Mistaken identity has ruined my credit report for a 3rd time !!!

[Luco19]

Good Afternoon all,

 

Just to update you with what has happened today, i received an email from call credit stating that all of the wrong information has now been removed from my credit file, when i have logged into my account this is indeed the case, no explanation from them at all.

 

Now i know from this happening to me twice before that the credit reference agencies have no dealings with what goes on my report and it is the companies who record the information and only the companies can remove the information, i do find this very hard to believe that in 28 days call credit have been able to contact and get 12 companies all to agree to remove this information, along with the CCJ from the courts, and to change my electoral roll entry back to being correct.

 

I received my statutory credit report from Experian today and they still have some wrong information (linked addresses) and accounts in default on my credit report, i will now have to raise this with themselves.

 

Although things seem to be sorting themselves out i need advice as what action i now need to take against the companies and the CRAs.

 

As i said call credit have offered no explanation as why all of these companies have linked me, so:

 

What action can i now take ?

How can i stop this happening again ?

Can i ask call credit for all of the correspondance between themselves and the companies ?

What court action if any can i take ?

 

I do not want to put any notice of correction on my report as some lenders will mark this against you while applying for credit.

 

Thanks

 

Luco19

[dx100uk]

is the CCJ gone from trustonline

[Luco19]

It is gone from my credit report, the CCJ stated on trustonline was not registered at my address but at this other persons address which was lined to me

[Luco19]

linked*

[dx100uk]

ok

 

i'll let the others debate what you might be owed in compo

[Luco19]

Thanks DX

[BankFodder]

Please check back Monday or Tuesday.

Please can you make detailed list of costs incurred and losses

[Luco19]

Hi Bankfodder, this time around i have not suffered costs or losses as i managed to get this sorted pretty quickly. I check my reports every month so caught this one pretty quick.

 

The only costs incurred this time was the trustonline fee, checkmyfile fee and statutory report cost which were all small fees.

 

After double checking my call credit file this morning they have only restored my account to its original state because they could not sort all of the quiries within the 28 day time period allowed so they have marked my disputes as temporarily suspended.

 

I feel this isnt the end of things at the moment and could just be another waiting game.

 

The next thing i am doing is raising all of the mistakes with Experian and await there response.

 

I have also noticed that one of the defaults is due to end in July and that the CCJ is due to come off in November under the 6 year rule.

 

Thanks

 

Luco19

[BankFodder]

Make sure that you have screenshots and recordings of everything

Send off SARs to everyone on the 25th of May

[Luco19]

Just received letters with the post today from Noddle, now i was going to swear but ........

 

02 who is the company at fault for linking this other persons address with me have not bothered responding to call credit, call credit how now advised me again to contact the company itself to sort the mess out (talk about passing the buck) , 02 will not speak to me due to data protection, i have stated this to call credit several times.

 

Call credit say they have suppressed the dispute entry on my credit report for the time being but state there is nothing to stop 02 removing this at any time.

 

I cant see any point in call credit having any staff at all , they might as well open up a database for companies to add any information they want without checks because this is what is happening, nothing seems to be regulated but when things go wrong it is the person like me who is no way at fault that has to spend my money and my time trying to sort it out.

 

rant over

 

updates to follow when i figure out what to do next.

 

@Bankfodder or anyone else that could advise. When i send out the SARs in May and wait 30 days for a response, what happens next if:

 

They dont reply ?

They do reply but say it is a mistake and say sorry ?

They reply and say we think you are the person we are looking for so we are not going to erase our mistakes from your credit file ?

 

Just seems to me as this is going to drag on for months and months again with the companies recording the incorrect information walking away scot free for there mistakes. I know it might seem like im being inpatient but its really starting to get to me now.

 

Thanks

 

Luco19

[dx100uk]

wonder what the ICO would say about this?

[Luco19]

wonder what the ICO would say about this?

 

 

probably not a lot , the same as the FOS , they all seem to be on the side of the CRAs.

 

In there eyes they do no wrong but to have companies such as CRAs that use autotrace software and provide companies with these leads is a joke, then the companies add any information they please to peoples reports without the proper checks taking place ruining peoples credit.

 

And then to have the CRAs say its upto the individual to sort out, well..................

[BankFodder]

Please wait until Monday for a full reply.

Don't take any action without discussing with us first

As far as I can make out there is some screaming urgency here and you will do much better if you get all the information you can and build up your files

When we have complete information then we will go on the attack and it will be much more effective and your level of compensation will be much better

[BankFodder]

I'm trying to work out a plan of action here. The suggestions I've been making so far have been based upon the need to gather information and to understand exactly what has happened and who has got what on you. I still think that this is extremely important and my advice to wait until 25 May and then take advantage of the new GDPR SAR system still stands. Get it already and on 25 May, send them all off. On 25 May in fact I think that you can simply make subject access requests by email. This needs checking.

 

Once you have done that and you get the information back – 30 days under the new GDPR, then I suggest that the thing to do is to go through the files very carefully and see what you can discover and particularly see how people have reacted to your complaints. It might all be very ordinary – but you never know you might find some very interesting information.

 

As well as having a look at the files and understanding what is there, you should also try to work out what might be missing. If you find that there is information which should be in the disclosure but isn't, then this is grounds for a further complaint.

 

Once you have figured out the story then I think that I would begin by making complaints to the ICO. I wouldn't do them all at one time I would do them one at a time so that they are all treated completely separately rather than as some accumulated problem. If the complaints are presented correctly then I would expect that you will eventually received from the ICO a communication which confirms that XXX firm has probably breached their data protection obligations. You probably won't get anything more definite than that, but that is fine. That is what you want. Each time you get one of these provisional opinions from the ICO, then make another complaint.

