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Interesting view on credit checking

I just changed my pay monthly back to t-mobile after a year with orange. Had previously been a customer of one2one/t-mobile for many years.

Decided to sign up yesterday with their online service to check bills etc. Answered some simple questions about me (DOB and name) plus address (house number and postcode). Within a second, it came back saying that "according to Experian, I took out a mortgage in xxxx 200x, can I advise who the lender was?", plus another detailed question. It then gave me some banks to choose from. Because of presumably a change of ownershipship of the bank, I answered wrongly, and they said they would post my authorisation to the account address.

I was amazed at this, it's never happened to me before. The fact that they know who my mortgage is with, the amount and date is worrying. The fact that a computer checked this in less than two seconds is more so.

Anybody else come across this?

John

Reply to
John Bishop
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Basic information to confirm your identity, and also very easy to obtain, hence the further details required.

Who your mortgage is with and the date is pretty much public information.

Who you bank with, overdraft limits, balances etc. are all on your credit file and will be available to any company with a agreement to share credit account conduct information with Experian.

Its just a anti-fraud/identity theft measure.

Would you rather they carried out less checks as to your identity ? Just be glad they didn't ask you to post in proof of ID!

Peter

Reply to
peter.king

Without a hint of irony, snipped-for-privacy@ziplip.com astounded uk.finance on 25 Jan 2005 by announcing:

They've changed it then. They used to only reveal the account type, payment history and current balance.

Reply to
Alex

wrote

I hold accounts with two different mainstream banks (I even have a credit card with each). Neither of Experian nor Equifax hold details on these accounts / credit cards ...

Reply to
Tim

As someone who lives outside the UK, I've noticed that credit card companies don't report information to the credit reference agencies if you live overseas.

So if you want to hide details of some accounts, change your address to that of a friend abroad and that account will disappear off the radar.

Chris

Reply to
Chris Blunt

You are completly right, the more traditional (eg. 'big four') banks don't always report account conduct to the credit reference agencies.

I was only using bamk account as a example as the OP did, obviously if there was no current account listen on your credit file then you would be asked a question about one of your other credit commitments.

Peter

Reply to
peter.king

Remember long standing accounts might have been set up before the disclosure clause was included in the bank's terms and conditions of service on the application form.

Reply to
Derek *

I am sure they would have changed this in the many leaflets they send out with your statements, although they usually have so much small print on them, it's impossible to spot. I usually file them beofre I spot anything relevant.

Reply to
John Bishop

Without a hint of irony, Chris Blunt astounded uk.finance on 25 Jan 2005 by announcing:

But may well show up on CIFAS checks if you apply for another account at your true address.

Reply to
Alex

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