Cifas confusion

YellowRain

Hello,

I wonder if anyone can give me some advice? I placed a cifas on my file due to fraud identity. I applied for a new bank account, back in November. I spoke to customer services, explaining i had a cifas on my account and they said I'd need to walk into a branch as they cant help.

In January, I finally had a chance to do this, life, Christmas etc. I explained everything...they wanted me to apply for another account, which I did. Was told to wait 24 hrs and should have an answer... I gave it an extra few weeks and called customer services, the lady I spoke to had never heard of a cifas! In the meantime I asked cifas if anyone had requested anything and the bank had on 1st January. They report states this marker is on this account as a protection (so nothing negative there!)

My credit score is very good. I also have two joint bank accounts with this bank and used to have an full account with them, I moved over and wished I hadnt hence wanting to go back.

The bank so far have asked me to request an account 3 times, asked for a hard search on my credit score 3 times.

Sorry this is long winded but surely I cant be the only one on the world to have a cifas? The bank are clearly not speaking to each other. Where do I stand?....

Thank you!

MEM62

What happens when you logon using your current credentials and try to open another account? You are already a customer so the CIFAS registration should not be an issue.

MyRealNameToo

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6655902/cifas-confusion

So you have protective registration or a victim flag?

Who loaded the flag?

Generally you would expect the application to be flagged automatically and then queued to be reviewed by someone in their counter fraud department. How busy they will be will vary significantly. They should perform additional checks to confirm you are who you say you are, they may also reach out to the firm that loaded the flag for additional details. This ultimately is a request from a competitor so whilst they do help each other and share counter fraud intelligence it's not the top priority.

Ultimately register a complaint with the bank about the length of time it's taking for them to make a decision on if to open the account or not and take it from there.

YellowRain

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81889742#Comment_81889742

Hi,

Thank you!

I did on the advice of the police...I have a protective registration..

The in-branch colleague has never come across the issues or the cifas... but I wouldn't mind I have two joint accounts and a savings account with the bank in question. And my current account I closed is still on the system for bank regulations.

YellowRain

Hello

The app tells me there is a problem and I need to speak to customer services. Which I have actioned but not getting anywhere fast.

I almost want to say forget it but....seems silly the lack of communication!

eskbanker

I placed a cifas on my file due to fraud identity

explaining i had a cifas on my account

the lady I spoke to had never heard of a cifas!

I don't suppose it really was the source of confusion but just to be clear, CIFAS is the name of a company, so "a cifas" doesn't make sense - it's a CIFAS marker that gets added to an individual's file (not to an account as such).

jamesaint

"I placed a CIFAS" makes no sense, either a bank or financial institution has placed a marker against your name for what is considered to be reasonably evidential fraud committed by you, or you have a CIFAS protection policy which you have set up yourself.

Speak to CIFAS, they will tell you which.

Banks dont like cifas markers, as they are a very good indicator that you are a fraudster, or have committed fraud in the past, they dont want to, or even need to take the risk.

Protective registration shouldn't impact your ability to open an account, however can make it more complicated, as you have told the central database that your details aren't necessarily safe, ie have potentially been used before BY a fraudster, ie impersonation. IE, banks may subject your application to more rigorous identification checks, such as asking for additional ID, conducting phone verification, or using specialised screening which can be time consuming, BUT in your best interests.

dumpster_fire2025

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81931163#Comment_81931163

If they had a CIFAS marker as a perpetrator the bank wouldn't be faffign around like they have, they'd have declined their application immediately.