For those living with their head in the clouds, Equifax is one of two main UK companies who hold details of your financial behaviour. Every time someone applies for credit, the financing company conducts credit scoring using their own cooked up formulae that remain confidential so people ... Read review
Advantages: You get to find out whats been said about you Disadvantages: You get to find out whats been said about you
...their head in the clouds, Equifax is one of two main UK companies who hold details of your financial behaviour. Every time someone applies for credit, the financing company conducts credit scoring using their own cooked up formulae that remain confidential so people can’t work out how to cheat the system. It also checks out the details held on you by Equifax or Experian to assess your repayment behaviour, how many financial commitments you have, ... ...Plc.
However, Equifax clearly move with the times. They now provide a service whereby you can order a copy of your credit file on-line at www.myequifax.co.uk for £8.25; be aware that you will need a credit or debit card to do this.
When you apply for your first credit report, you will be issued with a username and password for the site. On first registration, you will be asked a series of authenticating questions to ... more
For those living with their head in the clouds, Equifax is one of two main UK companies who hold details of your financial behaviour. Every time someone applies for credit, the financing company conducts credit scoring using their own cooked up formulae that remain confidential so people can’t work out how to cheat the system. It also checks out the details held on you by Equifax or Experian to assess your repayment behaviour, how many financial commitments you have, and what level of activity you have been conducting over a prespecified period. With GE Capital, this is 6 weeks.
SO WHAT SERVICES DO THEY PROVIDE? As well as providing information for financial lenders, they also offer certain services to members of the public. Until recently, people could obtain a statutory record of their credit file by sending a cheque for £2 to:
Equifax, Plc. Credit File Advice Centre PO Box 1140 Bradford BD1 5US
This facility still exists, and to get your file you will need to provide your full name, address and most recent former addresses (up to six years). You will also need to write out a cheque for the princely sum of £2 to Equifax, Plc.
However, Equifax clearly move with the times. They now provide a service whereby you can order a copy of your credit file on-line at www.myequifax.co.uk for £8.25; be aware that you will need a credit or debit card to do this.
When you apply for your first credit report, you will be issued with a username and password for the site. On first registration, you will be asked a series of authenticating questions to confirm your identity. I did find that some of the questions were a little ambiguous and my initial application was turned down because my identity could not be verified. This resulted in me phoning them, answering more questions, and eventually, 10 days after my original application and two phone-calls, a password was e-mailed to me to access my account. You should be aware that the validity of any report is only good for 28 days, and you will then find yourself having to fork out for a new one.
Experian have a slightly better idea. For £40 you can access your account for one year and are entitled to weekly credit report updates. However, their security procedures are considerably tighter than Equifax’s and therefore I am still waiting for confirmation of log-in details for my account, will keep you updated when I eventually get there.
This op concentrates mainly on the web side of Equifax in relation to consumers, as this is where my experience of the company lies.
ORDERING YOUR REPORT You can order a report as little or as often as you like, although each report is only valid for 28-day and then will disappear from your records. You can however, should you want to retain information to compare with later reports, or possibly even those from other companies, by saving it to disc for future use. Once you have provided your credit card details via their encrypted secure server, you will be given an order reference which will also be e-mailed to you within seconds. When you get to this screen, just press the continue button and your file is available for you to see.
THE REPORT FORMAT The report shows your current and previous addresses, plus any linked and keyed addresses. It is broken down into several sections as follows:
• Electoral Roll Data this shows whether you are on the electoral role at your current and last known address, it also shows the period of time of for each registration
• Credit Agreement Data This section shows a listing of all your credit agreements, past (up to 6 years) and present, open and settled. The information provided includes the lender’s name, your account number, the account start date, credit limit (if appropriate). It also shows the nature of the credit, such as credit card, loan, mobile phone etc, the cost of monthly repayments, the account status, i.e. whether it is up-to-date, in arrears etc, how many late payments you have made to the account, and the date of delinquency (if appropriate). I believe the last one refers to accounts more than 3 months in arrears.
• County Court Judgment Data This, as its name suggests shows details of any county court judgements against you
• Notice of Correction Data This is when you place a message on your file about something you don’t agree with – I have serious issues with this at the moment. When I saw my file, I was stunned to discover I was linked to an address I had never lived at, I queried it with Equifax and the put a notice of correction on my file. However, they then have to contact the lender who provided this information to obtain permission to remove it, and the company concerned are saying it is correct. This address link has also resulted in my credit file containing data on people I have never heard of. The only good thing I can say is that their credit is up-to-date and settled. Therefore it has no adverse impact on any decisions about me, but of course it would have been a different story had they not been good payers.
