Bad credit, why?

They charge the bank as well!

Neil Pike Protech Computing Ltd (Please post ALL replies to the newsgroup only unless indicated otherwise)

It sounded as if Henning had a UK account.

I think you underestimate the extent to which UK banks discriminate against foreign nationals (incl. EU citizen who are on the electoral roll) even if they have lived here many years and earn decent salaries.

Gunnar

Nobody is saying that you have defaulted. It does not matter how much you object you will not make any progress in resolving matters if you refuse to pay the 2 and see what information is there. You seem to have difficulty in understanding that Experian area legitimate business and the fee of 2.00 is set by law. If they had there way they would charge much more. Most of the information they store is not about defaults atall. Companies offering credit set much store by the fact that a person has lived at an address for a year or two. Likewise evidence of regular repayment of existing borrowing is also a plus. Each individual company devises its own method of arriving at a an overal credit score based on all the criteria they feel are relevant

I think you need to take your own advice!

Scripsit "Blackthorn"

Not in that bank! but point taken.

For the record, what is then the generic term for "a card whose number can be keyed into the 'credit card number' box of online order forms and used to authorize payment"?

I have a card with them, but as far as I have been informed it only works in ATMs. It has a "Cirrus" symbol on the back and says "This is not a credit card, debit card, or cheque guarantee card".

"Neil Pike" wrote

They don't store credit *refusals*.

"Neil Pike" wrote

... except for CallCredit - the "newcomers on the block".

What makes you think it is lies? They may hold accurate infomration about you but the bank will still not deem you credit worthy.

In the UK credit agency's such as experian will *only* be given information with your permission. When you applied for your credit card the other day you would have had to consent to a credit check, the credit check itself gets added to your file and you would have signed for this.

Nobody is say that you do owe money. Alow credit score be for many reasons, including not having any credit.

You can have a low credit score without having defaulted !!!

The account is held in London, but you can apply for the account at any branch. You can pay in and withdraw from the account at any branch too.

Henning Makholm said

Then your Danish credit card is not the same as those issued in the UK. When you use UK credit card you are using credit, and you pay up at the end of the month (full or part).

UK debit cards are like cheques, and the money is taken directly from your bank account a few days after the transaction occurred.

Stop guessing what the file says and just pay the 2 quid - sheesh! It is the price of half a pint of beer.

Then, and only then, get cross with whoever it turns out you need to get cross with. At the moment you seem to be venting on the world in general as you are not sure in what direction it soul go.

Would you like us to have a whip round?

Think what you want, but unfortunately what you think isn't the rules.

But you need to have business with them, and that is going to cost you 2 quid.

If you don't want to see your file, then don't pay it. Simple.

Same as you don't get gas bills unless you use gas.

At at this point I lost the will to live...

You seem to be suffering with the miscomprehension that Experian, or Equifax, only hold data on consumers who have defaulted, and then share that info with financial institutions upon the instiution's request.

This is not correct.

Credit Reference Agencies will hold files on any individual (at a specific address) upon whom a search has been made by a financial institution, or upon whom they have received information from county councils as having signed on the voters electoral roll. If they hold no financial data regarding a consumer, they will report that to the financial institution asking the question.

The financial institution will then have to consider the risk that an individual holds given that they have NO data regarding previous financial performance upon which to consider a decision. The absence of data is not a black mark, it just fails to score.

It seems you have applied for either a debit or credit card - it is not clear from your ramblings which it actually is - but both would be considered credit scored products. In other words, the bank holds an inherent risk in issuing either to you. A Credit Card's inherent risk is obvious, a Debit Card may have bank risk but it depends on the bank, and the card type applied for. (For example, Alliance and Leicester offer two types of debit cards - a Visa Delta and a Visa Electron - the Delta card is also a cheque guarantee card and hence is credit scored, whilst the Electron is purely a debit card and hence is not.)

The fact you have been credit score declined means that you have applied either for a credit card or 'advanced' debit card (To other readers, accept the 'advanced' comment with sympathy!!).

