Here's an excerpt from the Roger Anderson personal finance advice column in The Times:
27 September 1998, The Sunday Times, Money p.2
Fraud shock on credit file / Features
Questions of cash
Roger Anderson
DC writes: When I was turned down for credit, I wrote to Experian, the credit-reference agency, for a copy of my credit-reference file. No wonder I was refused a loan: it has me listed under a special fraud-avoidance scheme that implies I am giving false information about myself.
Anderson replies:
Your file with Experian - a company that collates information about individuals for prospective lenders - details the credit arrangements you have with various institutions, all of which indicate that you pay all debts on time.
But there is an attachment to your file by the Credit Industry Fraud Avoidance Scheme (Cifas) that implies that somebody living at your address is up to no good. It states: "Correct name and address but with material falsehoods in personal details." You are furious. The person named lives next door to you. You happen to live at 80A, while he lives in the basement flat of 80; you have no association with the man whatsoever.
The credit industry reckons it loses Pounds 2.7 billion a year through fraud. Unsurprising, therefore, that there are systems to combat it. But this does not seem to be a fair, or acceptable, way of going about things - and it may even be libellous.
Experian insists that prospective lenders should not allow the Cifas information to influence lending decisions, saying the information is merely there to put lenders on their guard. But I should think many prospective borrowers in similar situations are turned away.
One thing is certain: had you not shared the same house number as your neighbour - if, say, your house number was 79 or 81 - there would have been no Cifas attachment on your file. You have wisely insisted that a notice of correction be included on your file, dissociating yourself from your neighbour. And I have been assured by Experian that, within a few weeks, the Cifas reference will be removed.
* Roger Anderson will answer questions in this column on any aspect of personal finance. Write to Questions of Cash, etc
Return to summary of Cifas's complaints
| Home Page | Receive free news and updates |
| Tell a friend about this site | |
| Last modified: | |
| © The Home Repossession Page 1997-2000 | |