CIFAS marker (I think). What is going on?

finchy_2020

Hi all,

Had our remortgage go through credit checks and to the valuation stage only to receive an email from my mortgage advisor this morning saying that the bank have now declined it because...

"After considering the information on the case there is information against the  applicant  that puts the application outside of our risk appetite to proceed. Please advise applicant 1  that they are to request a DSAR from CIFAS to view the information held on them using their current address - further information on this can be found at...."

I've contacted CIFAS as requested for a DSAR and it's awaiting review. Not had this before now, had a mortgage for 4 years, this will be our 2nd remortgage, I had some self assessment taxes overdue (Now paid!)

A few things...I sent my tax return docs to my broker for submission only to discover my accountant actually sent off a different amount (literally £1000 difference) as I forgot to include travel allowances, my fault on this, but would a £1000 difference really flag? Surely the lender would ask the broker to clarify?

My broker (also a good friend) phoned me and said the case is actually still there with Barclays, it's suspended, not outright declined, he managed to chat to a case manager who explained that the CIFAS marker was linked to an address where I've not lived since 2019, so it's nothing recent. He's since put a memo over to them explaining to see what comes back. I was scammed via Gumtree while I lived there, which was reported to Action Fraud and I eventually got some money back, but that's it, nothing illicit or dodgy on my end.

My issue however, is that in these last 5 years I've had multiple credit cards, loans, PCPs, and a mortgage, with nothing flagging at all - why now would Barclays suddenly refuse a mortgage? Hopefully a mistake on their behalf and maybe being a bit too over cautious but this is really baffling me.

Anyone currently with or previously with a CIFAS get it removed swiftly being a mistake made by a bank or lender?

grumpy_codger

Removed - possibly. Swiftly - no chance.
The system is flawed, biased towards banks.
Good luck! 

finchy_2020

grumpy_codger said:

Removed - possibly. Swiftly - no chance.
The system is flawed, biased towards banks.
Good luck! 

Managed to get it figured out and removed within 6 days! 

PRAISETHESUN

finchy_2020 said:

grumpy_codger said:

Removed - possibly. Swiftly - no chance.
The system is flawed, biased towards banks.
Good luck! 

Managed to get it figured out and removed within 6 days! 

Good outcome I guess, but out of interest and for the benefit of future readers, what was the actual issue that was flagged on your CIFAs DSAR and what did you have to do to get it corrected?

finchy_2020

PRAISETHESUN said:

finchy_2020 said:

grumpy_codger said:

Removed - possibly. Swiftly - no chance.
The system is flawed, biased towards banks.
Good luck! 

Managed to get it figured out and removed within 6 days! 

Good outcome I guess, but out of interest and for the benefit of future readers, what was the actual issue that was flagged on your CIFAs DSAR and what did you have to do to get it corrected?

Sure, happy to explain...

The CIFAS marker was from Revolut, issued in August 2022 for 3rd party facilitator fraud, the reason being undisclosed funds. The marker was in my name and DOB, however a different email, phone number and linked to an address I lived at from 2016-2018. Only funds in my Revolut account at that time were a couple thousand $ for a holiday in America (I only use Revolut when travelling abroad).

Clearly someone trying to impersonate me although very odd I had no idea I had a marker considering I've had credit and mortgages in the last 2 years, and all my banks stayed open.

I sent an email to Revolut explaining the situation and within 30 mins they replied saying the marker was removed effective immediately.

A rare outcome to be honest, but grateful nonetheless.