Who searches which credit reference agency

If you are a guarantor for a debt, credit reference agencies do not normally record details of you as a guarantor on your credit report if the original borrower keeps their repayments up to date. However, if the original borrower defaults and you are pursued for the debt, the creditor would then begin to record this debt on your credit report. Any repayments you then subsequently pay or miss will be recorded on your credit report. You can ask any of the credit reference agencies to add a notice written by you to your credit report.

This notice gives you a chance to explain why you got into debt, missed payments or any reasons you think information on your credit report is misleading. The notice can be up to words long. This notice will be seen by any lenders searching your credit report when you apply for credit.

Most credit decisions are made automatically by computers, however If there is a notice of correction on your report, your application must be referred for a manual decision to an underwriter; therefore a person will read your notice of correction and decide whether or not you will be offered the credit. If you need assistance at writing a notice of correction you should contact us for advice.

You will be treated as having a financial connection with someone else where a lender reports to a credit reference agency that:. This financial connection will continue to remain on your credit report until you file a notice of disassociation to end the financial connection between you. To do so you must explain your reasons and depending on the credit referencing agency you may have to fill in a specific form.

If a credit referencing agency refuses to accept your notice of disassociation you can ask the Information Commission for help. The Information Commission contact details are in the Useful contacts at the back of this factsheet or you can contact us for advice. If you have been refused credit and you do not understand why, then you should ask the lender for their reasons.

If the lender indicates that a credit search or report was the reason for the decision you should ask which credit referencing agency was consulted. You can then contact this credit referencing agency and ask for a copy of your credit report under the Data Protection Act We notice the browser you are using is outdated and no longer supported on our site.

Return to credit blog. August Capital One Essentials. Here are 5 things you should know about the way they work:. It's up to the company to decide what its criteria are, and who to accept. Just like lenders and other companies, CRAs may calculate your score in different ways or using different information.

The higher it is, the better your chances of getting credit at the best rates. Without credit reference agencies, companies might have to painstakingly collect information about you each time you made a credit application.

This could take a long time, and may also create the risk of fraudulent applications, or miss vital information about your credit history. CRAs also help people understand their credit history and improve their credit score. This can help you get the credit you want. You should keep a copy of your letter and you may want to send it by recorded delivery to demonstrate that your request has been sent and received. Unless the CRA needs more information, they have one month from receiving your request to respond.

In certain circumstances they may need extra time to consider your request and can take up to an extra two months. If they are going to do this, the CRA should let you know within one month that it needs more time and why. Sometimes the CRAs need more details from you before they can send you the information held on your file.

For example, they may need proof of your name and address from a utility bill or bank statement. This is important to make sure that no one else gets your information by mistake or to check that no one else has fraudulently applied for your credit reference file.

The CRAs do not have to send you your file until they get this information. As there is no requirement under data protection law for lenders to report such data to all the CRAs , it is up to the lender to decide which CRA they wish to use, if any. While we appreciate it is frustrating you may have to obtain three copies of your credit reference file.

You could ask your lenders which CRAs they use to help narrow this down. You may find that they all use one, or even all of, the CRAs. While all three CRAs offer products which allow an individual instant access to their credit report via a monthly subscription service, there is no obligation on anyone to have to sign up to any of these products in order to get a copy of the information about their financial standing on their credit file.

They can use it without consent if they have a valid reason and as long as you have been told what is going to happen to your data. If you have taken out a loan or credit card you will probably find details of this in the original terms and conditions that you signed. As well as credit referencing, CRAs also operate other activities such as direct marketing and lead generating functions.

If your credit file is inaccurate, you can raise your concerns with the relevant CRA you obtained your file from. However, the problem may lie with the original lender or organisation that supplied the CRA with the information so you will need to contact them instead. If you have contacted the CRA and the original lender and there is an obvious inaccuracy which they are unwilling to correct then you may wish to make a complaint to the ICO.

Please note that it's not our role to decide on financial disputes. It is easy to see why people assume the CRAs are responsible for all the information that appears on their credit file. However, in reality, the lenders and telecoms and utility companies who passed the information to the CRA in the first place also have responsibilities for the information that appears on your credit file. The CRAs cannot amend this data without the permission of that company.

Having said this, we still expect the CRAs to take reasonable measures to ensure the information that is reported by lenders via their credit files is accurate. The information that is generated by the CRAs and for which they are responsible, includes financial links, linked addresses and alias information.

They can. Each of the CRAs provides lenders with the facilities to make their own changes to the information you see on your credit file. So if your bank needs to make an urgent update they can do this without requesting that the CRA makes the changes for them. If you have taken out a loan or credit card you will probably find this in the original terms and conditions that you signed. In most cases, the answer is likely to be yes, provided that the default recorded is an accurate reflection of events and that when you opened the account you were told probably in the terms and conditions of the credit agreement that this may happen.

Therefore, while it may be a requirement of the Consumer Credit Act to issue a default notice, there is no data protection obligation on a lender to issue a default notice to individuals before marking an account as being in default on their credit file. Further information on filing defaults with the CRAs can be found in the Principles for the reporting of arrears, arrangements and defaults at credit reference agencies.

The principles in this document have been drawn up by the credit industry in collaboration with the ICO. Once you have been discharged you will have to notify each of the lenders whose accounts were included in this bankruptcy as they will not automatically be told. You should send them the evidence of this and ask them to amend their entry on your credit file to reflect this.

The specifics of how it will look vary depending on the CRA but the entries should be marked in such a way that any lender searching your credit file can clearly see that this debt is no longer outstanding and you are not being pursued for it. If any of the lenders respond refusing to amend their entry or fail to amend their entry within one month of receiving your proof of discharge you may wish to make a complaint to the ICO.