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Credit Reference Agencies
What is a credit reference agency?
Credit reference agencies are organisations that collect and store financial and publicly available information about almost every adult in the UK.
Who are the credit reference agencies
| Callcredit Ltd | Experian | Equifax |
|---|---|---|
| Consumer Services PO Box 491 Leeds LS3 1WZ |
Talbot House Talbot Street Nottingham NG8 1TH |
Credit File Advice Centre PO Box 1140 Bradford BD1 5US |
These are the three credit reference agencies in the UK, each will let you request your credit file online or by post, usually for a fee.
Where do credit reference agencies get the information?
The agencies get their information from lending institutions and organisations around the country, it is up to the organisations themselves as to which agency they supply their information to - see the problem section below!
What do credit reference agencies do with the information?
The information each agency collects is collated and then supplied back to
lenders and other organisations to help them in establishing an individual's identity, credit history, current credit commitments, the information also allows lenders to confirm the address provided by an applicant to help prevent fraud.
Do credit reference agencies black list people?
In a word - no, the blacklist theory has been around for years, their is no such thing as a credit black list, a lender will either accept you as a client based on your credit file, credit score and other criteria or they will not, the agencies have no say in who will or will not get credit - they simply store the information in one place which can help lenders assess an application and help reduce fraud.
What is a credit score?
The information on your credit report together with the information you provide on a credit application form can be used to build a credit score. This is a rating that can be used to identify the risk associated in offering you credit - they are not affected by gender, race etc - and there is no single format for working out a credit score - different lenders take different factors into account when building their score.
It may be interesting to note that some lenders credit score and some lenders don't, so if you know you have a low credit score you may want to approach a mortgage lender who does not credit score.
- contact us today
The problem with having 3 different credit reference agencies
It may also interest you to know that no one credit agency holds a complete list of information - problems can (and do) arise when applying for finance such as a mortgage or remortgage - especially when bad credit is involved.
For example:
You request your credit report from agency 'A', and submit an application based on that report - the lender uses credit reference agency 'C' , their report has a CCJ listed which was not on agency 'A's report - you can imagine the results! - This happens more often than you would think, even with mortgage packagers who are supposed to eliminate this sort of thing.
Do we apply for a credit report from each agency? - this would cure the problem but its costly and if you have never seen a credit report before they can be awkward to read (and you would have 3 of them)
We have processes in place to eliminate things like this happening, firstly we have teamed up with CreditExpert from Experian who are offering a free 30 days access to your credit report online.
The other processes for avoiding the problem associated with 3 separate credit reference agencies are dependent on your circumstances but we very rarely have any unknown credit popping-up after an application has been submitted.
For further information about credit reference agencies, you can contact either the Citizens Advice Bureau or any one of the credit reference sites, they all have FAQ's and consumer information which you will find useful.
And Finally
All credit reference agencies must be licensed by the Office of Fair Trading under the Consumer Credit Act 1974 - they must also register with the Office of the Information Commissioner.
Our specialist advisors already deal with every lender who could help
