can a debt collector wrongly search a credit reference agency

[queensclose]

for a family friend

 

In may she had a letter from a debt collector saying she owed £1200 to a water company for a property she moved out of in 2006

 

she contacted the water company who found the system was at fault and had the record of the phone call in 2006 (but not was said) to say i,ve moved and this is the new property. and direct debit payments continued for the new property.

 

there system kept charging the account for four years and the new owner didnt pay anything they sent debt letters to the old address until may of this year

 

the water company reduced the balance to zero and said sorry.

 

 

now she applied for a mortgage with what she thought a perfect cra record then bang mortgage company have stopped in their tracks today. saying you have a debt collectors search on your record and the rate you want is no longer available

 

 

what are her options

[Bazooka Boo]

A search wouldn't ordinarily show up on a CRF?

 

Have they issued a default?

 

Only searches are visible to you and the company searching. AFAIK?

 

Get sight of her CRF to see what is on there.

[obiter dictum]

Agree on the above

 

When a debt collector does a search on your credit file it is the same as an insurance company for a quote. That is a soft search which is only visable to the individual. These drop off after 12 months anyway

 

Hard searches that stay on your file are made when you apply for credit etc for which are six years any anyone doing a search can see it

[queensclose]

It must show up to lender because they see it

[fkofilee]

Yes!.. DCA Searches are soft searches...

Should be a defaulted account.

[Bazooka Boo]

I apologise, on checking with Noddle last night, I stand corrected;

 

These searches may be seen by third parties such as lenders when you agree to a credit check. Lenders will have their own criteria for measuring the risk of extending credit to you. So, while searches won't have any impact on the rating we give you, some lenders may be wary if they see lots of credit application searches in a short space of time.

 

However that said, you can place a notice of correction against the incorrect entry, and inform the creditor to do a manual search rather than a computer generated one, this way they will be able to read the NoC.

 

Then get onto the CRA and raise a complaint that the data they are processing is inaccurate and should be removed or corrected to reflect the true state of the account.

 

They will get in touch with the creditor (water coy) and ask them what the state of play is with the entry, without sight of the entry/marker on the CRF then it is hard to say whether it is just a credit application, default, administration review, or identification check??

[Conniff]

If you ring a loan company or bank and ask it so and so has a loan, they will respond with 'can't tell you, data protection'. When you sign for that loan you are agreeing that the details will be passed to a third party ie the cra's, but I don't ever remember seeing anything where is says the cra's may pass your details onto to another person.

Why aren't they under the same data protection act ?

 

It seems that data protection is a farce really, give it to a cra and the whole world can see it.

[CrappoMan]

Only credit application searches should be visible to third parties.

Debt collection/trace searches shouldn't be visible to anyone but yourself and the entity making the search.

 

This is common sense for one very good reason:

When you apply for credit you agree that a search can be made on your file. ONE search.

You can't control dca/trace searches on your file. A DCA could make several searches on your file without you knowing, and in the process could trash your ability to obtain credit.

[Bazooka Boo]

Well CRA's have sight of Royal Mails 'redirect' system so DCA's who have an interest in a debtor is able to keep their mucky paws on them.