Credit Reference Agency Information Notice (CRAIN)

CREDIT REFERENCE AGENCY INFORMATION NOTICE (CRAIN)

Version: 1

Adopted: 23rd October 2017

All information as detailed herein will be referred to as CRAIN Notice, effective from the Adopted Date as specified above, except for information as detailed in in Sections 9 (data portability right), 11 and 12. These Sections provide information that came into effect from 25th May 2018, as per the effective date of the General Data Protection Regulation (or the GDPR).

CRAIN Notice

This CRAIN Notice explains how the three main credit reference agencies that are also called also called “credit reference agencies” or “CRAs” in this document use and share personal data (also called ‘bureau data’) that they receive about you and/or your business that is part of or derived from or used in credit activity.

The three main CRA’s are Callcredit, Equifax and Experian.

This CRAIN Notice is not a complete record of all the personal data each CRA may hold and process, as each has a number of different business functions operating throughout it. To find out more about each CRA’s other businesses, services and personal data processing, please visit the websites directly via the links provided in Section 14.

This CRAIN Notice document answers the following questions as laid out in the corresponding Q & A’s detailed below.

CREDIT REFERENCE AGENCY INFORMATION NOTICE (CRAIN) QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS

Q1. Who are the credit reference agencies and how can I contact them?

A1. There are three main credit reference agencies in the UK who deal with people’s personal data. Each is regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (“FCA”) and authorised to conduct business as a credit reference agency.

Callcredit Limited

• Callcredit Information Group, One Park Lane, Leeds, West Yorkshire LS3 1EP.
• Web Contact Address: https://www.callcreditstatreport.co.uk/Help/ContactUs
• Email: [email protected]
• Phone: 0330 024 7574

Equifax Limited

Equifax Ltd, Customer Service Centre, PO Box 10036, Leicester, LE3 4FS.

• Web Contact Address: https://www.equifax.co.uk/Contact-us/Contact_Us_Personal_Solutions.html
• Email: To ask a question, you need to create an Equifax My Questions account - https://equifaxuk.custhelp.com/app/utils/login_form/redirect/ask
• Phone: 0800 014 2955

Experian Limited

• Experian, PO BOX 9000, Nottingham, NG80 7WF
• Web Contact Address: https://ins.experian.co.uk/contact
• Email: To ask a question you will need to contact Experian via their website contact page https://ins.experian.co.uk/contact
• Phone: 0344 481 0800

Q2. What do credit reference agencies use personal data for?

(a) CREDIT REFERENCE AGENCY PROCESSING

Different lenders and creditors use different CRA services and may not use all the services as detailed here so it is advised that you also check with your lender, broker’s and/or creditor’s privacy policy(s) as well as this CRAIN Notice.

Credit reporting and affordability checks

Credit reference agencies receive personal data about you that’s part of, derived from or used in credit activity. Each CRA uses the data it gathers to provide credit reporting services to its clients.

Organisations use credit reporting services to assess and understand the financial position of people and businesses. For example, a lender or creditor may check with a credit reference agency when an individual or business applies for credit to make a credit decision considering that person or business’s credit history.

Affordability checks also help organisations understand whether persons applying for credit or financial products are likely to be able to afford the repayments.

These activities help promote responsible lending, prevent people and businesses from getting into more debt than they can afford, and reduce the amount of unrecoverable debt and insolvencies.

Verifying data like identity, age and residence, helps to prevent and detect criminal activity, fraud and money laundering. In addition, CRAs use bureau data to provide verification, crime prevention and detection services to their clients, as well as fraud and anti-money-laundering services. Listed below are some examples.

• When a person applies to an organisation for a product or service, the organisation might ask them to answer questions about themselves, and then check the answers against the data held by the CRAs to see if they’re correct. This helps confirm the person they are dealing with is not trying to commit identity theft or any other kind of fraud.
• Where some products and services are only available to people of a certain age, organisations can check whether the person they’re dealing with is eligible by searching the CRAs databases.
• If a person applies for credit the lender or creditor might check the personal data that person gives them against the personal data held by CRAs to try and prevent fraud.
• Government and quasi-government bodies can use data held by CRAs to check whether people are entitled to certain benefits and to help recover unpaid taxes, overpaid benefits and similar debts.

Account management

CRAs provide information including personal data to their clients for account management, which is the ongoing maintenance of the client organisation’s relationship with its customers. This could include activities designed to support the following:

• Data accuracy, such as data cleansing - where bureau data can be used to clean or update lender data. This might involve checks that data is in the right format or fields, or to correct spelling errors)
• Clients’ ongoing account management activities (For example, data sharing with lenders and creditors so clients can make decisions relating to credit limit adjustments, transaction authorisations, and to identify and manage the accounts of customers at risk, in early stress, in arrears, or going through a debt collection process, or to confirm that assets are connected to the right person).

Tracing and debt recovery

CRAs provide services that allow organisations to use bureau data to trace people who’ve moved. Each CRA also offers a service that allows people to be reunited with assets (like an old dormant savings account they’ve lost contact with).

CRAs may use personal data to support debt recovery and debtor tracing. An example of a tracing activity could be when a person owes money and moves address without telling the creditor where they’ve gone. The creditor may need help finding that person to claim back what they’re owed. CRAs help find missing debtors by providing creditors with updated addresses and contact details.

Screening

CRAs can use some personal data to screen people out of marketing lists.

For example, where a person’s financial history suggests they’re unlikely to be accepted for and/or afford a particular product, the relevant organisation can use that data to opt out of sending them information about that product. This helps stop people receiving irrelevant marketing and saves organisations associated costs.

