What is a credit reference agency?

Credit reference agencies hold information on details of credit agreements, arrears on credit and County Court judgements. Although you will often be warned that your name is about to be passed on to a credit reference agency a lender does not have to inform you that they are going to do this. County Court judgements will automatically be registered and are kept on record for a period of six years.

Credit reference agencies provide information so that a lender can make a decision about whether to lend you money. They do not have a ‘list’ of people who should not be given credit.

Credit scoring
When being considered for credit a lender may also take into account factors such as your age, occupation and whether you are a home owner. This is known as credit scoring. This may be an important part of the lender deciding whether to grant you credit. They may also look at your previous credit record. Each lender has its own policy guidelines which they follow when making lending decisions.

What do I do if I have been refused credit?
If you have been refused credit, you should ask the lender which credit reference agency was consulted. You can write to this agency enclosing £2 and ask for a copy of your file. They will need your name and any previous addresses that you have lived at in the past six years. If the information on your file is incorrect then you have a right to ask the agency to remove or correct the information. You do not have the right to have information removed if it is correct. The agency will leave the information on your file for up to six years. As there are two credit reference agencies in England and Wales you may want to check the information held by the other credit reference agency as well. The two main agencies are:

Experian Ltd
Consumer Help Service
PO Box 8000
Nottingham
NG1 5GX

Equifax Europe (UK) Ltd
Dept IE
PO Box 3001
Glasgow
G81 2DT

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Can details of other people's credit be included on my file?
Credit reference agencies are no longer able to include information concerning people with different surnames when responding to a lender’s enquiry. This should mean that the details of credit belonging to previous occupants and third parties such as lodgers should not affect your credit rating. The exception is where there is evidence that

you are members of the same family
you are living as part of the same household
there is a financial connection between you.
Disassociation notices
If there is information on your file about people who are not members of your family or people you have no financial connection with you can write to the agency to "disassociate" yourself from them, explaining your reasons. If the agency refuses to accept your notice you can ask the Data Protection Register for help. The address is:

The Data Protection Register
Complaints Dept.,
Wycliffe House
Water Lane
Wimslow
Cheshire, SK9 5AF.

Can I appeal against a lender?
There is no right of appeal against a lender refusing you credit. Some companies are beginning to provide more details as to why you have been turned down which can help you to establish the reasons. However you are still only legally entitled to receive the name of the specific credit reference agency the lender consulted. You can always contact the company again if you have corrected any errors on your credit reference file, and ask them to look at your application again. Otherwise, it may be a case of shopping around for credit, making sure you are very careful to check the interest rates and terms of any loan you are offered.

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Register of County Court judgements
If you are not sure whether you have any County Court judgements or whether the judgements have been registered, you can make a search against your name and address. Almost all County Court judgements are registered at the Registry Trust Limited.

Their address is :
The Registry Trust Limited
173-175 Cleveland Street
London, W1P 5PE.

There is a fee of £4.50 for a postal search of the register for each name and address searched.

Paying the judgement off
If your County Court judgement has been fully paid, you can ask the County Court in which the judgement was made to provide you with a "certification of satisfaction". There will be a fee payable of £10.00 for this and you will need to provide evidence to the court that the full balance including costs has been paid. The court will then automatically mark your entry on the register as satisfied. The judgement will stay on the register for six years. It will only be removed:

If you pay off the debt within one month of it being entered on the register.
The judgement is "set aside" by the court. This is only possible in very limited circumstances, for example if you didn’t receive the court papers.
Remember: You can always seek advice about any difficulty you are having in dealing with your debts.




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