Moneysavingexpert.com/ Your Credit Rating discussion area

grumbler

becky004 wrote:

The only card I can get from anyone is an ATM card, no Visa Electron or Solo on it.

See http://www.fsa.gov.uk/consumer/pdfs/bank_account.pdf.

Try

Co-operative Bank: Cashminder

NatWest: Step Account

becky004

I appreciate your comments but I still feel its ridiculous to refuse someone a current account with cheque book but offer them a huge mortgage which would cripple them. How would I make repayments? The account that my wages goes into with them won't allow DD or standing orders, is a completely silly situation. I feel I will be penalised forever although since getting myself straight I have not run into any problems.

becky004

Thanks for that, and if they are able to help me they will get my mortgage business too (if they'll have me!).

grumbler

becky004 wrote:

...How would I make repayments? The account that my wages goes into with them won't allow DD or standing orders, is a completely silly situation.

According to the above FSA table all basic accounts allow DDs and most of them allow SOs ...

becky004

Thanks for that link, i will be sorting that out straight away. The only account they would offer me at halifax which my wages has been going into for months does not allow any facilities except ATM and cash/ bank cheques over the counter.

westernpromise

becky004 wrote:

Thanks for that link, i will be sorting that out straight away. The only account they would offer me at halifax which my wages has been going into for months does not allow any facilities except ATM and cash/ bank cheques over the counter.

Also try https://www.smile.co.uk - the Co-Op's online variant. They gave my OH a current account with a small overdraft even though she has no income.

spiritof74

Hi:

neiluk wrote:

Just applied to Experian and Equifax in order to take advantage of the free trial.

I've been told that using the details I have provided that they cannot verify my identity.

they've asked me to provide;

Two forms of original documentation linking you to your
current address (e.g. utility bill, bank statement, tenancy
agreement, solicitor's letter) dated within the past three
months

Plus,

· A copy of either your passport, driving licence or birth
certificate.

...

Just wondering if its worth my while sending away copies of my passport etc.

Neil

After receiving four reports from Experian, over a period of two years, using the simple £2 postal order and hand written application form, they suddenly started to ask me for this information, despite none of my details having changed, including being resident at the same address since the 1980s. The other two credit reference agencies continued to send their reports when requested by the same method, as usual, without making this request.

Apparently, they are permitted to do this, but I thought other people ought to be made aware of the fact that "everything" (my emphasis) that you send to Experian is "captured on our internal document retreival system and retained by us indefinitely." [Source: Letter from "Consumer Compliance Executive, Directors' Office", December 2005] This includes your birth certificate, drivers licence, passport and any other documents you send them. They return original documents and copies to you, after having scanned them.

Whilst there is no problem with sending them this information per se - and it seems you will not get their credit report on you without it - there are clearly privacy issues involved, as although Experian states that it does not give this data to its clients, it does retain it "indefinitely" and that is a huge amount of confidential data for a non statutory commercial organisation to retain - more in fact, than the police and other governmental organisations would ordinarily retain about law abiding citizens. The potential for abuse is huge, as the information you send them contains such details, for example, as your mother's maiden name (from your birth certificate) and other questions which are often asked by financial insitutions as part of their security procedures.

Best regards,
Dave

PS: By the way, this is a most excellent and very helpful forum

Andri_2

We just bought our house last year, only to find out that the previous owner had loaded up his credit cards before skipping town for Spain. I'm not British, but was told that your credit rating here is linked to your address (rather than an ID number, as it is in the US). Does this mean that our credit will be ruined by this irresponsible person? He owes £13,000 to Barclays, and smaller amounts to other banks. If we are in danger of having a bad credit rating, is there anything we can do to correct it?

Andri
:snow_laug

Moglex

Andri wrote:

We just bought our house last year, only to find out that the previous owner had loaded up his credit cards before skipping town for Spain. I'm not British, but was told that your credit rating here is linked to your address (rather than an ID number, as it is in the US). Does this mean that our credit will be ruined by this irresponsible person? He owes £13,000 to Barclays, and smaller amounts to other banks. If we are in danger of having a bad credit rating, is there anything we can do to correct it?

Credit reference agencies no longer use an address as a sole indexing key, so the previous owner's debts should not affect your credit standing.

jobim321

How does loyalty to your bank affect your credit scoring if the current account details are not included in credit reports (only credit cards and borrowings are)?
If I've been with the bank X for long time and I want to move my account to bank Y and plan to ask for the mortgage soon, is it better sticking with the old bank until after applying for the mortgage?
What if the bank Y has better mortgage deals?