Robotix - just for info you cannot have a blacklisted house. A lender can only see information in your name, or those you have a financial association with (i.e those with whom you have applied for credit jointly in the past). Someone could have gone bankrupt whilst living at that house before you, and it wouldn't affect your chances of getting credit.

The data belongs to your lender, and if they tell Experian it is correct, there is nothing more that Experian can do for you. You then need to go to your lender to dispute it. Please state which provisions of the Data Protection Act that you think Experian have breached. Please Google 'data protection technical guidance' and read the first result that comes back from the ICO. This should help you clarify whether your lender has erred.

I have worked in banking and moved on to work for a Credit Reference Agency. If you want to see unethical practices, look at the retail banking industry and see nonsense like 'pre-approved' credit cards, or PPI. CRAs are completely neutral, they simply hold information passed to them by lenders. Lenders have a responsibility to ensure data is given correctly to the CRA. Considering anyone who has ever opened just one credit agreement will have a credit report, it is impossible (and not expected by law) for a Credit Reference Agency to ensure all records are correct. If you think the information on your report is incorrect, ask the CRA to query it, but the data is owned by the lender. If the lender says it stays, it stays, and your complaint then is with the lender, NOT the CRA. I'm fascinated by what you mean by us being 'abusive' as well.

What a load of chip-on-your-shoulder rubbish. What happens when you need to get a loan for a new car then? How is a lender going to assess your risk level without looking at how you've handled agreements before?

Great! He should have looked behind each address, and variation of each address, to find records on the database. As Brigadier pointed out, a search at Registry Trust would be a good idea. But check your updated report tomorrow. As for your question about why Experian ask for the addresses - I honestly couldn't give you an accurate answer, but I think it may be related to data protection - only showing information from addresses you've confirmed correct. The most common reason that a inked addresses can be created is either if you apply for credit at an address, if you move an account to an address, or if you are financially associated with an individual that lives or has lived at that address. Other less common reasons are that someone has applied for credit in your name at an address (i.e fraud), you have a mobile phone or something from a mail order catalogue delivered to an address, or if you have bank/credit card statements delivered to an address. Also lenders commonly make typos, e.g linking you to '100 Wilson Road' when you only lived at number 10.

Hi Brigadier Well if you apply to get your credit report, you will provide the Credit Reference Agency with the most recent addresses you've lived at. They will then produce the information on the report from this. Lenders may have linked you to other addresses, which the reference agency will not know are correct or not. Therefore you will need to provide the reference agency with all addresses you've lived at in the last six years. E.g on Experian's statutory credit report application; ''You must tell us about any UK addresses you have lived at in the last six years, otherwise your report may be incomplete". The CRA would not deliberately withold information to the consumer that it shares with lenders. After all, it's not in their interests to do that, because if any of this withheld information was inaccurate, the consumer wouldn't be able to see it and challenge it with the company that put it on there. That would a.) potentially cause a problem for the consumer to get credit, b.) prevent lenders from making accurate assessments of 'creditworthyness'. Both of these would make the CRA look less competent that it's competitors. Hope this answers the question!

I'm a new user and speechmarks are a bit too advanced for me.. I'll have to stick with italics! Is this true for the other 2 agencies too? I couldn't give a definate answer. I have a feeling it is with Equifax. There's hundred of entries, 2-3 addresses I could add in many different forms... I'm confused and I would really prefer to have a look at all the data, without the risk of missing things because of an address spelling mismatch. Yeah, each lender creates a link when you move address, so if you've been in a few properties and have a good handful of credit agreements along the way, there will be plenty of links. Have you lived in rural areas or in a block of flats? It may be easier for you to ring CreditExpert and get the advisor to look behind the linked addresses for information. They will look behind each linked address and if they find anything, they will add the correct version of the address to your profile to bring back the information. Once this is done, you wil be seeing a full report. A DSAR will show you a full report of course, but I don't see any reason why a full report can't be produced for you online, particularly when you've paid that £14.99 reactivation fee. For now, I'd hold on to the £10 that will be needed for the DSAR. A 'stat' report is your statutory credit report (sorry, I was abbreviating it!) which you will pay £2 for, and will give you all the records as well.

