Similarly I'm having issues with Experian, but I want to help, these credit reference agencies are a farce. Point 1, applied for an account with Santader a no credit account, this was credit checked and added to my file as "A credit application" which is was not and application for credit, I dispute the terminology used on a legal basis, contacted Santander, whom say "the account has (future potential) for credit" Surely then, would that not mean they'd run the same check if this happened in the future anyway! So why now? They disputed with me that they are the ones whom chose the wording and instead blame experian for the terminology, experian deny this, and as they are a private firm, I have no legal right to an FOI to find out, however Santander are currently in the process of sending me the information given to them by Experian.. so I wait with baited breath to see whom is using the incorrect term, and a hope of overturning the decision. Point 2. I had a business account with HSBC, they altered their terms on the account and I'd started to incur charges , which I disputed , the total was £524.00 I raised this concern with my bank manager, whom at the time said I'd have a fall back overdraft on my business account, yet that never appeared, I agreed to pay back £274.00 which is what I deemed as fair, considering they never informed me of the altered charges and the fact the overdraft never came into effect which would have stopped the charges in the first place. HSBC have sent the account to 1st Credit, whilst still in dispute, this shows on my credit file as "Current Account" with 1St credit, now, I have never set that up, and nor would I agree that this is a current account?! the terminology is wrong, and both of these items are disputed, Experian have added notes to indicate this, yet it still effects my score. Point 3. Experian have now changed the way they score you, last month I had 785 which is a respectable score I'm led to think anyway, but that is now 546 and NOTHING on my account has changed AT ALL, I feel they are manipulating people with these scores and using incorrect terms to describe scoring factors on each person account. Equifax should have to remove these from your account if you can prove they are not yours, re: HSBC account! In the case of Santander I'd go into the branch and ask them to physically send a letter and email to equifax stating the account is settled , I'm sure they would do this for you.

Send me a link to the new thread when you start it, I'll add any info I think might help in there, rather than here.

The ICO likely can't help as these companies are not "Public Bodies" this is how they avoid the human rights act and also the FOI act which would have been very useful, the latter at least.

That was my thinking and so I did just this, I found that some items do not appear on one file but do on the other, one of them was my Virgin media which I have held an account with for 8 years.. yet experian never saw this?!

Thanks for moving the thread, yes as above I cannot obtain this information, legally they have boxed themselves in, intentionally which I find odd, since we have greater ethics towards financial institutions these days, although I'm not easily put off and I intend to dig out every last bit of information I can. I'm aware they all use varying scoring factors, which leads me to think... How fair are our credit scores? I don't understand how they can use terms which are not strictly accurate either, and that is the basis of my challenge, thus far! Last month my credit score on experian was 785, logged in today to find it's basically junk at 546... bare in mind, nothing other than the fact my overall credit debt balance has reduced, so I've brought down this figure thus I have less debt but my score has had gone negative. I just think something seriously unfair is going on here.

Hi The credit agencies are private firms, I was surprised to learn that they do not fall under the Freedom of information act 1998 / 2000, what they are getting away with is inaccurate reporting of peoples financial history, the reporting can alter significantly and to boot, the terminology they use such as "Credit Application" is inaccurate , I had a dispute and still do so with experian, they altered the algorithm of how they conclude your point scoring system, this is purely internal and subject ONLY to their criteria, the result for us, or people like me is a huge deficit in my previous score to now, whilst nothing has changed on my credit file, so does this make the previous score factor "Inaccurate" and if so. .. what have I been paying them for?! I'm looking into this so obviously restricted to what info I can offer at the moment, and also not sure this is the correct place to have this thread.

Many thanks for the welcome, my main aim is to find out just how it is these credit agencies get away with what they do, I've plenty to read by the looks of it

Hi I'm Dan, just joined today after a morbidly disappointing realisation that credit agencies are a law unto themselves. So Hi all Hope I can be useful and hope people can help me to.