Wrong. Application for service prior to payment, ie your British Telecom account, is by definition 'credit'. Ditto your gas, electricity, water and mobile telephone (assuming you have contract). Hence, if you pay a full spread of household bills you are by definition 'living on credit'. The fact that you pay your bills on time acts in your favour, but do not be fooled into thinking that because you do the CRAs will not know of you! In practice, however, it is generally only the phone companies who actually search for, and report to the CRAs upon, their clients.

I see. The cost of the data infrastructure support, staffing costs, software design, hardware purchase, premises, internal audit, etc etc don't count in your opinion?!

Grow up and get real - 2.00 is a tiny fee to pay relative to the actual cost of providing you with the report - as several posters have intimated it actually costs a lot more than that to produce, but to ensure that it's receipt is cost effective the government has stipulated that the fee be set at 2.00.

Stop complaining to the NG about the situation without having the facts - were you credit score declined - plain and simple, or declined due to adverse CRA information (The bank WILL tell you that - they have no reason not to! The bank is obliged under the Data Protection Act not to divulge the CRA reported info, but they will be able to divulge if that was the reason for decline!). Go away, get some facts, then repost.

I would suggest, as a matter of personal opinion, that if you conduct all your dealings with the innate aggressiveness of some of your postings that in the UK you will receive a 'frosty' response. I agree with the poster that suggested you 'chill', but would add that 'listen and shut up' might be better advice.

MC

ROTFLOL!

Stop guessing what the file says and just pay the 2 quid - sheesh! It is the price of half a pint of beer.

Remind me not to go to your local.

Correct.

Henning, Experian are offering free 30-day trials of their CreditExpert Monitoring & Alert Service. Included in this is a free online Credit Report (i.e. the thing you'd normally have to pay £2 for). The catch is that you need to give a card number so they can charge you if you don't cancel within the trial period, but maybe they'll accept your Danish Visa number. See for more info.

Best Regards, Alex.

But it is a real ripoff as the information is basically the same as you get for 2! Of course if you cancel then it is cheaper.

Agreed. Even in some parts of the country, the Holy Grail of "A Pound A Pint" is still possible :)

"Peter Crosland" wrote

It is also much cheaper (& much quicker!) if you obtain your credit report

Paying 2 per go would be at least 104 each year (and snail-mail receipt only), whereas CreditExpert is less than *half* of that!! :-))

What did you think I was suggesting? ;-)

Best Regards, Alex (who completed registration this morning, then cancelled about 30 minutes later).

Scripsit "Marcus Collie"

As I wrote in the paragraph you quote above, that is what a Danish "kreditoplysningsbureau" does. The term is as close to a literal translation of "credit reference agency" as I can imagine.

I know what I asked for: to have a (rectangular plastic) facility attached to my account that would allow me to make purchases with online vendors, using the positive balance already on said account. I do not know whether the bank clerk misinterpreted my request. They did not provide me with a copy of the forms I filled out; neither did I imagine at that time that I would need one later.

That sounds bad, like I were a bankruptcy waiting to happen. Perhaps I should contact the utilities and ask to pay in advance instead. Which I do have enough cash to do, but the pay-in-advance rates are usually higher ...

All those costs are there in order to provide a service to the banks. They should try to recoup their expenses from those to whom they provide a useful service.

It's not about the money. As you say, the amount itself is tiny. It's about the principle of paying *any* money to an organization that does not provide *me* with any goods or services that I need.

In my initial post I quoted the full explanation I was offered. It amounts to

We have this secret system for scoring, and it happened to come out a "no". If we have forgotten to type some information into the secret system, feel free to complain, but we're not going to tell you which information we actually *did* type in.

So, not matter whether they have a reason not to tell me what the reason was, they certainly act *as if* they have such a reason.

I apologize if some of my posts have sounded aggressive. But when I find myself in as Kafkan a situation as this, I would think I should be expected to get somewhat agitated.

Scripsit Les

It would seem so. So when I asked the bank for a credit card, what they think I said was that I wanted at Danish-style card PLUS an agreed overdraft.

I cannot help but considering it stange that the card and the overdraft is not considered two separate products over here. It would seem perfectly reasonable to have need for one but not the other, or vice versa.