CAG CRA S.A.R Club

[Vulture_Bank]

Originally Posted by europa16

I've got a question regarding the contents of my S.A.R to Experian. In amongst all the paperwork one of the account numbers supplied, which relates to my RBS entry, is not the same account number as what it should be. So I queried it with Mr Hancock, and his reply was this...

"The account numbers RBS (Mint) submit to us are encrypted and so may not be recognisable. If you require further information about this entry I suggest that you contact them directly..."

Well, the account number they have supplied looks very much like an account number and certainly doesn't look encrypted. And it certainly doesn't look like my account number, apart from the first 8 digits.

Should I really be making a big deal with this? The rest of the details "look" like mine.

p.s. great thread, I would never have thought to S.A.R the CRAs without this

the account number could well be a new account number designated to the account by rbs on default [or charge off ??] of the account (naturally without your knowledge ) mbna do this and the matter is currently being investigated by higher authorities ................... are mbusa involved in the rbs account ?

[andrew1]

Originally Posted by europa16

I've got a question regarding the contents of my S.A.R to Experian. In amongst all the paperwork one of the account numbers supplied, which relates to my RBS entry, is not the same account number as what it should be. So I queried it with Mr Hancock, and his reply was this...

"The account numbers RBS (Mint) submit to us are encrypted and so may not be recognisable. If you require further information about this entry I suggest that you contact them directly..."

Well, the account number they have supplied looks very much like an account number and certainly doesn't look encrypted. And it certainly doesn't look like my account number, apart from the first 8 digits.

Should I really be making a big deal with this? The rest of the details "look" like mine.

p.s. great thread, I would never have thought to S.A.R the CRAs without this

This sounds very familiar..take a look here walton v rbos


Sarah

[europa16]

Could you divulge this mathematical formula, or point me in the right direction, Vulture? It definitely does look like a valid C.C. number to me, just not mine. RBS still send me statements every month, and the account number hasn't changed on any of them. It would be v. sneaky of them to have two accounts in my name instead of the one.

Sarah - thanks for that link, I'm gonna have a browse of it this afternoon.

I really do think Experian are talking bawlocks cos there's other accounts in the same pile of paper, with exactly the same format, and they are definitely my account numbers. I think Mr Hancock is a little bored of my correspondence with him over my Littlewoods dispute (and has a mountain of paperwork, courtesy of the peeps on this great site )

[europa16]

Well, I finally got though Paul's thread (phew) and can't believe the levels RBS will stoop to. I've now queries the account number showing on my credit file - encrypted my ase!

Whist Experian are a waste of time at the moment, I did look back at some recent emails from Equifax, and they can remove data from your file if it's not substantiated.

My experience is I queried Cabot's entry on my file, as they'd defaulted me last year when they bought the debt from HSBC. They had defaulted a nil balance savings account . Anyway Equifax got no word from them after 28 days, so they've removed the whole entry.

So, employees of Experian, if you are reading this thread - IT IS POSSIBLE TO REMOVE ERRONEOUS DATA. Ask Equifax, they'll show you how to do it

[babybear39]

Originally Posted by europa16

So, employees of Experian, if you are reading this thread - IT IS POSSIBLE TO REMOVE ERRONEOUS DATA. Ask Equifax, they'll show you how to do it

[JonCris]

Originally Posted by europa16

Well, I finally got though Paul's thread (phew) and can't believe the levels RBS will stoop to. I've now queries the account number showing on my credit file - encrypted my ase!

Whist Experian are a waste of time at the moment, I did look back at some recent emails from Equifax, and they can remove data from your file if it's not substantiated.

My experience is I queried Cabot's entry on my file, as they'd defaulted me last year when they bought the debt from HSBC. They had defaulted a nil balance savings account . Anyway Equifax got no word from them after 28 days, so they've removed the whole entry.

So, employees of Experian, if you are reading this thread - IT IS POSSIBLE TO REMOVE ERRONEOUS DATA. Ask Equifax, they'll show you how to do it

For everyone's info the CRA's are supposed to work together, in fact they often they brag about it, so any data collected by 1 is supposed to be copied to the others.

