Price Comparison Sites

sunlady_2

After hearing Martin's article on car insurance my husband decided to use Moneysupermarket and Confused to get quotes for car insurance.
However when looking at our Experian files we now see that as a result of using these sites searches have been done by AGP(Admiral Bell Diamond Elephant). They did 2 searches on the same day and also did searches on my file.
Surely then using these price comparison sites is not a good idea as it will affect one's credit rating if too many searches are done.

Former_MSE_Wendy

Hi Sunlady

I've contacted Experian about this and it has replied to say:

"Insurance companies can check your credit reports, with your consent (MSE EDIT this will be in the comparsion site terms and conditions). They often do this to check your identity or to check you have no adverse public data such as CCJs or bankruptcies. They can't see your private credit account history though: only you and credit lenders can look at this.

Each time someone accesses your credit report, we keep a record called a search (or footprint), showing when your report was accessed, by whom and why. These searches fall into half a dozen different categories, such as credit application, identity check and quotation search. Only credit application searches are seen by lenders when you apply for credit. All other searches are registered for your benefit only and cannot therefore affect your credit rating.

All searches are deleted after 12 months."

Hope this helps

Wendy