Hi,
We've just moved house, and my housemate has been trying to open an account with BT for the phone. Due to various fuckups by BT (including but not limited to entirely imaginary telephone lines ...), each leading to a repeat of the setup process, she's been credit-checked four times now. She doesn't have much of a credit history (she's never paid bills before), so these checks have rather tarnished it. Indeed, BT were happy to open an account at first, but they now want a deposit - yes, because of the effect of the checks they themselves have made on my housemate's credit rating. So, some questions.
Firstly, this is completely retarded, right?
Secondly, out of interest, what's the thinking behind making credit checks a negative factor on your credit rating? I've heard of people getting burnt by this - shop around for mortgages online, for example, and you'll find yourself in trouble. This seems completely batshit.
Thirdly, since this is entirely BT's fault, they ought to do something about it; any idea how to persuade them to write to Experian (and probably Equifax too) to explain what's happened and get the record corrected, and how likely this is to work?
Cheers, tom