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Experian - Secrets of Your Credit Rating - Channel 4 Dispatches

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  • System
    System Posts: 178,107 Community Admin
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    fermi wrote: »
    Experian response below, as the previous link was not very obvious.
    Neither Dispatches, nor Experian's response, gets to grips with what I think is the fundamental issue. If a lender carelessly or inadvertently gives wrong information about me to Experian, and Experian makes it available to Experian's customers, that is libel. If the lender does not immediately ensure that Experian corrects the libel, I can sue Experian for damages. I wish somebody would do so, with maximum publicity.
  • Experian_company_representative
    Experian_company_representative Posts: 2,134 Organisation Representative
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    YoungNick wrote: »
    Neither Dispatches, nor Experian's response, gets to grips with what I think is the fundamental issue. If a lender carelessly or inadvertently gives wrong information about me to Experian, and Experian makes it available to Experian's customers, that is libel. If the lender does not immediately ensure that Experian corrects the libel, I can sue Experian for damages. I wish somebody would do so, with maximum publicity.

    Hi YoungNick

    We encourage individuals to check their reports, so that if there is any information that is incorrect they can let us know. We will contact the company concerned on their behalf to request that the information is corrected.

    Regards Neil
    “Official Company Representative
    I am an official company representative of Experian. MSE has given permission for me to post in response to queries about the company, so that I can help solve issues. You can see my name on the companies with permission to post list. I am not allowed to tout for business at all. If you believe I am please report it to forumteam@moneysavingexpert.com This does NOT imply any form of approval of my company or its products by MSE"

    Posts by James Jones, Neil Stone, Stuart Storey & Joe Standen
  • fuzzgun19
    fuzzgun19 Posts: 7,767 Forumite
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    Experian_company_representative wrote: »
    Hi CKhalvashi

    The £2 fee for seeing your statutory report is an amount the Consumer Credit Act states we charge. In reality, it obviously costs a lot more than £2 to process and send out a credit report, but we offer this service so that people can see what is held about them and can contact us if they have any queries or problems.

    You can get your statutory report for free if you make your application through the Citizens Advice Bureau and debt advice charities like StepChange.

    Thanks Jo

    This is from the Citizens advice site -
    You have to pay a small fee of £2.00 to get your credit reference file. This is known as your statutory credit report and a credit reference agency must provide it to you if you ask for it.

    So how do you get your your statutory report for free?
    I Hate Jobsworths!!!
  • Nick_C
    Nick_C Posts: 7,467 Forumite
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    Experian_company_representative wrote: »
    We encourage individuals to check their reports, so that if there is any information that is incorrect they can let us know.

    If that was true, you would drop the £2 fee!
  • Nick_C
    Nick_C Posts: 7,467 Forumite
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    I suspect that it may have been unfair to just pick on Experian in this programme. I'm sure the other two are just as bad. I think consumers need better protection from being unfairly treated because of incorrect information on their files. At a minimum, the £2 fee should be scrapped. I would say there is a case though for CRAs to be more proactive, and actually send out a copy of the file on an annual basis to people who have a poor credit rating.
  • System
    System Posts: 178,107 Community Admin
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    Experian_company_representative wrote: »
    We encourage individuals to check their reports, so that if there is any information that is incorrect they can let us know. We will contact the company concerned on their behalf to request that the information is corrected.
    Sorry Neil, I haven't made myself clear enough. If I tell the Daily Mail that Tony Blair strangles kittens, even the Daily Mail would ask me for some evidence, and check it out, and ask Tony Blair for a comment. Even the Daily Mail would not just print the libel, and then tell Tony Blair not to worry, because he can buy the Daily Mail, read my allegations, let them know he's never strangled a kitten, and they'll contact me and ask me to retract the allegation (at my leisure).
    I would love to see a well-publicized case in which someone libelled by a credit reference agency sues for damages.
  • Experian_company_representative
    Experian_company_representative Posts: 2,134 Organisation Representative
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    fuzzgun19 wrote: »
    This is from the Citizens advice site -


    So how do you get your your statutory report for free?

    This is the Citizens Advice Bureaus general advice on their website regarding the process, however, if you go into a bureau and ask for their assistance to get your credit report through them, they will be able to help you with the free application.

    Thanks Jo
    “Official Company Representative
    I am an official company representative of Experian. MSE has given permission for me to post in response to queries about the company, so that I can help solve issues. You can see my name on the companies with permission to post list. I am not allowed to tout for business at all. If you believe I am please report it to forumteam@moneysavingexpert.com This does NOT imply any form of approval of my company or its products by MSE"

    Posts by James Jones, Neil Stone, Stuart Storey & Joe Standen
  • sirwiggum
    sirwiggum Posts: 169 Forumite
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    I haven't watched this yet.

    However, I will say that everything on TV should be taken with a huge dose of salt. I know somebody who was involved with a Channel 4 documentary, and the editing was performed unfairly and discrediting his area of expertise (which does happen to be UFO phenomena, but he takes it very seriously).

    TV editing these days tries to make everything into a drama, which they think is great TV and will pull in viewers, which will pull in advertisers = profit etc. etc.
  • heartsman999
    heartsman999 Posts: 3 Newbie
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    I warned you all years ago about Experian and their cronies,i contacted channel 4 dispatches over 3 years ago about the dirty tricks they pull on hard working people,shame it took them so long to expose this FILTH.
  • Hazzinho
    Hazzinho Posts: 742 Forumite
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    I thought the programming was a joke, undercover reporter and that's the best they could do, you get more facts on this forum. People need to be educated to check their credit files, if you resolve issues a few months prior to a credit application it's not an issue.
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