Weird soft searches

Gers

I've just looked at Credit Karma and found a number of soft searches which I know nothing of.   Whilst my car insurance is due for renewal mid-August I have not used any comparison site or even gone back to Esure yet. I have not asked for any quotes from these two companies.

How does this happen? Do I have any need to worry? I know that soft searches don't affect the (mostly mythical) credit score but I find it odd.

Grumpy_chap

I think they are all soft searches ahead of your car insurance renewal.
Lexis Nexis is used by one (or more) of the comparator sites.
These are probably ahead of the comparator sites sending you messages advising you that your best renewal price is £xxx.

Gers

Grumpy_chap said:

I think they are all soft searches ahead of your car insurance renewal.
Lexis Nexis is used by one (or more) of the comparator sites.
These are probably ahead of the comparator sites sending you messages advising you that your best renewal price is £xxx.

Even though I haven't used any comparison sites?  Spooky! And an 'affordability' check, is that normal too?

Nasqueron

Gers said:

Grumpy_chap said:

I think they are all soft searches ahead of your car insurance renewal.
Lexis Nexis is used by one (or more) of the comparator sites.
These are probably ahead of the comparator sites sending you messages advising you that your best renewal price is £xxx.

Even though I haven't used any comparison sites?  Spooky! And an 'affordability' check, is that normal too?

They're generic searches, by using comparison sites there will always be Ts & Cs somewhere saying they can keep checking around renewal time before they email you offering quotes

DullGreyGuy

Gers said:

Grumpy_chap said:

I think they are all soft searches ahead of your car insurance renewal.
Lexis Nexis is used by one (or more) of the comparator sites.
These are probably ahead of the comparator sites sending you messages advising you that your best renewal price is £xxx.

Even though I haven't used any comparison sites?  Spooky! And an 'affordability' check, is that normal too?

Ever in your life or just not this year yet?

Aggregators, if you set up an account which is mandatory with many now, will run quotes based on last year's responses in advance and send you a reminder at some point often with some indicative numbers on the assumption nothings changed. 

The soft search for insurance can be counter fraud, to determine if they'll offer instalments or pricing depending on the particular insurer in question.

steven141

I get the same sometimes. I don’t even own a car. I wonder if it’s these sites like Credit Karma, ClearScore, Totally Money for credit reports that do the search automatically?

Gers

DullGreyGuy said:

Gers said:

Grumpy_chap said:

I think they are all soft searches ahead of your car insurance renewal.
Lexis Nexis is used by one (or more) of the comparator sites.
These are probably ahead of the comparator sites sending you messages advising you that your best renewal price is £xxx.

Even though I haven't used any comparison sites?  Spooky! And an 'affordability' check, is that normal too?

Ever in your life or just not this year yet?

Aggregators, if you set up an account which is mandatory with many now, will run quotes based on last year's responses in advance and send you a reminder at some point often with some indicative numbers on the assumption nothings changed. 

The soft search for insurance can be counter fraud, to determine if they'll offer instalments or pricing depending on the particular insurer in question.

I used one last year so that's probably what has caused this.  Incidentally, my insurance company came top of the offers with a quote nearly £300 less than what they had already quoted me in the renewal email.

Thanks

maxximus75

Usually, whenever you use a comparrison site for something such as annual insurance, you will get yearly soft searches.