Credit reference Agencies and inaccurate reporting

[DanDoh1981]

Hi

 

I'm Dan, just joined today after a morbidly disappointing realisation that credit agencies are a law unto themselves. So Hi all

 

Hope I can be useful and hope people can help me to.

[Consumer dude]

Your very welcome. Take time to have a look around and if you have any questions, then you only need to ask..

[DanDoh1981]

Many thanks for the welcome, my main aim is to find out just how it is these credit agencies get away with what they do, I've plenty to read by the looks of it

[dx100uk]

Getting away with what?

 

Cra providers simply report info reported to them

 

Might not be your target...

Tell us the story please

[DanDoh1981]

Hi

 

The credit agencies are private firms,

 

 

I was surprised to learn that they do not fall under the Freedom of information act 1998 / 2000,

 

 

what they are getting away with is inaccurate reporting of peoples financial history,

 

 

the reporting can alter significantly and to boot, the terminology they use such as "Credit Application" is inaccurate ,

 

 

I had a dispute and still do so with experian,

 

 

they altered the algorithm of how they conclude your point scoring system,

 

 

this is purely internal and subject ONLY to their criteria,

 

 

the result for us, or people like me is a huge deficit in my previous score to now,

 

 

whilst nothing has changed on my credit file, so does this make the previous score factor "Inaccurate" and if so.

 

 

.. what have I been paying them for?! I'm looking into this so obviously restricted to what info I can offer at the moment, and also not sure this is the correct place to have this thread.

[citizenB]

Whilst it would cost you £10.00 for each agency, if you were wanting to obtain Data on your own files, you could send a Subject Access to them for the "FULL" data package.

 

I will move your thread to the correct forum for further discussion. it will just be an administrative move with a redirect so you will have no problems locating your thread, which will still be accessible via your User Control Panel.

[citizenB]

Having posted above, and then reread your post#5 I suspect you are wanting more of a general overview of the way the CRAs operate rather than personal data.

 

Which you would only receive via a FOI, which of course you have already discovered they do not fall under

[unclebulgaria67]

Hi

 

The credit agencies are private firms, I was surprised to learn that they do not fall under the Freedom of information act 1998 / 2000, what they are getting away with is inaccurate reporting of peoples financial history, the reporting can alter significantly and to boot, the terminology they use such as "Credit Application" is inaccurate , I had a dispute and still do so with experian, they altered the algorithm of how they conclude your point scoring system, this is purely internal and subject ONLY to their criteria, the result for us, or people like me is a huge deficit in my previous score to now, whilst nothing has changed on my credit file, so does this make the previous score factor "Inaccurate" and if so... what have I been paying them for?! I'm looking into this so obviously restricted to what info I can offer at the moment, and also not sure this is the correct place to have this thread.

 

The credit ratings agencies are in competition with each other. Not all credit providers use all of them and the information reported varies. The way they calculate credit scores is probably different.

 

From what i recall more credit providers use Equifax than Experian, so it might be worth comparing your record with Equifax.

 

If there is a problem with the CRA's and lack of clarity regarding data, you can always complain to the ICO. The CRA's should be forced to furnish you with the data they have used that relates to you.

[DanDoh1981]

Having posted above, and then reread your post#5 I suspect you are wanting more of a general overview of the way the CRAs operate rather than personal data.

 

Which you would only receive via a FOI, which of course you have already discovered they do not fall under

 

Thanks for moving the thread, yes as above I cannot obtain this information, legally they have boxed themselves in, intentionally which I find odd, since we have greater ethics towards financial institutions these days, although I'm not easily put off and I intend to dig out every last bit of information I can.

 

I'm aware they all use varying scoring factors, which leads me to think... How fair are our credit scores?

 

I don't understand how they can use terms which are not strictly accurate either, and that is the basis of my challenge, thus far! Last month my credit score on experian was 785, logged in today to find it's basically junk at 546... bare in mind, nothing other than the fact my overall credit debt balance has reduced, so I've brought down this figure thus I have less debt but my score has had gone negative.

 

I just think something seriously unfair is going on here.

[DanDoh1981]

The credit ratings agencies are in competition with each other. Not all credit providers use all of them and the information reported varies. The way they calculate credit scores is probably different.

 

From what i recall more credit providers use Equifax than Experian, so it might be worth comparing your record with Equifax.

 

If there is a problem with the CRA's and lack of clarity regarding data, you can always complain to the ICO. The CRA's should be forced to furnish you with the data they have used that relates to you.

 

That was my thinking and so I did just this, I found that some items do not appear on one file but do on the other, one of them was my Virgin media which I have held an account with for 8 years.. yet experian never saw this?!

[DanDoh1981]

The ICO likely can't help as these companies are not "Public Bodies" this is how they avoid the human rights act and also the FOI act which would have been very useful, the latter at least.

[xfox]

I will start my own thread, but please give more specific information about Equifax as i'm looking to take an injunction out on Equifax, and need other witnesses to make my case stronger.

[DanDoh1981]

I will start my own thread, but please give more specific information about Equifax as i'm looking to take an injunction out on Equifax, and need other witnesses to make my case stronger.

 

Send me a link to the new thread when you start it, I'll add any info I think might help in there, rather than here.

[citizenB]

http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?455289-Equifax-legal

 

I think this might be the new thread for xfox...