6 year 'right' of CRA's to hold your data...

[emandcole]

Hi,

Having read a number of very interesting threads about how to get defaults removed etc

 

http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/legalities/11659-how-get-your-default.html

 

http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/legalities/20118-default-hell.html

 

(Thanks to all involved )

 

I gave Equifax a call yesterday. I had ordered a copy of my credit file online and had problems with a few questions it had asked to verify who I was so had to call to get my identity approved. Got through that and then asked a question.

 

Q: Could you tell me where the 6 year figure comes from that you use to hold my data?

 

The female advisor could not answer but keen to help out she put me on hold whilst I was transferred. I actually wish I'd recorded it now but the next moment another lady I found out was called Rachel started to speak.

 

I again asked where the 6 year figure comes from and how that was derived at. She seemed a little confused and I again asked the question, this time elaborating and asking why is it not 3 months for example or 10 years?

 

Clearly a little unsure she referred me to the Data Protection Act, she didn't know the year .

 

I went along with it and asked her which part of this act I could find it in.

 

Quietness.

 

Erm, it'll be in there somewhere, I'm not trained about all of that and can't tell you exactly but it will be in there.

 

She goes on to state that if I ask the Information Commissioner about the 6 years he/she/they will indeed confirm their right to store my data for 6 years.

 

Picking up on her reliance on the word 'right' I then asked her if this right was in statute, not giving her time to respond I asked her if she could tell me where this lawful right could be found. I know, I know, I'm playing hard ball :grin:.

 

More quiet.

 

I help her out (Well I'm good like that) and state/ask that is it just because it's an industry standard?

 

Oh yes she says, grasping the debris nearest to her, it's a 'government approved' standard.

 

Oh really? I ask. I didn't think that the credit reference agencies were in any way government linked, you are all private companies are you not?

 

Yes we're private she confirms.

 

Knowing I'd got what I asked for I politely ended the call and thanked her for her help, which I made sure she knew had been very helpful.

 

Seems this 6 year rule has no basis in statute and Equifax state if you want to know all about it just ask the Info Commisioner because;

 

'he knows all about it '.

[Jamesx81x]

Agreed industry practices

 

How long certain kinds of personal data should be kept may also be governed by specific business-sector requirements and agreed practices. For example, we have agreed that credit reference agencies are permitted to keep consumer credit data for six years.

 

The above is taken from the ICO website regarding the Data Protection Act. Although it my not be officially statute it is as good as. The ICO have agreed with business sectors that 6 years shall be the time frame information should be held and as the ICO is the body who controls Data Protection on behalf of the government thats just the way it is.

 

The arguments you refer to in the links are for not ben able to provide agreements and substantiate defaults which is a different ball game completely.

 

As frustrating as this is there is simply no point going up against Experian and the likes as all that will come out of it is a possible argument over the phone, get wound up and the entries on file will be exactly the same as before you contacted them. When they refer to their 'right'. It is a right that the ICO has given them so officially as it stands they do hold the right to retain the data for 6 years.

 

Until the government officially change the length of time data is retained then it will carry on been 6 years.

[Newborn]

Don't get confused between the number of years your data can be retained as opposed to how many years of data is displayed on your record. the two are not the same.

 

People can keep your data whist they have a legitimate reason to process it. That decision is their's unless for example a court or the Information Commissioner decide otherwise.

 

Most companies will keep data for the six years after the contract was ended but in the case of debt if the lender or DCA says 'we want you to retain it as we haven't finished with it' then the CRA will keep it. But they won't display it on your record after the 6 year time limit.

 

Also remember that debt secured on land can be chased for 12 years, not the 6 as for unsecured debt.

 

I would take a bet that if the government decreed in Monday that all credit records must show a 12 year history the data would magically appear from the archives at the flick of a software button. Conversely, if they decreed a 3 year history the years 3-6 would disappear from your record BUT the data would still be held 'just in case'.

[Jamesx81x]

The main point i was getting at is there is no point arguing with the CRA's over the length they display your data on file.

 

People can argue until they are blue in the face but they will not get anywhere. Defaults, CCJ's and the rest are there for 6 years unless added in error which the ICO have themselves approved.

 

As frustrating as it maybe if they are genuine legitimate entries then they are there to stay for 6 years at least and no judge in the land would argue with it.

