My default blog

[robnfc]

OK , after nearly 1 years battling with the FOS and CRAs I think its safe to say I have lost all confidence and respect for the British financial sector.

 

I wont bore you with my story but needless to say its the same as millions of people up and down the country who have had their live effectivly put on hold due to defaults and other rubbish on their credit files.

 

So as ive tried to get an unlawful default removed from my credit file and it got me no where , ive decided to see if Mr Joe Public can really change the minds of the countries top brass.

 

Therefore I will keeping a blog on this site showing my progess of trying to change the law on data retention and unregulated CRAs.

 

I wont go into to much detail of what my first letters will contain as there will be some very personal info in there but I will be sending letters asking for change to the following people:

 

Herman Van rompuy (European council)

Jerzy Buzek (European parliament)

Gordon brown (PM)

Alistar darling (COTE)

Nick clegg (Lib dems)

David Cameron (Conservs)

Richard F Smith (Equifax)

Don Robert (Experian)

Mike Green (Call credit)

Michael Coogan (Uk mortgage council)

David Thomas (FOS)

 

I will post responses on this thread and keep it upto date whenever I get any feedback.

 

The letters will make it very clear that I intend to challenge every aspect and law that CRAs hide behind when they deny us our basic rights and why the government seems to ignore this.

 

Obviosuly this will be a slow process but I intend to take this as far as I human can.

 

The first letters will be posted today by 1st recorded post , i will post the repsonses on here as soon as I receive them.

 

Thanks

Edited April 1, 2010 by robnfc

[247orbital]

Good luck to you.

[robnfc]

ok first reply:

 

Dear Mr. Robnfc

 

I am writing on behalf of David Cameron to thank you for your e-mail of 22nd February 2010. I apologise for taking so long to reply; our office has been inundated with correspondence in recent months.

 

Nevertheless, we are grateful to you for getting in touch, and I have taken careful note of the points you raise.

 

I am sorry to learn of your recent difficulties, and can well appreciate your frustration. As you may know, if elected, a Conservative Government would create a new Consumer Protection Agency. This will take responsibilities to protect the consumer that are currently and confusingly divided between the FSA and Office of Fair Trading, and place them in a single powerful body able to stand up for consumers and ensure they are treated fairly.

 

In the meantime, you may wish to contact your local MP, who is able to make representation to the credit reference agency on your behalf, and hopefully get to the bottom of this particular case.

 

I have also forwarded a copy of your e-mail to John Penrose MP, Shadow Minister for Business, so that he is aware of your concerns.

 

Thank you again for writing.

 

Kind regards

 

Kurtis

 

Kurtis Christoforides

Office of David Cameron MP

 

 

I have sent an email to my local mp and also a follow up Email to Mr Penrose asking for his throughts.

Edited April 1, 2010 by robnfc

[robnfc]

hmmm seems today is reply day :

 

Dear Mr Robnfc

 

 

Thank you for your e-mail of 30 November 2009 to the Chancellor Alistair Darling about an issue you have with a debt recovery agency. The issues you raised are the responsibility of the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills. I have been asked to reply. Please accept my apologies for the extremely lengthy delay in getting back to you.

 

I understand your concerns that you did not give permission for your personal information to be passed on to a credit reference agency and as such you feel there may have been a breach of the Data Protection Act.

 

The Data Protection Act gives individuals the right to know what information is held about them and provides a framework to ensure that personal information is handled properly.

 

The Act states that anyone who processes personal information must comply with certain principles which include that personal information is:

 

• Fairly and lawfully processed
  
• Processed for limited purposes
  
• Processed in line with your rights
  

The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) is an independent UK supervisory authority that oversees and enforces compliance with both the Data Protection Act 1998 and Freedom of Information Act 2000. The ICO has powers to take enforcement action against organisations who fail to take an adequate duty of care with people’s personal data.

 

If you feel that information about you has not been handled according to the Data Protection principles, you may wish to contact the ICO. They can be contacted by phone on 0303 123 1113 or on the internet at http://www.ico.gov.uk/complaints.aspx

 

 

 

Yours sincerely

 

Joslyn Gooding

 

Consumer and Competition Policy

 

Ms Gooding will be getting an email back as she has totally ignored the whole point of my original letter.

[robnfc]

Dear Mr robnfc

Many thanks for your email to Nick Clegg MP. Nick has asked me to contact you on his behalf. I apologise for the delay in responding but I hope you’ll understand that, due to the sheer volume of correspondence that Nick has been receiving, it can take some time for us to reply.

Thank you for your email about the dangers of identity fraud. Liberal Democrats recognise that many people have fears that in this age of credit card and internet where so many payments are made electronically, there is a real danger that ever more people will fall victim to identity fraud and theft. Indeed, Nick and our Shadow Home Secretary Chirrs Huhne have in the past highlighted these dangers and have been working to bring forward workable solutions to these problems.

Liberal Democrats have called for statutory powers to be given to the Information Commissioner to carry out inspections on the data retention procedures of large private companies, on a comparable to the powers of the Commissioner to investigate data handling across the public sector. Liberal Democrats also propose giving the Information Commissioner the power to fine companies with regular breaches of database security.

