Checkmyfile value for money?

[asf1]

Long post but may be of interest to some on this forum...

I subscribed to the 3 CRA report service from checkmyfile for £14.95 per month. The reports they posted online for me were far from expected.

 

Experian: Shows clear, no public info and no credit accounts

Equifax: Shows one satisfied CCJ and one default

Callcredit: Shows one active CCJ and two defaults (one of them is the same as above with different details.

 

I ACTUALLY have a satisfied CCJ and two current defaults.

I therefore believe using this service is not giving consumers in my postion an accurate view of their credit status. Anyone else had similar issues with checkmyfile?

 

I challenged them and their response is below:

Hi

 

A statutory credit file from a credit agency is not the same as the service we provide. Since we first brought online credit reports to UK consumers over 5 years ago, we have developed our services in response to our customer’s needs.

 

With our services, you pay for speed of delivery, content and the benefit of unbiased and independent advice. You can get your statutory credit file printout from any credit reference agency for £2, but this is sent to you by mail, usually at the limit of the 7 day statutory period, and the advice given by the agencies is limited to that required to be communicated to you by law. When you have a problem with your credit file, you generally want to find out what the issue is a bit quicker than that, and you need full advice, not simply a reminder of your legal rights.

 

We also supply things that aren`t on the statutory printout, and which you couldn`t get even if you paid the full £10 Data Protection Act fee to the agencies. Credit scores, credit ratings, and neighbourhood information are all aspects that we supply with our online reports and are not found in a statutory report.

 

Similarly we also advise you of the impact other people have on your credit rating, if any, so that if you are offered the choice by lenders of being considered only on your own merits, you can make a more informed decision. We also tell you about all accesses to your credit file by other people, not just some of them.

 

You can also talk to us about your report using our freephone number on the website – we don’t have phone queues or use premium rate numbers, and all of the staff who answer your queries are experienced graduates. If you do find that you need to do something technical, like lodging a notice of dispute, or a notice of disassociation to remove someone from your file, we’ll do it for you to save time.

 

On some reports we also recommend lenders who are most likely to extend credit to you and also let you know if we see anything important that’s missing from your file.

 

So, in summary, we provide a service to help consumers understand exactly what a lender sees, whereas the £2 option simply provides the basic, minimum of amount of information that is required under statute to be provided.

 

We have today cancelled your subscription, however it will run until the end of the quarter.

 

Once again, I`m sorry you feel so dissatisfied.

 

Regards

 

checkmyfile.com

 

My response:

I can get "immediate" access to each of my credit files from the 3 CRAs themselves, which again will give me total access to my credit file showing the information I require to make decisions regarding my credit status.

 

I can also get a "credit score" from credit expert for a small fee should I wish.

 

I can get free, accurate neighbourhood info from upmystreet.com.

 

Re: lenders, I can run a "google" search on adverse credit lending free of charge.

 

My argument therefore remains, pay YOU more for LESS information, I will learn from this mistake and read the t's & c's a little more carefully the next time I'm tempted to sign up for some misinformation.

 

This debate will be posted on the Consumer Action Group forum in due course. I'll fwd the responses to your customer service dept. I'm sure there will be many comments for their perusal.

 

Thanks for nothing.

[ian1969uk]

They are rubbish. Annual Credit Report are much better.

[meagain]

What's the problem? You asked them for the information held at all 3 CRAs, and you got it. There would only be an issue if the information they gave you didn't match that which was on file. Just because you believe something is on file, doesn't necessarily mean it is on file, let alone on file with all 3 CRAs.

[asf1]

What's the problem? You asked them for the information held at all 3 CRAs, and you got it. There would only be an issue if the information they gave you didn't match that which was on file. Just because you believe something is on file, doesn't necessarily mean it is on file, let alone on file with all 3 CRAs.

 

Sorry you misunderstand. I already had an Experian paper report and it stated the CCJ and defaults correctly. The checkmyfile report didn't highlight this, and showed my Exp file as "clear". I've since got my callcredit report and it also shows the Sat CCJ and default, again this does not match the checkmyfile record which had the CCJ as active. My gripe is I paid checkmyfile to report accurate info and got nothing of the sort. I've since realised that the Stat reports are the best way to see data held by the CRAs, not to pay more money to CMF for less information.

[meagain]

Sorry you misunderstand. I already had an Experian paper report and it stated the CCJ and defaults correctly.

 

Then you do have a problem. You could concevably get your money back from them if you have invested more than one month with them.

[asf1]

They are still adamant that they provide a good service:

 

Thanks again for your reply.

 

 

You purchased a quarterly subscription service from us, rather than single reports, for £14.95. Even a single report with credit score from Equifax would cost this, and a single report from Callcredit not far behind, at £14.85. Our subscription service also shows you, uniquely, the three different types of report that are sold by the agencies - the comparatively sparse public credit report, which is based on Experian data, the exact copy of what large lenders actually see, which is based on Equifax data, and the most depthy report of all, showing payment history of up to 10 years with monthly balance and account history, which is based on Callcredit data. Only by seeing the differences in the underlying data is it possible to understand the differences in how you are portrayed. We also provide you with the ability to compare the results in the same format, and using the same, commercial grade scorecard. You can`t purchase this anywhere else. You could purchase parts of the service direct from each of the agencies, but this would cost you considerably more. It`s difficult to follow your argument that you pay us more for less, when the reverse is true.

 

 

The level of detail offered in all our reports is visible throughout the website, the link below is to the pre-sales page of the product you purchased.

 

 

https://www.checkmyfile.com/view.asp?display

equals MON

 

This page highlights that the Experian information is based on your public credit file and there is also a comparison table here which shows clearly what is, and what isn`t included. We invite you to call if you are still unsure.

 

 

There is also a link on this page to the sample report, which also shows what we offer (

https://www.checkmyfile.com/report.asp

).

 

 

Once again, we are sorry that you are so unhappy, it is certainly not our intention. We try our utmost to ensure our service is transparent to you before you buy. We have provided the service as promised, and will continue to do so until the quarter you`ve paid for expires.

 

 

I welcome any further comments, so please don`t hesitate to get in touch.

 

 

Regards

 

 

checkmyfile.com

[asf1]

They are rubbish. Annual Credit Report are much better.

 

annualcreditreport and checkmyfile are run by the same company. I confirmed this by phone today...

 

annualcreditreport.co.uk

13 High Cross

TRURO

TR1 2AJ

 

AND...

 

checkmyfile

Credit Reporting Agency Limited

13 High Cross

TRURO

TR1 2AJ

[Champnos]

Sounds like they gave you a good deal, i used them before no probs. Now i use just experian, i email them problems and they sort them free of charged. To get a credit ccore costs 5.99 though, too much i think. Still for what checkmyfile do id say its excellent value for money.

 

Im using experian but requested my £2 statutory copy from equifax as they tend to hold slightly different information. Equifax are also expensive, no idea why.

[asf1]

Still for what checkmyfile do id say its excellent value for money.

 

What do they do? According to them my Experian file was clear, and the other two were also incorrect. They admit in the small print that the Exp report is public record info; in any terms useless when used to determine one's own credit status. My advice is spend the £2!

[Champnos]

I agree, i cant remember exactly what info they gave, i think they give brief views of credit reports along with a comparison some advice and a credit score? This is also a quarterly charge? thus is less than the others charge. They just give you what is needed, not sure why a experian report would show as clear when you have ccj's and defaults tho, never heard of that one!