[fergal71]

there was a person on here uk26 was his id , he had a case going to court and shortly after there was no sight nor sound from them.... I am not sure too many cases get to court but if and when they do the CRA's must do something to these people as they simply disappear....

[emandcole]

Wouldn't put it past them

[fergal71]

I would like to think despite all their forceful theories when they do get to the court steps they pay up and add a massive keep quiet clause.....

 

what do you think I am going to test my own theory in the near future...

surlybonds was another that has gone missing????

[Jamesx81x]

Only real way you can challenge information on file is if it has been added in error or inaccurate. If that is the case then that is a breach of the data protection act.

 

If it has been added to the file legitimately then what do people think they are going to acheive. You cant get information such as defaults removed just because you dont want them there or everyones file would be squeaky clean mine included.

[fergal71]

so do you give cra's the right to sell your data , even selling it back to you???

 

peoples concern is that even when it is inaccurate or in dispute etc the cra's only listen to the creditors..... trust me there is a massive storm brewing against cra's and I urge everybody to challenge them whenever possible and ask your local MP's how private companies are allowed to hold, share and sell a persons data legally????? the legitamacy of their business alone should be brought into question ...squeaky clean files is not what everyone wants but the emergence of technological storage of data with old outdated rules is unaccepatble their practices change without the regulations changing... there is no mutual way of recourse which is unacceptable ????

[emandcole]

Correct, I've recently had a look at my own file and found a default has been added by Cabot for an account they never actually handled for a debt that wasn't accurately passed over because the original creditor (HFC) could not provide anything at all to show how the debt was arranged, no paperwork of any kind.

 

I now have to go through the motions and hassle of sending a remove notice to Cabot giving them 14 days to either supply evidence of what it is they have defaulted me for or agree to remove the entry completely. Complete waste of my time and if they refuse I have to go the way of an N1 and get legal on them as can't be bothered filling out endless forms with so called regulatory bodies whilst the default sits there damaging me.

 

It's just way too easy to ruin someones file and too hard on occasion to get it all sorted out. Ultimately thats my info and quite often the contract they use to report you has expired. Since when did I agree to let them report on me years after our relationship has formally ended? Quite often the wording in a contract is too vague and this I feel needs to be improved.

[247orbital]

I think this is consumers main problem with DCA's they have no right to collect a debt 99% of the time and yet they have the ability to default you regardless if there is already a default from the OC? I would go down the N1 route and take it all the way to court refusing any form of compensation that has a gag clause in it.

 

I also think it about time a judge or the OFT or ICO handed out some big fines to some of these DCA's and at the same time awarding considerable damages to a defendant.

 

Its down to the OC to have the responsibility to ensure that if a debt is sold it has all the correct paper work and in my opinon a debt should only be sold once to DCA.

 

As for CRA's why are there three it only needs one! This should be goverment run and regulated and our information should be free to view. If banks, credit cards, loans, utility companies, mobile phone etc etc want to share our data we should have the option of opting out. Let the consumer decide who see's what and if they are not happy with this don't offers us the loans etc. What I fail to understand is why companies which do not extend credit are on credit files? Why are mobile phones included they do not give me credit same as in my case my banks, I have no loans, cc, overdrafts with them so why is my information shared, they are not extending any credit facilities! Utility companies are the same.

 

Something is drasticly going wrong with this system and it needs to change.

[emandcole]

Agree about non credit based markers going on there but fortunately all of mine show a long healthy list of green 0's. Amazing how much easier it is to live within your means when you have a fresh bank account that doesn't start screwing you over from the off!

 

Is odd though, I only found out a few months back that when I applied to get a debit card on my own account (as the bank first wanted to see you could run the account properly for three months before they'd issue one) I was credit scored. So, they actually wanted to run a credit check in order to give me a simple debit card so I could access my own money in my own account!

 

I have no overdraft on there, no credit cards with them, just a simple account. Thing is they only told me they'd credit score me after they had done it which I think was pretty off. Seems to be the way a lot of this is going now, I expect they'll credit score you whenever you go into a shop in the future just to check theres a point in you even going in .

[danukindebt]

I concur, 6 Years is too long, sign this petition for a glimmer of hope.*

 

Petition to: reduce the time Credit reference agencies hold data for to 3 years. | Number10.gov.uk

 

Spread the link where you can !