Credit Search Removal - Can it be done

[watercooled]

Under Data Protection - Do you have the right to ask credit referrence agencies to remove seaches on your credit file. As I know this can look bad to lenders if you have had a large number of searches.

I am thinking of my right to what information a company holds on you.

Any thoughts from anyone or does anyone know if it has been done.

Cheers

Watercooled

[happyolddog]

Hi watercooled,
You can ask them but your credit score is not grearly effected by searches. Credit scores are up to 1000 each search looses 1 point so it does not make much difference.

[MARTIN3030]

Hi Watercooled welcome to the site.
Searches are only kept on the file for short periods.
As the poster above has outlined,it is down on the list of factors that a creditor will be using in their considerations.
You may wish to have a browse through some old threads in the Baliff and debt sections as I recall this being discussed in some very great detail there I think around June/July last year.

[watercooled]

Thanks for this...

I am currently clearing up my credit file. Getting defaults removed etc.

And On my credit check there is a good 10 or so searches in the last year. And no credit was taken up..
I heard that creditors sometimes take this into account if no one else would give you credit.

I have been searching this site and found it extremely useful and have passed on some advise around insurance and sales of good act.

This site rules.......

[ginamaunder]

hello watercooled, i know my credit file isnt up to much, how did you get to find out what your credit score was because i could do with doing the same as you!! thanks

[watercooled]

I wrote to all three credit reference agencies and asked for a copy of my report.
Experian
Equafax
Call Credit
I just wrote in giving my address history and a cheque for £2.00 for the fee.

Once I received them I went through and identified where companies had given me Defaults and I have settled the account. I wrote to them asking for these to be removed as per data protection act and then logged a complaint with Information Comissioners office. I am going to use the money I get back from my banks to fund this next venture.

With regards tothe searches I am hopping to get some removed if possible but my first battle is with O2 and Capital One with regards to defaults

[ginamaunder]

thankyou, i will write to them and try and do the same i will keep you posted! thanks

[roadrunner]

Hi, if you go to http://www.creditexpert.co.uk/order1...getextordernow you can register for their free trial, just enter your card details and you wont be charged anything until after the 30 days, you can then just cancel if you dont want to keep it.
They have a facility for an extra £4.99 they will give you your credit score online instantly. Doesn't suit everyone but might give you an idea of where you stand at the moment
I subscribe to it anyway, as does my hubby. Always best to keep on top of these things I think, life is hard enough without other's mistakes holding you back I think it's about £5.99 a month or something.
Hope that helps a little
Good Luck

[LondonPam]

Can I just state that the credit score that you get from these companies bears no relation to the credit score assigned to you by a bank/loan company. The credit score they give you on these sort of sites is based on the system in the US where you have one score that is used throughout the credit industry. Here in the UK each financial organisation creates their own unique score. One company may say you need 100 points to get credit, another may say 500. They assign each factor of you and your application with a number of points and decide the number you need to pass themselves. Martin Lewis on the moneysavingexpert website has covered this several times and stated it is a waste of money getting your score from these people because of the reason stated above.

As a previous poster says, searches stay on your file for a relatively sort period of time ( 12 months I believe) and will then be deleted. Some companies I worked for definately held multiple searches against you. In particular if you had more than 6 within a year. There are certain rules governing the deletion of searches and these can be found on the credit reference websites.

Hope this helps.

[freddyj]

Happyold dog,

Not so sure about the 1 point for each credit search?

Recently got my credit scores from the agencies, my Equifax was very good and a high score, mainly because it didn't have the credit searches recorded on it that Equifax had. My Equifax report was very poor (even tho' no problems re-paying credit) I had a score of 467 (very poor) and that same day I was turned down for a re-mortgage with my current mortgage lender. I re-checked my report and the score had gone down to around 227 - as far as I can see all because of 1 credit search!
Also my score in the last 4 weeks has gone back up to 467 because I have been able to get 3 credit searches sucessfully removed!

I don't understand all this credit scoring and was wondering under consumer acts relating to things like value for money, fit for purpose etc.. surely these people shouldn't be able to charge for something that basically means nothing?

[Coasters]

I have had that as well and it is down to getting the score twice in a few days. Roughly the same scores as well.

I have no defaults on my account with 8 accounts paid up to date.

Score around 270 from around 500

it was getting 2 Equifax scores that did it imho not the mortgage application these DO seem to have an impact on their own system