I subscribe to one of the online monthly credit reports and have today noticed that I now have an entry marked "RBS CURRENT ACCOUNT" which also includes my bank balance. :o

Even though this information has just appeared on the report this month it has 4 marks showing that they have effectively updated my credit report for four months. Thankfully I have not gone overdrawn in those four months so it says "satisfied lending obligations" , however I do not have an overdraft so I am baffled why it says "lending", I furthermore have had no correspondence from the bank to state they would update credit reference agencies suddenly after 5 years, did I agree to that and can they do it? :-|

I do recall reading in the news last year that finance companies were going to be supplying current account data to credit reference agencies. I'm sure I'm not making this up but I can't find any reference to it anywhere :? I will keep looking....

My current accounts are displayed too FWIW.

Don't think it's THAT big a deal IMO and don't really know why they would need your permission either. The only people who would see it would be other lenders who you are applying for credit for and would they not be entitled to see what state your finances are in as a whole? To be honest, from a lending perspective it makes sense to have this information displayed especially to reduce debt-dodging and money laundering.

I totally agree with you, since I reclaimed the bank charges I have managed my affairs correctly, so its all good data. I just wish I knew what I was doing when I was a wreckless student, but there you go, you live and learn.

My only concern would be if you went overdrawn by (for example: £1, a direct debit taken early or something daft. IT DOES HAPPEN, hence the consumer action group forum) and you then had a bad mark against you, I have experience of how these bad months can screw you for SIX years (credit score). I can see why they are doing it but in my case I am not "lending" anything from them (they would charge me £35 if I go 1p overdrawn) so to say I have satisfied my lending agreements is very confusing. I have no overdraft and I live within my means now, so why are they informing the CRA's??? am I under a credit agreement by having a bank account all of a sudden?

Right see what you are getting at now. You don't get a red mark for going overdrawn - or at least I can't imagine you would get a red mark for something as simple as that. Would be worth looking into and in fact, I would recommend asking the CRA you are registered with what it would take to get a red mark against your current account. From experience, their help centres are REALLY helpful.

Even so, lenders look at a credit report appropriately. If you are applying for a £200k mortgage, they aren't going to care about your current account (to a point obviously). I'd even go as far as to say they don't even look at missed credit card payments (again to a point). I'm talking from experience of working in a mortgage company years ago and also my experience of taking out a mortgage twice.

In the grand scheme of things, being overdrawn in your bank account is not big news and I can't imagine it carries much weight at all.