• Previous Searches Data This section contains details of any credit searches conducted in the last 6 months and the previous 6 months before that. The section then goes on to provide information of the searches conducted, the lender, the reason for the search and the date it was made
• Council of Mortgage Lenders Data Equifax holds the Council of Mortgage Lenders Possession Register, which contains information on people who have voluntarily surrendered their homes or had them repossessed. The information is only available to other Council of Mortgage Lender members. I am not sure how much peace of mind this would give me if I was affected, as who belongs to the Council of Mortgage Lenders other than other mortgage lenders? Anyone know?
• CIFAS Data Now this is seriously interesting, and shows any fraudulent financial applications made from your current address. Let’s just say, without giving too much away, I am glad this section was here. The report even tells you who the lender was, the date of the application, and the reason for fraudulent intent.
• GAIN Data This is where GAIN members (Gone Away Information Network) can log information on persons who have moved from a property leaving an account that is more than 30 days in arrears.
The report also contains details of accounts for any persons with which you have a financial association. This was quite entertaining as it enabled me to see what my other half had been getting up to (or not as the case may be).
However, I do believe the law about credit files is changing so that in the future, you will only be able to see copies of your own files. If you read all the above in detail, you might have an insight into why I finally succumbed and ordered a copy of my credit file.
WHAT IF YOU DON’T AGREE? Equifax include the following disclaimer on the bottom of their reports:
“Important Notice: Much of the information provided by this service is obtained by Equifax Plc from third parties and includes publicly available information. It is important that you carefully review the information presented as it could have a bearing on your ability to obtain credit or indicate the possibility of fraud. If you believe there is information on your report that is incorrect, you may wish to contact the financial company or public register directly to correct the information or you may wish to contact Equifax and begin the formal process to correct or dispute the information.”
Equifax make an undertaking to deal with any disputes within 28 days. However, as I have discovered to my cost, if the lender disagrees with your dispute then effectively you are back to square one. But, at least you are privy to the information, irrespective of whether you decide to act on it.
You can also put a “Notice of Disassociation” on your file, if you do not wish to be associated with someone named on it. This could be quite useful if you have a relationship break-up, or falling-out with a house or flatmate.
MY REPORT My report was frighteningly accurate in relation to accounts held and amounts outstanding, right up to, and including last payments received on virtually every account.
I have said in my creditexpert op that Experian are more accurate than Equifax, they are in that Equifax had me lined to addresses with which I have no connection, and other people's details, whom I don't know, were included on my report. I did not find this with creditexpert, as for accounts held and outstanding balances. both were frighteningly accurate.
THEIR WEBSITES Both of ‘Equifax’s’ websites - http://www.equifax.co.uk/ and www.myequifax.co.uk contain a wealth of information, including details such as: • Minimising the risk of identity theft • How to take control of your credit • How to improve your credit score There is also a comprehensive rundown on the main website for business services, including their claim that they hold financial information on around 45million consumers. That is scary, and so re-enforces my question at the top, DO YOU REALLY KNOW WHAT THEY ARE SAYING ABOUT YOU? I didn’t.
Well Equifax is a credit reference agency who holds all details about you on their data base.
The details they hold are what credits you have, any applications for credit you have made, your address, if you are on the electoral register or not, your previous addresses.
If you live with a family members, or in a property that is blacklisted this also affects your personal credit rating.
Why? Wouldn't you say this is not fair? Well it isn't and ... ...delved into your file.
Equifax is the bigger of the two credit reference agencies and is based in Glasgow, Scotland.
They have a website which has many answers to your questions. Go to www.equifax.co.uk.
If you apply for your file though, do check it is correct as sometimes errors do occur and this will affect your credit appilcations. I applied for my file but when I received it I did not really understand it. However I took it to the citzens ...
coolchanty 28.04.2002
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Equifax
Advantages: Its a front for an evil system Disadvantages: A corrupt ruling class judgeing and controlling our lives
...got my credit rating with Equifax because it was offered on a month free so I thought why not I haven\'t seen this yet. Hey all your details in one file with a rating on what type of person you are with regards to lending and finance, hey I know my capabilities because of my situation just prior to this boom in credit card lending and the constantly updated credit scoring system, I was very good at handling my money. The situation I am in at the ... ...dictated by a computer or someone\'s opinion sets the limits on what your aspirations can be(where do the two cross over). I was sucked in by the amount of credit available but have soon realised the disturbing truth - all your details in one place.