Thank you once again for emailing.

Best wishes,

Bess Mayhew

Office of Nick Clegg MP

[robnfc]

second reply from mr darling

Dear Mr Robnfc

 

Thank you for your email of 22 February to the Chancellor Alistair Darling about Credit Reference Agencies (CRAs). The Chancellor receives a large amount of correspondence on a daily basis and is unable to reply to everyone personally. The issues you raise are the responsibility of the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills and I have been asked to reply. Please accept my apologies for the time it has taken to respond.

 

CRAs are a key part of the credit market and enable lenders to assess whether an individual has the ability to repay any credit that is offered. CRAs do not hold blacklists and do not tell a lender if it should offer credit. Lenders use the information provided by the CRA in order to assess a prospective borrower’s creditworthiness and whether he or she can afford more credit. In some circumstances where a prospective borrower has a thin file, for example, because he or she is relatively new to credit or is not on the electoral register, then banks will not have sufficient information to make an informed assessment of risk and may therefore decline the loan.

 

Information on a credit report should be purely factual and if arrears were incurred those lenders who share data through the CRA will have recorded them. Similarly, if the debts are now all cleared and you are managing the credit you have, that too, will show on your credit report. As you are aware, adverse information is held on a credit report for six years only. Any late payments, defaults, county court judgments or bankruptcy/IVA details will automatically disappear after this time has elapsed.

 

Following discussions and analysis it was agreed with the Information Commissioners Office (ICO), that six years is a reasonable amount of time to retain data of this type. This is supported by lender and CRA analysis of the value and predictability of historical data.

 

CRAs can advise consumers to add a Notice (of up to 200 words) to their credit report explaining any special circumstances, which led to their getting into financial difficulty, and, if possible, to explain how their situation has now changed / improved. This is officially called a Notice of Correction although it is now used much more for explanation because disputed information is flagged separately since implementation of the Data Protection Act 1998.

 

The inclusion of a Notice on a credit report means that any application for credit made by the consumer would be referred out of a lender's automated decision (scoring) system and the content of the Notice should be taken into account alongside the information on the report and, indeed, that on an application form.

 

The majority of lenders recognise that unexpected redundancy, and other sudden changes of circumstances beyond an individual's control, can cause usually creditworthy people to struggle with their commitments for a short time. This is why many take the details of mitigation in a Notice into account when assessing applications for credit if that individual's finances appear to be back on an even keel. You may wish to discuss this with one of the CRAs (CallCredit, Experian, or Equifax)

 

These days, because all major lenders share full information about customers, lenders expect to see some credit history when they carry out a credit check. Most CRA data is positive and shows that most people manage their credit commitments very well. As a result, retaining this information supports people's credit applications and enables lenders to quickly determine the creditworthiness of applicants, which is in everyone's interests.

 

 

 

 

Yours sincerely

 

 

Joslyn Gooding

Consumer and Competiton Policy

[zingy]

Pretty much a bogoff letter from all of them, and tbh I'm not surprised.

 

I don't think any of the politicians will do anything about this, other than maybe an MP or two, unless there is some serious public pressure or media influence put on them.

And, let's be honest, most of these people wouldn't have bad credit so can't understand what you're on about - it's annoying but true.

 

Good luck in what you're trying to achieve though.

[robnfc]

yeah i know , its pretty much what i expected aswell, but i just wanted to gauge some reactions first.

 

I think I need to start pushing for answers as to why CRAs continually process data when they have been made aware that its unlawful or false, and the fact that although the consumer should always be given the benefit of doubt when an issue is raised the CRAs still side with the financial companies i.e gulity till proven innocent.

 

Once I start getting some more detailed answers I fully intend to try and get some media coverage.

 

Im also going to start pushing for answers from the eu aswell.

Edited April 23, 2010 by robnfc

[esmerobbo]

I agree it seems the CRAs can hold any information they wish right or wrong and then say we only report what is sent to us by the account owners.

It also annoys me when any problems you have making a payments are recorded quickly but any incorrect information takes an age to correct.

 

Good luck with your quest I think the EU is a good idea.

[robnfc]

update

 

Dear Mr Castle,

 

This is to confirm that Stephen has today written to HM Treasury on your behalf to enquire about the issues you raise, and I will make sure you get a copy of the response when we receive it. In the meantime, do let me know if there is anything further I can do to help.

 

Emma Salisbury

Caseworker

Office of Phillips QC MP

020 7219 6487

[jimjams]

Nice to see someone is trying to fight these bas....s! I too am sick to death of the lack of responsibility they take. We need a public register holding information about creditors that can be reviewed by consumers, that agency then can upload feedback from the public about each creditor, and give them good and bad ratings - you watch the creditors start blaming the agency holding that information! Point is, you can't blame individuals if you hold the information! they should be governing that information and insuring it is accurate, asking to see proof and speaking to the individual involved! These CRA's make money at our expense so start earning it!!

 

Good luck to you sir, and keep us posted.