This also applies to defaults, removal by 1 should mean removal by all & this is meant to help consumers to avoid the considerable time & trouble of asking each CRA to correct false or misleading data

[sosumi]

Originally Posted by JonCris

For everyone's info the CRA's are supposed to work together, in fact they often they brag about it, so any data collected by 1 is supposed to be copied to the others.

This also applies to defaults, removal by 1 should mean removal by all & this is meant to help consumers to avoid the considerable time & trouble of asking each CRA to correct false or misleading data

You'd think that'd be the case, wouldn't you? But they fluctuate wildly. We've watched our credit files with Experian, Equifax and Callcredit - they put stuff on, take it off, put it on again - and who inputs the new data? I've even seen an article on Credit Today where the 'Credit Professionals' are encouraged to subscribe to all 3 CRAs, to gain a better perspective!

[fergal71]

i agree I had the same 28 days passed and equifax removed, yet after nearly 45 days experian did not... i even believe the lender was not replying on purpose so it was removed, until the famous paul lever chased them to confirm its accuracy....doh doh experian... I honestly belive you are about to feel the wrath of tens of thousands of people and as stated by the Information Commissioners Office you will not be immune from paying compensation.....

[Marlowe52]

Hi - I'm fairly new to this so forgive any questions which may seem obvious...

I have read this thread with great interest - many thanks to everyone for some useful information I really didn't know.

Can you guys (or anyone else lookinh in) help me with a project? I successfully got a substantial amount of money back from First Direct Bank by suggesting some of their charges were "unfair" - of course they never admitted they were - just refunded them as a "goodwill" gesture. Coincidentally (I'm sure), at the time I wrote my first letter to them (February 07) they started trashing my credit rating. For a whole year prior to this date they hadn't bounced a DD or SO payment - even though sometimes the account was way over its agreed overdraft... Then all of a sudden my account developed a very rubber ceiling - everything bounced off it!! Fair enough really - but a bit short on "goodwill"...

But here's the odd bit - I started getting "late payment" entries on my Experian credit report under the First Direct account. I wrote to Experian to ask how come I have "late payments" showing against a current account - I had assumed it was because I had gone over the limt and, therefore, technically was "late" paying them at the end of the month - but NO! Turns out everytime a payment bounces that's a "late" payment - and if you do it twice in a month that's "2" months late payments...

My Experian report is beginning to look like a snooker table - lots of colours - and quite a few reds!

It is obviously a complete coincidence that my first letter to them was two weeks before this first happened - obvously a change of banking policy at that time!

So, as a starting point, I need to write to the bank asking them to disclose exactly what information they have sent to the CRA's - presumably an S.A.R. letter should do the trick?? But do I need any special wording?

I know this may be slightly off this thread - but any advice would be more than welcome.

Cheers

[Switch]

Subbing.

Subject Access Request just sent to the 3 CRAs, now wait in anticipation for them to repsond.

[cashins]

Could you divulge this mathematical formula, or point me in the right direction, Vulture? It definitely does look like a valid C.C. number to me, just not mine.

It's called a modulus check.

The financial institutions use diferrent systems however and you would need to know which version yours was using. It will not btw tell you if that account exists, only that it can exist.

David

[car2403]

This is interesting in light of all this;

Is the credit crunch about to bite (us!) back?

[JonCris]

Originally Posted by renegotiation

I will wait until Monday and if I hear nothing will compose my complaint and send it off to the I.C.O.. I will post it up on this thread.

Just for the record, this is the response from Callcredit:

Dear Mr,
Thank you for your e-mail; I am sorry that you did not find my response adequate. I confirm once six years have elapsed on settled and defaulted accounts, the credit account records are removed from all credit referencing databases. However, I further confirm these records are not immediately erased from archives, research datasets, or disaster recovery facilities. I trust this clarifies matters.
Yours sincerely,

It would have been nice to get this response without sending multiple letters and emails though. All my correspondence was completely clear from the off. They seemed to continually think I was concerned about the future of my own ruined credit report and not just a concerned citizen. All they kept on saying was 'it won't be visible on your report', 'it won't be visible on your report'. Well I knew that and the best way to keep it like that is to permanently erase the data after a set period of time.

For the record the reason so many debtors are being chased in recent times for 'out of time' debts IS because of Call Credit who have developed a system whereby previous addresses, some very old, are linked to new ones.

