I did mension that I was not sure if it was upto date or not, however the chat forum link on there has a few posts regarding who uses who and the other link I found quite infomative.

Another frustrating factor is when one has to repair the damage when innacurate data has been recorded or has not been updated on a CRA' file by an institution and then have to contact every CRA's yourself to repair it (should charge me thinks to the incompetent institution concerned) .

I have not myself asked before a search...but consider that a search on a CRA file leaves a footprint and that too many footprints can be detrimental to the overall credit score on the file that has been searched. In reply to your question... I would have to say it would be down to personal choice, however, me being me I would contact the customer service dept of the organisation that I would be considering first. The money saving expert Martin Lewis's site has an interesting page as a rule of thumb 'who uses who', tho Im not sure if it is up to date or not. Credit Reference Agencies - Who uses who? | UK's only money saving expert, If this helps don't click the scale's, just donate:)

It is the same with Equifax a green "S" for settled/satisfied where as Experian favour a serene blue "S" I have also been informed that registering a personal notice of correction on one's credit file is as good as a default in the eyes of some searcher's:eek: So now I know that the issue is now being investigated I have requested that the notice of correction is to be removed post haste. And informed the other agency of my dispute of which is also being investigated. In my recent dealings with credit refrence agencies I have found them to be very helpful in telephone conversations, and it would appear to me that they are in the dark until ordinary Joe off the street has to look at his file, and then dispute's. The fact there is more than one agency baffles me, financial institutions that supply a service imho should state in terms before supply, with which credit refrence agency/s they will be recording entries with and whom they share your personal infomation with.

I have just subscribed to checkmyfile.com the site compares 3 agencies and I just had to laugh. I had settled a TSB credit card balance sometime ago and had I not checked I would have a default against me forever. A notice of correction has been filed with the credit refrence agency a few days ago and will take 28 days tobe investigated so I am told. The Experian file is based on public infomation only - so will reflect the type of result that most companies, landlords and employers can see when they search you. Callcredit and Equifax files are more representive of what only the top 200 or so lenders can see when they search you. In addition to public file infomation these also contain your search and account performance history. Incidently my callcredit file is 4 stars whilst my Equifax file is not so healthy. Funny that, don't you think.

Excellent post that deserve's a sticky

Note: Posted as a new commer and not wishing to bother anyone with questions that have been probably covered in threads already. I have been reading and digesting post's and such regarding unlawful bank charges threads that have been posted, going back and forth then forth and back to get all the infomation I can possibly muster to pluck up the courage to take the big guys on. The Lloyds section in particular has my full and undivided attention atm and my best regards to all that are in a "holding cycle" Versus Lloyds TSB at pursueing their claims atm. My suggestion would be of a kind of "hall of fame" sticky, and in each bank branch sticky there would be links to the top 3,5 or even 10 most "informative" and "successful claims", these links could be generated by a member's voting process or, of at the MOD's decision. The sticky could be updated on a regular basis to keep up with changes so that a thread link that has become inaccurate would be removed (It would probably reduce occuring questions in some in-boxes I would guess). I personally find it uplifting to find winner's in any forum, I just thought a sticky with winner's in it would be inspirational to the cause:wink: Final note: If money does not grow on trees, why do banks have branch's.