 

Once you have the provisional opinions in from the ICO then we can start looking at making a proper complaint to the company in question – and by that I mean potentially a small claim in the County Court for breach of data protection obligations. If you are well prepared with the full file in front of you and also a provisional view from the ICO that there has been a breach, then the threatened legal action will be fairly straightforward and I can imagine that companies. Making proposals to you in terms of compensation in order to avoid a legal action. Frankly I would call their bluff and I would issue the claim and see how the level of the compensation offer increases.

 

Of course this is all the theory – we have to see how it turns out in practice. This is not a quick fix. But if you want to be sure of your ground and move confidently and maximise your chances of sorting this out once and for as well as getting a realistic compensation figure then I think that this is the way to go.

 

What can you claim for? If you are sure that you haven't suffered any losses or expenses, then at the very least we can be talking about claiming for the distress caused by the breach of the data protection legislation. Also, I think that you should start keeping a good note of the amount of time and trouble that it has taken you to get this far – and the amount of time and trouble you will have expended by the time you get to actually starting the complaint against each firm.

 

Anyway, that is broadly a plan. Is this a way that you would be prepared to go?

[Luco19]

Thanks Bankfodder,

 

Im willing to wait until the GDPR comes into effect and do whatever i need to do to prevent this happening again.

 

If the route is to go to the small claims court then im willing to pursue this course of action with the companies and see what happens then.

 

When it comes to preparing the SARs i will double check i have them correct by posting what i have written on here if that is ok.

 

Thanks again

[BankFodder]

Good.

 

Actually I said get ready with the SARs – but in fact we will be releasing a new template on the 24th/25th so wait until then. However, you could get all the email addresses ready and also the envelopes stamped and addressed and then all you will need to do will be to had the reference numbers et cetera to our template and send them off.

 

What you could usefully do is to start to look up a little bit about the steps of bringing a County Court claim - although you have quite a lot of time for that. However it will be worth making sure that you understand the steps and that that is the path you want to take.

[Luco19]

Good.

 

Actually I said get ready with the SARs – but in fact we will be releasing a new template on the 24th/25th so wait until then.

 

Thats great.

 

Problems i have concerning reference numbers etc is that i have only had letters from 2 of the companies. All of the other comapanies listed on my credit report have just been dumped there with no correspondance from them at all.

 

Will this be a problem or will my name,DOB, address be enough to get the SARs answered ?

 

Regarding the small claims court, I have read a bit on this over the past few weeks and the only sticking point for me is the claim amount, as i am technically not claiming for a set amount.

 

I would be happy if it went to court and the judge ordered the company to put right there mistakes and pay my costs, anything more than this in as much as compensation is an extra but i think that these comapnies should start stumping up cash for there incompetance.

[BankFodder]

Reference numbers would help – but your personal ID details will be fine.

 

Don't forget, if they find that they don't have anything on you so they can't respond to the SAR then to a certain extent they incriminate themselves because they've managed to place information about you on the credit reference register

[Luco19]

Thanks, that makes sense.

 

Ill get to work on finding emails, addresses etc.

[Luco19]

Sorry just another quick question.

 

On my credit file i have accounts marked as Partial Settlement. These are accounts that have defaulted and will remain for 6 years, even though there has been a partial settlement made on the account i assume the default will still stand and will still be present on my credit file, Should i also be chasing these companies ?

[BankFodder]

Any entries on your credit file that are there as a result of a mistake as to your identity will eventually be removed. This includes entries which are marked as "partially settled" if you can establish that even those partial settlements are the responsibility of some other person.

 

If there are any entries on your credit file that are there correctly because they do relate to you then you need to sort those out immediately so that everyone is clear that you are being straight dealing. If there is any suspicion that you are trying to lump sum of your own entries in with the entries of this third-party – then you will lose credibility and you will have a great deal of difficulty

[Luco19]

Im 100% confident that all of the entries with defaults, missed payments are for the other person, i know this because ive not missed any payments or defaulted on an account that i have held.

[BankFodder]

As long as you are sure. It will look very bad if you are wrong

[Luco19]

Needed some advice regarding my electoral roll entry, when the defaulted accounts etc were added to my credit report my electoral roll entry was changed to this other persons name ( putting his middle name on my entry), this states it was confirmed by 02, surely a company does not have the power to do this ?

 

I get the part where companies can add defaults, ccjs, etc etc on my report but it must be the CRA that has changed the electoral roll entry without my permission/supporting legal documents ?

 

I asked the question to call credit of why they had done this and that it seemed totally illegal to me but they never gave an explanation, do i have grounds to file a complaint with the ICO ?

[BankFodder]

This is amazing. I'm sorry if I sound a bit flippant about this but I'm starting to find that it is rather hilarious.

I think that what you're describing here is a hugely serious breach of data protection obligations because this effectively would either deprive you of the voting right or else allow someone else to exercise your vote.

 

I think this would give you grounds for an extremely serious complaint and I wonder if it might even amount to a criminal offence.

 

I think that there is a big risk that people will try to tell you that you are the only person who would be entitled to make these kind of amendments and so they would try to point the finger at you. It does seem extraordinary to me that somebody else might be able to go in and change your electoral registration.

 

Once again, I would hold fire but on 25 May I would send the council or whoever is responsible for the electoral roll an SAR. Once again I think you need to be very careful in your preparation and get all the information you can before it either disappears or somebody tries to tell you that it's not available because there is some legal process en route – maybe I'm just being a conspiracy theorist!

 

If possible you will need eventually to get hold of the electoral roll form which you submitted last year.

 

Just one thing that crosses my mind – is there any chance that when you write your middle initial, it could be taken to be a different letter? For instance some people right an M and it could be taken to be a W. Or a Q could be taken to be a G et cetera.

 

I'm desperately trying to find rational explanations for this huge foul up