Exactly how does a credit reference agency keep track of where you are? (besides electoral roll) What I mean is if I have 5 or 6 credit accounts and I notify just one or two (say one bank and my t-mobile) of my NEW address, will the other credit accounts become aware of this? As Hazzinho mentioned, when you tell the one bank and T-Mobile about your new address, they will amend their records and will update CRAs with a link to that new address, as well as changing your account address on the report. If you then apply for credit, the lender will be able to find your bank account and T-Mobile account history by searching for data in your name at that newly created address link. They would be able to find this anyway when you give your new address on the credit application. The other companies will need you to tell them. Even if you didn't tell them, lenders would still be able to see these records because your previous address would have been linked to you when you opened/moved those accounts to that address. Make sure you tell all your lenders that you are moving, as having an active account at a previous address is not a good idea. The lender may send post to that address for you, creating a risk of someone using that information to commit fraud, or the lender may think the active account was actually opened by someone after you moved out, or that you are trying to hide records from them. I hope this makes sense. James CRA employee

Hi MR. It's good that you've noticed this because with CreditExpert the address information you provide generates the report. Trouble is, having moved quite a lot in the past, being student first, then separating with wife, I am not quite sure whether some other account might have been registered at additional addresses I don't remember. So to jog your memory of where you were living, look at the linked addresses at the bottom of the report. Add all the addresses showing there in on the My Details page (provided you lived there). Lenders look for information on you by the addresses you give on the application for credit, and by scanning through the linked addresses. Did you ever apply for credit with your ex-wife? Have you checked the associates part of the report to check her name isn't there? If she doesn't show up, check the report for this again when all your address history is on your profile. If she does show up, call CreditExpert for advice on how to disassociate from her. I know it isn't straightforward, but make a list of all those addresses on the linked address section of the report, type them in on My Details, and you will definately be seeing a correct report without having to do a DSAR or get a Stat report.

Hi there, I am new to this thread, so please bear with me I recently received my Credit file from Experian and noticed that there were 2 default notices on it, one from Hillesden Securities, this was for a credit card debt in 2006, basically I was going through a divorce at the time and my now ex-wife refused to contribute to this bill, even though she'd done most of the purchasing but it was in my name and I refused to pay it, but eventually paid it in full. Firstly how can I get them to remove their default notice? Hi Gourley. This will be hard to do. By the sounds of it the default is recorded correctly, because a credit agreement was broken. You can ask Experian to query the default, but I imagine Hillesden (who own the information, and have the final say) will tell Experian to keep it on record. If that happens, you should think about adding a Notice of Correction. This will be a short paragraph that you write yourself, explaining to future lenders about the divorce and your ex-wife's conduct. Lenders can then take that into account. You mentioned that the default date was 01.04.06. The goods news is that on 1 April 2012 the default will just disappear from Experian's record. This happens automatically. The other Default notice is from Santander, they must be renewing this default notice on a monthly basis. This is from an alleged overdraft debt of £650 approx from October 2004 to March 2005 with Alliance and Leicester. I have never received any communication from Alliance and Leicester whatsoever at any time, but have disputed this alleged debt with a company named Capquest for a few years, in which I have asked them to supply me with proof, etc, never forthcoming. Santander originally put this Default notice on my Credit file in early 2008, even though it is alleged to be from late 2004, early 2005. At no time from 2005 have I received any communication from either Alliance and Leicester nor Santander, can this be right what they have done? should they have sent me warnings etc. regards all this? what is your opinions, what should I do to? can I get Santander to withdraw this Default Notice, etc. Once an account is in default it will stay on file for six years from the date of default (not the date the account was opened, or the default balance satisfied). The dates of the overdraft you mention complicate the issue, it may be that Santander were recording arrears for a while, with them defaulting you finally in 2008. But this is far from clear, as you point out. Had you moved address at all? A company should serve you with a Default Notice, which advises you of the arrears. If you really wanted to get to the bottom of it, do a Data Subject Access request on Santander. They will send you all account billing notes, customer contact notes, and so on. That will certainly shed more light on it.

Can anyone advise if there is a time limit for financial associations and linked addresses to remain on file and also is there any detriment to credit rating for these to be on file? A financial association will stay on record indefinately, until you advise CRAs it is no longer relevant (i.e you no longer have any joint accounts with that individual). Lenders will not tell CRAs to delete this link. If you don't have any joint bank accounts, loans or mortgages with the individual, it is worth doing a disassociation. Because even if you apply for credit in your sole name, a lender can do an associate search and consider the information on your associate's report as if it can directly affect you. This is one of the most straightforward things you can do to improve your chances of getting credit. A linked address will stay on your report for 8 years. Don't worry about old addresses on there, only addresses you don't recognise. When you apply for credit lenders build up the picture they see about you by scanning through your linked addresses for data. If you see an address you don't recognise, it's worth querying it with a CRA. Also I have done a notice of correction on file, does Experian contact the company before the notice of correction is added to the file. One final thing there is 3 searches by the same company on the same day, does this bare any ramifications to my credit rating? They do not contact the company before adding a Notice of Correction. If you write your own NOC to explain information (i.e a paragraph for a lender to read), it will be added to that information for as long as it is on your report. As for the searches, Brigadier2JCS has hit the nail on the head. CRA Employee.