bar when deciding whether a CIFAS marker is reasonable, so we factored this into our internal decision making processes.

Is this the case as I’m sure I’ve read on here of people getting CIFAS markers for a simple mistake like mistyping there name incorrectly on credit applications or accidently putting the wrong number for there address etc?.

Nasqueron

tomxlisa said:

TheBanker said:

In case it reassures you, I used to be involved in approving CIFAS markers. The bar is quite high - it used to be something like there had to be sufficient evidence of fraud that would allow the case to be reported to the police (it did not actually have to be reported to the police, it was just the standard of evidence needed). CIFAS themselves undertook regular audits where they would review the evidence for a sample of cases. Certainly in my bank CIFAS markers were only applied after approval by a senior human, not automatically by a system or as a routine admin task. 

We also know, because there have been a number of published FOS decisions, that FOS apply quite a high bar when deciding whether a CIFAS marker is reasonable, so we factored this into our internal decision making processes.

Is this the case as I’m sure I’ve read on here of people getting CIFAS markers for a simple mistake like mistyping there name incorrectly on credit applications or accidently putting the wrong number for there address etc?.

You will not get a CIFAS for that, banks have to do a proper investigation into fraud claims and are answerable to the FOS for it, so don't do it easily. A typo might result in a rejection because they can't find any results on the credit check, not a CIFAS for fraud