I recently tried to buy some Premium Bonds online but my application has been refused as a "credit reference agency are unable to verify your identity and address".
As I am in my seventies and have lived in my house for over twenty years this suprised me.Upon further investigation I find NS use a firm called Experian of US origin. I can prove who I am by sending them various documents, but would like to know if anyone else has has any experience with this firm.
Thank you.
One of the main and very well known credit ref agencies.
go to
"darby" wrote
Experian is one of the two big CRA's used in the UK - the other being Equifax (there is a third, smaller one - called CallCredit).
Are you on the electoral roll at your address? This is also held at Experian/Equifax, so should have helped to identify you...
Does anyone else get highly irritated by this having to pay 2 to Experian (and Equifax) because some other company claims you don't exist or that you have a bad record.
IMHO the company that refuses you should provide the information free - otherwise you end up paying this sum on a regular basis just to satisfy some third party.
And if Equifax or Experian contain wrong information they should correct it and refund your expenses.
Mark BR
if thats any consolation I'm sure it costs them more than 2 to retrieve it, and correct it if needed, the fee is set by the govt otherwise I bet it would be a lot more.
A small fee also will prevent abuse, otherwise they could be flooded with malicious/bogus enquiries.
Its your choice to apply for credit.
good point
Whoops I feel a DOS mode coming on. (Difficult Old Sod)
I wasn`t applying for credit I was trying to buy some Premium Bonds.
I know who I am, my wife and kids know who I am, my bank knows who I am, even the neighbours speak to me now and then.Why should I pay a commercial organisation I`d never heard of until yesterday anything to verify my identity?
The fee is now UKP 2.50 by the way.
"darby" wrote
NS&I were probably just trying to verify your identity for money laundering regulations - hence searching your credit file - rather than checking your credit worthiness.
"darby" wrote
Where did you see this? Their website still says "2"...
You were trying to enter a financial transaction which requires your identity to be verified under the money laundering regulations. So, it was your choice.
You don't have to, its your choice, you can probably visit the post office with ID to buy the bonds, its your choice to do it online and should expect your identity to be verified.
Peter
£2.00 according to
Of course it`s my choice, my point is that this organisation obviously holds some incorrect information about me and having pointed out to them that I am a jolly good chap on the Electoral register they should correct their information.
If as a previous contributer has pointed out they are a large organisation, I am wondering about future implications of the incorrect information they hold.
The silly thing about all this is that around mid January I bought some Premium Bonds for my wife online without any problems.
Darby
The UKP 2.50 was mentioned by an Experian chap on the telephone.
I think I`ll grit my teeth and get the details with the link you mention
Darby.
application
sending
If you live in the US you are entitled to get a free copy of your credit file once a year to prevent identity theft. It also helps with catching any mistakes early. This has not caused a flood of malicious/bogus applications. I would welcome a similar law in the UK.
The OP was not applying for credit. While most people should be able to live without credit cards, overdraft and personal loans, it is very difficult to save up enough money to buy a house for cash while you are renting. If you don't want to borrow money, you either have to wait for an inheritance or rent forever.
Once they managed to get my address wrong, it looked like a data entry error, all the digits of my house number were off by one. It took a long time to convince the credit reference agency that I never lived at that non-existent address.
I had a similar problem a few years ago when trying to pay for goods in a shop with a debit card. It turned out that the credit agency the shop used had somehow picked up the postal code of a road near me with a similar name that, in fact, had no postal addresses on it. I discovered later that other people living in the same road had had the same problem but didn't know how to go about finding out why and resolving it.
organisation,
"Stephen Hands" wrote
Even the "edited" Electoral Roll is shown on CRA's files.
"Stephen Hands" wrote
... unless they can be shown to be incorrect.
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