Hi,
A couple of years ago I applied for my credit records from Experian, Equifax and CallCredit. I was suprised to see that my family's information such as bank details and credit cards was also contained in the statement.
However, I was under the impression that this has changed. Is that the case?
IOW, will the reference agencies list all accounts/cards/loans based upon a surname or is it now just based upon the details of the one individual applying?
TIA.
Credit reference files should only contain information pertaining to you, UNLESS there is a financial link/association between you and another person (i.e., joint bank account, joint credit card, joint mortgage, joint loan, etc), in which case, your credit file will contain both individuals credit histories in FULL detail (i.e. you will see everything about the other person, even if you only share one credit account*). If you have had a financial association in the past, but that is no longer applicable, you can request that the association on your credit file be removed. It would be unlikely they would do that if there is still a financial association.
"Layezee" wrote
The part in brackets above is not true. According to Experian, ever since November last year *YOU* will *not* see the other (associated) persons details if you made a request to see your file, but if a company did a credit search on you then *they* would. When *you* make a request to see your own credit file, there is a section which lists any searches made of your file due to an application by the associated person. But the associated person's accounts are not shown.
Hence my post some months ago querying whether it is (/should be) legal for the company to gain acces to *your* details just with the permission of the other associated person - without asking permission from you as well.
Link?
I was listening to Money Box Live on BBC Radio 4 a few weeks ago and a listener came on and said he'd recently received his credit file and it contained full credit account information for his wife . They only have one joint credit account. The lady from Experian explained that they were still working on how to limit information in individual credit reports to that single credit account.
It seems that they may be saying one thing, but in reality, they are doing something completely different.
"Layezee" wrote
Snippet from today's Experian website :-
-----------------------------------------
Why does my report contain information about other people?
Your credit report only includes financial information about you. If your report contains information from CIFAS - the UK's Fraud Prevention Service, it is possible that other names are shown here. For more information about CIFAS, Click here to visit the CIFAS web site at
Lenders may see the names of other people who are registered to vote at your addresses and financial information about other people who share a financial connection with you. They may use this to help them decide whether to give you credit. If you are financially linked to someone else, the name of this person will appear on your credit report under the Association section. If you believe that somebody else's credit report has caused a lender to refuse you credit, you may wish to ask that other person to get a copy of their own credit report. However, they do not have to do so nor do they have to show you their credit report.
Note1a - see the first sentence of the answer - "Your credit report only includes financial information about you."
Note1b - see the last sentence - that any associated persons "do not have to [get a copy of their own credit report] nor do they have to show you their credit report." If their details were already shown on *your* copy of your report, then there would be no point in you asking to see theirs!
Note 2 - start of last paragraph: "Lenders may see ... financial information about other people who share a financial connection with you."
But if there is a financial association, then it will include somebody else.
Depends on where the credit file is obtained from - Experian and Equifax (and now CallCredit - whoever they are!), don't always have the same information. There could be different information pertaining to the same person(s) on competitor credit reference files.
And they *may not* - see comment above.
Bottom line - it appears that the problem of credit account information appearing on somebody elses credit file where there is a joint credit account, is not resolved (BBC R4 Money Box Live).
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