The idea of credit scoring is a bad one they should have reduced the amount of credit available to people in the first place (hindsight is a great thing) but I also believe this credit crisis is manufactured ...
floater 02.01.2008
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Equifax
Advantages: None Disadvantages: Everything. I will list in all in my review.
...can write to Equifax plc, PO Box 1140
Bradford
BD1 5US.
This then goes on your file for lenders to see until it has been resolved. I posted a note of correction saying that it was not me and that I wanted all loan applications taken off my record aswell as the default because the refusals were as a result of the default. After a long wait I got a letter from Equifax saying that the record was going to stay on my report as it had been confirmed. ... ...phoned the number on the Equifax letter and they said I would have to take it up with Avon quoting 'MY' account number. So I phoned Avon. By the way my at the time was L.White my first name being Lucy. Avon told me that there was indeed an account in Lea White's name. I said but my name is Lucy not Lea. How could this have been confirmed. " By your address." Not your first name. That doesn't get checked. Nor does your birthdate. I live in rented ...
L.Yeomans 19.08.2003 (21.07.2006)
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: helpful Review of Equifax
...country by the names of Equifax and Experian. My partner and I have had a few problems in the past with Credit history and I thought I have a nosy around their website. Well, in fact I found out quite alot. In the FAQs it answers alot of questions which I assumed to know the answer of. I was wrong. For instance...you know those companies that claim they can 'clear your bad credit history'...well they can;t. CCJs and defaults come off after 6 years ...
honey350 11.08.2000
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: helpful Review of Equifax
Advantages: None Disadvantages: Very poor user interface, very dificult to cancel free-trial
You do all you application for their Credit Watch Gold online (with a very user-unfriendly system) -- then you have to call a premium line to complete application.
You see your records and discover that they have no information on you --- which is probably why you keep failing Equifax-managed ID checks.
You decide this is rubbish and you chose to cancel you free-trial. You find out you need to log onto another system with a different login to do ... ...in mind you've just logged in so they should have them), you track an almost inpenetrable link to the cancel option (trust me, it's well hidden!) and you submit your "I want to cancel my subscription question". You sigh a sigh a relief... then the system tells you the only way to cancel is to call their premium line!
Bad user-interface, poor data collection, dreadful online-help, premium lines and very dificult to cancel trial... avoid like the ...
Heirold 01.03.2009
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: helpful Review of Equifax
Advantages: More accurate than Equifax, only £49.99 for unlimited reports, weekly alerts, substantial help files Disadvantages: Need to print or generate a new report each time you want to refer back to something
As some of you may have gathered from recent ops, at present, credit security in our house is paramount. We initially had an issue when one of my lenders advised me I had taken out a credit card that I hadn?t, (if you see what I mean). Worse than this, when I got hold of my Equifax account there happened to be activity on there from someone else that made me nervous, but nuff said.
I stumbled across www.creditexpert.co.uk through a website advert and decided to mosey on over and have a look. For those of you that have never heard of this website or company, they are managed by Experian, one of the two major UK credit reference agencies. Like Equifax, until recently, the only way to find out what was going on with your file was to send off your cheque for £2 with your name and address details for the last 6 years to:
CHS ...
Advantages: Easy to use, Detail, Cost Disadvantages: None so far
If you?re like me you really want to see what is on your credit files, and in order to get a true picture you require a copy of your report from Experian.
Experian is one of the three credit reference agencies used in the UK today, others include Call Credit and Equifax. In my personal opinion Experian is one of the larger and most popular used to date.
So why choose Experian
To be honest you need to obtain a copy of all records from Equifax, Call credit and Experian in order to see all activity. This is because not all companies report to all three in fact most will report to any of the three available agencies. It would be ideal if all companies reported to the same company as I believe that applying for credit is not as fair as they all make out. As some agencies may have adverse details when others won?t!
Experian also ...
marcellep2 21.06.2009
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Experian
Advantages: Knowing what is on your file Disadvantages: Not very quick to respond when errors are highlighted
There are two credit reference agencies, however Experian are not as quick as Equifax in resolving disputes.
After receiving my credit reference file from Experian I noticed several entries which were marked in Default although they had been paid in full. I wrote to the company detailing the errors enclosing the necessary documents to prove payments had been made. I am still waiting for a reply!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Experian need to pull there socks up and reply to customers with errors on their file. After all the credit reference file has a huge impact on every one of us.
I still recommend everyone obtains a copy of their credit reference file from both Experian and Equifax (as they can hold different imformation). Just don't expect a speedy reply from Experian. ...
kathymorris 16.02.2001
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: somewhat helpful Review of Experian
