How can I make changes to my credit report?

There is a variety of information held on your credit report from a variety of sources. If any of it is wrong, it could affect your ability to get credit.

Here's how to correct the information held on your report.

The electoral roll
If you have registered to vote and your credit file does not show this, please contact the credit reference agencies listed at the bottom of this article and they will investigate the matter. If you have not registered to vote, you may want to contact your local authority about filling in an electoral registration form.

If you move home you can tell your local authority who will tell credit reference agencies about your change of registration in the course of the year.

Court judgments
If you believe a county court judgment has been recorded incorrectly, you should contact the county court, quoting the case number included on your file. If the judgment was recorded incorrectly the county court will alter their records. Credit reference agencies are told about any such changes within four weeks, but if you give them original court documents, in the form of a Certificate of Satisfaction or Cancellation, they may be able to change their sooner if necessary.

If you have paid a Scottish Decree, you should send Registry Trust (address below) a receipt or a letter from your creditor (known as the pursuer) to confirm your payment.

If you write to Registry Trust Ltd questioning the accuracy of a judgment recorded on your file, asking for an entry to be changed, you should send a cheque for £4.50 to cover their search fee. They will then tell the credit reference agencies about any change to your file.

For judgments made in Northern Ireland, if you provide documents from a plaintiff to confirm a payment, the agencies will change their records. If you have any questions about the accuracy of a judgment recorded on your file, contact the court concerned.

Registry Trust Ltd.
173-175 Cleveland Street
London W1P 5PE

Bankruptcies
If a bankruptcy order against you is annulled (cancelled) or discharged (that is, you have met all terms), you should send a copy of the Annulment Certificate or Order of Discharge to the credit reference agencies. They will then update their records. If your bankruptcy has been annulled they should completely remove any record of it from your file. If your bankruptcy has been discharged a record of it will be kept on your file but it will show that it has been discharged.

Voluntary arrangements
If you have any questions about a record of a voluntary arrangement you should contact the supervisor who dealt with your case. If you send documents from the supervisor to confirm that the information on your file needs to be changed, the agencies will change their records.

Credit accounts
After carefully studying the credit account details (credit cards, loans, mortgages, etc.) on your file, if you believe any information needs to be changed you should write to the lender concerned and ask them to give the correct information to the credit reference agencies.

Searches
Credit reference agencies will delete searches only when they are instructed to do so by the company who searched your file. If you are concerned about the accuracy of a record of a search, you should contact the company which carried out that search.

Linked addresses
Links between your previous addresses, or any addresses you may use for correspondence, may be listed on your credit file. The link will only be broken when the reference agencies are asked to do so by the organisation that created the link.

CIFAS
If you have any questions about a CIFAS record, write to the organisation concerned. If you disagree with that organisation over the information on your file, ask the organisation for details of the scheme for settling disputes.

Financial associations (shared financial responsibility)
If a financial association is shown, and you do not share a financial responsibility with the other person, or if that financial association no longer exists, you should write to the credit reference agencies. They will investigate the matter and make any necessary change to your file.

Aliases
If any names are shown on your credit report that you have never used, you should contact the company listed as providing the other name, or write to the credit reference agency and they will investigate the matter and make any necessary changes to your file.

Information about other people
If you share no financial responsibility with any other person mentioned on your file you can ask the agencies to ‘create a disassociation’. This breaks any connection between your information and theirs and so makes sure their information is removed from your file, and that your information is removed from theirs. To do this you must give the agencies your, and the other person’s, full name and date of birth, details of your relationship and any shared addresses.

To view your personal credit information that lenders are currently basing their credit decisions on, apply online for a credit report from Experian, the UK’s largest credit reference agency, now.

You will also receive a 30-day free trial to the CreditExpert Monitoring Service from Experian.

Click here for a free 30-day trial and a free copy of your credit report

Other information

A record of lenders who have searched your file as a result of you applying for credit will be shown on your file for 12 months. This information can help lenders identify any unusual credit activity or overcommitment.

If your file specifies ‘unrecorded enquiries’, this shows that a company has searched your file for non-lending purposes. However, this information is shown only to you, not to lenders searching your file in order to make a lending decision. Lenders may also search your file to give you a credit quotation. These are recorded as quotation searches so other lenders do not mistake them for credit applications.

Agencies make a record (known as a ‘footprint’) on your report to show that a file has been applied for in your name and address, but this will be shown only to you and not to lenders.

Your previous addresses, or any addresses you may use for correspondence, may be listed on your credit file. These links are created by account information moving between addresses, as a result of lenders checking your records at previous addresses, or as a result of information you give to the credit reference agency.

Your credit file will show the two addresses that are linked, how the link was created, and the date and source of the link. The link will only be broken when agencies are asked to do so by the organisation that created the link.

CIFAS
CIFAS is a system developed in consultation with the Office of Fair Trading and the Office of the Information Commissioner. It aims to detect and prevent fraud, and so protect innocent people whose names, addresses or other details are used fraudulently by others in order to get credit. A CIFAS warning on your file does not mean you are being accused of fraud. Organisations who are members of CIFAS examine credit applications very carefully, and may contact you to make sure you have applied for the credit. They will not automatically refuse applications from people with warnings on their file.

GAIN - Gone Away Information Network
Credit reference agencies are members of GAIN, a network through which lenders share information on customers with debts who have moved home without telling their lenders of a forwarding address. The information may include both the address the customer moved from and any address the customer has since been recorded as living at.

If you share a financial responsibility with someone else, for example a joint court judgment, a joint account or a joint application for credit, this will be shown on your credit file together with who you share the responsibility with and when the connection was created.

Agencies may be told about any other names you have been known by and your file will show who gave them the information.

Information about other people
Your file may include financial information about members of your family who live, or have lived, with you. Lenders can take this information into account when assessing an application you make for credit. By law this information must be included on your credit file because you must be shown all the information that is available to lenders, whether or not they use it.

The rules on using information about other people are changing and, in the future, financial information about other people will not be included on your file. After these changes have been made, only your own credit history, and that of anyone you share a financial responsibility with, will be provided to a lender.

To view your personal credit information that lenders are currently basing their credit decisions on, apply online for a credit report from Experian, the UK’s largest credit reference agency, now.

You will also receive a 30-day free trial to the CreditExpert Monitoring Service from Experian.

Click here for a free 30-day trial and a free copy of your credit report