CreditCards Blog

Hello everyone,
I have just got a copy of my credit report from Equifax, after a knock back for a card.

The rejection letter states: "We, like many other financial organisations, have our own unique scoring system which is used to assess the details contained within the customers application. If one or more of these details do not meet our standard criteria, the application is declined. As a result of this, we are unable to offer you a facility at this time."

Everything seemed ok in my report. I have a few cards, never any defaults. I looked in the CIFAS section and noted that in a previous address I lived at, someone has sinced committed a CIFAS category 6. This has really freaked me out. In my previous address, the accomodation was a halls of residence with 500 rooms. The generic postal address used was 1, Smith Street. On TV licenses and the like, the address would be:

Room 219
Smith House
1, Smith Street.

I feel like Ive been marked because of the generic address used because there is never enough space for this many lines- does this affect credit availability?

The CIFAS notice (not in my name, but flagged because of previous address) was issued by Lloyds on 28/11/2007. I had already moved out of the address by April 2007. I have heard that these messages are cleared after a year. Has anyone got any experience of this? Im freaked out because I have a notice about someone else's fraudulent activity and Im being linked somehow because I happened to live in the same building. Can I write to Lloyds telling them to get their information more accurate or removed as the fraud notice doesnt go into specifics as to which Room the fraudster occupied? I have tv licenses stating which Room I occupied, as well as a letter from the residence saying I occupied a single room. Can I get this CIFAS notice removed from my file? Ive heard advice that its to do with the address and not my name, in this case surely it shouldnt be on my file as I havent done anything wrong?

Any constructive advice/comments/experience would be sincerely appreciated. Thanks for your time.

Bertle.

A cifas category 6 which isn't in your name wouldn't effect any decision relating to granting you credit. Based on the information given about the halls of residence address it sounds like there may be a problem with tracing you at that address. Does your credit report show you on the voter's roll or as having any credit at that address? If not, that means you have a gap in your address history and that could be the reason for the decline.

I don't know much about the not-for-profit company CIFAS but find their website interesting:

For example, a typical illustration of how the system works would show that:

At 9.30am Member A receives a proposal and identifies fraud - files name, address, classification, and other details on to the CIFAS database.
By 10.30am Participating Agencies updated with details - CIFAS warning now "live" on all databases.
At 11.00am Member B receives a proposal involving the same address, searches that address and 'matches' the Member A information.
By 11.15am Member B seeks further details about the fraud filed by Member A. This involves further database checks and, on occasion, direct contact with Member A.
By 11.30am Member B assesses the proposal. A thorough investigation is undertaken. As much of the information as possible is verified with third parties. If it is fraudulent, the Member categorises and re-files the name and address on the CIFAS database as a fresh fraud, but if it is not fraudulent, the normal account opening process continues. We are committed to doing all we can to prevent financial crime and staff fraud. CIFAS helps to prevent thousands of frauds every month, and this helps to keep the price of goods and services down. CIFAS also prevents fraudsters obtaining employment within organisations.


:T

i had 6 at my last address within a couple weeks all for different people.

im guessin its a notorious thing for student addresses as ur there only for like a year and sooooo many people are in and out of said address.

i had 6 at my last address within a couple weeks all for different people.

im guessin its a notorious thing for student addresses as ur there only for like a year and sooooo many people are in and out of said address.

Blimey! 6!

Baroness, thanks for your input.

I had my cards listed at the previous address. Im beginning to think that BoS turned me down as I already have a BoS Platinum (25% of CL) and Halifax One (25% of CL) and RBS Gold (50% CL) Maybe I dont give them a high enough profitable score.

Back to my question - can I demand the CIFA linked to previous address to be corrected/described more accurately by lloyds? I dont think its specific enough as there were 500 rooms in the halls of residence, so surely they need to be specific about the particular door/room of the fraudster, rather than painting everyone from the same building with the bad brush? I had a tv license and electoral roll docs that did state my room number as part of address. Will the CIFA disappear automatically as its been just about 12 months?

Any more useful input appreciated.

Bertle.

CIFAS don't drop of automatically they can stay on your file as long Fraud is detected.
http://www.cifas.org.uk/default.asp?edit_id=591-56

The CIFAS category 6 marker against your previous address was not the reason you were declined...

http://www.cifas.org.uk/default.asp?edit_id=694-59

I wouldn't worry yourself about getting it removed as it won't effect any credit application. It's very common for people who have lived at those type of addresses (halls of residence, military bases, anywhere where there's a large number of people) to have cifas markers of all kinds. As long as it's not in your name then an underwriter won't do any further investigation (unless it's numbers 1-2, but that's related to your security more than anything else). As Suton111 said, it may not drop off automatically. As long as your payments are all up to date and everything else looks fine on your credit file I would just apply elsewhere. Although try not to make too many applications (I would say 5+) in a short space of time. Hope that helps.

Bertle (http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/member.html?u=594055)
I dont think u should be declined for a credit card because of CIFAS mark on your previous address. There is a cifas mark on my previous address but still i have been approved for a mortgage & credit card recently.

cifas entry stays on file for 13 months so the entry should be removed by end of this month or early next year.

M

cifas entry stays on file for 13 months so the entry should be removed by end of this month or early next year.

That is not accurate. CIFAS stays on credit records for as long as fraud is detected, this can in some cases be many years.

I found this:

https://equifaxuk.custhelp.com/cgi-bin/equifaxuk.cfg/php/enduser/std_adp.php?p_faqid=238&p_created=1180010675&p_sid=9VL6iOkj&p_accessibility=0&p_lva=&p_sp=cF9zcmNoPSZwX3NvcnRfYnk9JnBfZ3JpZHNvcnQ9JnBfc m93X2NudD0zNiZwX3Byb2RzPSZwX2NhdHM9JnBfcHY9JnBfY3Y 9JnBfc2VhcmNoX3R5cGU9YW5zd2Vycy5zZWFyY2hfbmwmcF9wY WdlPTE*&p_li=&p_topview=1

PP
xx