These links can be very tenuous & serious mistakes have been made such as the wrong person being evicted. The wrong elderly person being harassed to death, literally, for a debt they did not owe. We can also cite many such cases from this site alone so goodness knows how many there are out there.

The link might only be that you have a similar name living in the same area or even a family member with a similar name to link you (in their minds) to anothers debt.

This situation is likely to continue & get much worse just as long as the so called regulators allow it

[patrickq1]

this thread has gone awful quiet i have just read this from a web post and it is quite frightening what the labour gov are upto look at the tory mp locked up this week like the libs said a tin pot dictatorship or what ????

Government faces fight from within for spy database
A Home Office revolt is stalling a plan to store our e-mails and calls but a more sinister one may take its place

Jacqui Smith, the home secretary, faces a revolt from her senior officials over plans to build a central database holding information on every telephone call, e-mail and internet visit made in the UK.
A “significant body of Home Office officials dealing with serious and organised crime” are privately lobbying against the plans, a leaked memo has revealed.
They believe the proposals are “impractical, disproportionate, politically unattractive and possibly unlawful from a human rights perspective”, the memo says.
Their stance puts them at loggerheads with the spy-masters at GCHQ, the government's eavesdropping centre in Cheltenham, who have been driving through the plans.
The Home Office rebels appear to have forced Smith to stall plans to announce a bill in the Queen's speech authorising the database. She has instead ordered her officials to review the proposals.
This weekend a top law enforcement body further dented the government's case for the database. Jack Wraith, of the data communications group of the Association of Chief Police Officers, described the plans as “mission creep”. He said there was an “inherent fear” of the data falling into the wrong hands.
“If someone's got enough personal data on you and they don't afford it the right protection and that data falls into the wrong hands, then it becomes a threat to you,” he said.
Smith is already studying less explosive but equally effective alternatives. One option involves a system based on sending automated requests to databases already held by telephone and internet firms.
Privacy campaigners believe the proposals form part of a “pentagon” of five huge databases, all linked together in real time to create the ultimate surveillance society.
This would include compulsory registration of all Britain's 72m mobile phones, more than 40m of which are prepaid. Terrorists and criminals prefer to hide behind the anonymity of prepaid phones, so a communications database needs to include accurate details of prepaid subscriber details.
The Home Office yesterday declined to comment on the plans. But the office of Richard Thomas, the information commissioner, said it expects this register to be included in the database proposed in the draft communications data bill.
Vodafone is believed to be one of the mobile phone firms now drawing up plans for compulsory customer registration. Such a system, already used in Europe, would require a passport or ID to register a phone.
Phones can be located to within a few yards using cell site analysis – which tracks mobile phone users as they move from one signalling area to the next.
The system would then link with the automatic number plate recognition (ANPR) system of traffic cameras, which provides live coverage of motor-ways and main roads. It, in turn, is linked to the DVLA in Swansea which holds the records of all registered vehicles in the country.
By monitoring a single telephone call it would be possible to identify exactly where its user was and the registration number of the car in which he or she was travelling. This car could then be found within seconds by the ANPR cameras and tracked along its journey.
Simon Davies, of Privacy International, said: “If you can do this in real time, with all the databases being interoperable, you have absolute perfect surveillance.”
The plans for a communications database are equally intrusive. At their heart is a massive extension in an existing network of black boxes plugged into the internet. They intercept data on the web and extract information to be routed into computers held by MI5 and GCHQ, if required.
Little is known about the extent of the system, but sources say that last year GCHQ was given £1 billion to extend it. Total costs for the project are estimated to be as high as £12 billion.
Advocates of the database say terrorists are stateless and highly mobile and their communications are hard to detect among the billions of pieces of data on the internet. Last year about 14% of all calls were made over the internet, prompting police to complain that they are losing the ability to track calls.
Unlike telephone companies, which must keep data for billing, internet call firms such as Skype have no reason to keep the records.
A European Union directive introduced after the London and Madrid terror attacks compels service providers to keep all telephone and e-mail data for two years.This requirement will be extended to cover websites in March. But it does not include calls via the internet. Anyway, call and e-mail data is held separately in hundreds of company databases.
Opponents fear the cost and ethical implications of a central database are too great.
Liberty, the civil rights group, has said that it will mount a legal challenge.
Lord Carlile, the independent reviewer of terrorist legislation, said the idea was “awful”.