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Credit Reference Agencies in the UK

There are three main agencies in the UK:

Experian Ltd Consumer Help Service, PO Box 8000, Nottingham NG1 5GX

Equifax plc Credit File Advice Service, PO Box 1140, Bradford BD1 5US

Callcredit plcConsumer Services Team, PO Box 491, Leeds LS1 5XX.

The agencies are all highly computerised and hold not only bad debt records but also rating, electoral and housing information on the majority of the population. In the past, information has been issued to clients on the basis of address as well as name, so moving to a house previously occupied by a bad debtor has often been the reason why respectable consumers are refused credit. The Data Protection commisionerCommissioner has prevented such third party information being used, so now only data relating to family connections should be given to clients.

A consumer can, at any time, seek information on him or her held by a credit reference agency. Such a request must be in writing, and must be accompanied by a fee of £2. The agency then has 7 working days in which to reply with a copy of the file, (or a statement that none exists) (s.158 of the Consumer Credit Act 1974).

If a file is incorrect, the consumer should write back to the agency, which then has 28 days to alter the file, or to reply saying that it will not. The consumer can then send the agency a correction notice to be attached to his file. The agency has a further 28 days to add the notice to the file. If any alteration is made to a file, the agency must send it to anyone who has consulted the agency about the consumer during the previous six months (s.159 of the Act). In addition, within 28 days of negotiating with a trader about a regulated agreement, whether or not an agreement was made, a consumer can ask the trader for the name and address of any credit reference agency which the latter consulted. Such a request must be in writing, but no fee is payable. The trader must reply within 7 working days, stating the name of any agency used (s.157), but does not have to state why credit was refused. Any failure of a trader or agency to comply with the rules constitutes an offence, about which you should contact your local Trading Standards office.

In the event of any dispute, the Office of Fair Trading deals with problems faced by partnerships and other unincorporated businesses but, for consumers or sole traders, Data Protection commmisioner took over responsibility from the Office of Fair Trading on 1 March 2000.

There is also the Credit Industry Fraud Avoidance System (CIFAS), which is not itself an agency but allows lenders to register their suspicions on all agency files about consumers who may have some involvement with fraud. They also allow consumers faced with identity fraud to self-register. See www.cifas.org.uk for more details. (If you are concerned about the operations of CIFAS, it may be worth looking atwww.home-repo.org/blacklis/cifas.htm

Finally, creditors are banned from using other individuals' creditworthiness in assessing whether to grant credit. It was common within the industry to use data from other family members, but that has been banned with effect from 1 November 2004.