This data is not used to identify, select and send marketing materials to potential new customers.

Statistical analysis, analytics and profiling

CRAs can use and allow the use of personal data for statistical analysis and analytics purposes. This can include creating scorecards, models and variables in connection with the assessment of credit, fraud, risk or to verify identities in order to monitor and predict market trends. This allows lenders to refine lending and fraud strategies and analyse activities such as loss forecasting.

Database activities

CRAs carry out certain processing activities internally which support databases effectiveness and efficiencies. For example:

• Data loading: this is where data is supplied to the CRAs and it is checked for integrity, validity, consistency, quality and age to help make sure it’s fit for purpose. These checks pick up things like irregular dates of birth, names, addresses, account start and default dates, and gaps in status history.
• Data matching: this is where data supplied to the CRAs is matched to their existing databases to help make sure it’s assigned to the right person, even when there are discrepancies like spelling mistakes or different versions of a person’s name. CRAs use the personal data people give lenders together with data from other sources to create and confirm identities, which they use to underpin the services they provide.  
• Data linking: When CRAs compile data into their databases, this creates links between different pieces of data. For example, people who appear financially associated with each other may be linked together and addresses where someone has previously lived can be linked to each other and to that person’s current address.
• Systems and product testing: Collected data may be used to help support the development and testing of new products and technologies.

Each CRA has its own processes and standards for data loading, data matching and other database processing activities.

Other uses with your permission

From time to time, CRAs may use the personal data they hold or receive about you for other purposes where you’ve given your consent.

Uses as required by or permitted by law

Your personal data may also be used for other purposes where required or permitted by law.

Other activities

Each credit reference agency has other lines of business not detailed in this CRAIN Notice. For example, each offers its own marketing services and direct-to-consumer services. Each CRA will provide separate information as is appropriate for services that fall outside of scope of this document.

(b) WHAT IS A FRAUD PREVENTION AGENCY?

A Fraud Prevention Agency (referred to herein as FPA) collects, maintains and shares data on known and suspected fraudulent activity. All three credit reference agencies also act as FPAs.

(c) FRAUD PREVENTION AGENCY PROCESSING

Data may be used by fraud prevention agencies. FPAs may supply the data received from lenders and creditors about you, your financial associates and your business (if you have one) to other organisations (please see Section 5 for more information on these organisations).

This may be used by them and the CRAs to prevent crime, fraud and money laundering by, for example:

• Checking details on applications for jobs or as part of employment
• Conduct other checks to prevent or detect fraud
• Undertake statistical analysis and system testing
• Checking details provided on applications for credit and credit related or other products and services
• Verify your identity if you or your financial associate applies for facilities including all types of insurance proposals and claims
• Trace your whereabouts and recover debts that you owe
• Managing credit and credit related accounts or products or services
• Cross-checking details provided on proposals and claims for all types of insurance
• Your personal data may also be used for other purposes where you’ve given consent or where required or permitted by law

Q3. What are the credit reference agencies’ legal grounds for handling personal data?

Legitimate Interests and Responsible lending

The UK’s data protection law allows the use of personal data where its purpose is legitimate and isn’t outweighed by the interests, fundamental rights or freedoms of data subjects. The law calls this the Legitimate Interests condition for personal data processing.

The Legitimate Interests being pursued here are Interest Explanation and promoting responsible lending and helping to prevent over-indebtedness.

Responsible lending means that lenders only sell products that are affordable and suitable for the borrowers’ circumstances. CRAs help ensure this by sharing personal data about potential borrowers, their financial associates (where applicable) and their financial history. A comprehensive range of measures exists in the UK to reinforce the balance so that the legitimate interests aren’t outweighed by the interests, fundamental rights and freedoms of data subjects. Further information about this balance is set out below.

Helping to prevent and detect crime, fraud, anti-money laundering and verifying identity

CRAs provide identity, fraud and anti-money laundering services to help clients meet legal and regulatory obligations. This also benefits individuals to support identity verification and support of detection/ prevention of fraud and money-laundering.

Supporting tracing and collections

CRAs provide services that support tracing and collections where there is a legitimate interest in the client conducting activity to find its customer and to recover the debt, or to reunite or confirm that an asset is connected with, the right person.

Complying with and supporting compliance with legal and regulatory requirements

CRAs must comply with various legal and regulatory requirements. CRA services also help other organisations comply with their own legal and regulatory obligations.

For example, many kinds of financial services are regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (“FCA”) or the Prudential Regulation Authority, who impose obligations to check that financial products are suitable for the people they are being sold to. The credit reference agencies provide data to help with those checks.

The CRAs use of this personal data is subject to a wide framework of safeguards that help make sure people’s rights are protected. These include the information given to people about how their personal data will be used and how they can exercise their rights to obtain their personal data, have it corrected or restricted, object to it being processed, and complain if they’re dissatisfied.

These protections help sustain a fair and appropriate balance so the CRAs’ activities don’t override the interests, fundamental rights and freedoms of data subjects.

Q4. What kinds of personal data do credit reference agencies use, and where do they get it?

A4. Each credit reference agency gathers and uses information from different sources, so they often hold different information and personal data from each other. However, most of the personal data they hold falls into the categories as detailed below from the sources described (see Information type).

Information type – Identifiers

• Description - CRAs hold personal data that can be used to identify people, like their name, date of birth, and current and previous addresses. They may also hold business data.
• Source - This personal data is included with all the other data sources. For example, names, addresses and dates of birth are attached to financial account data so it can be matched and associated with all the other data the CRA holds about the relevant person. Data about UK postal addresses is also obtained from sources like Royal Mail. CRAs also obtain copies of the electoral register containing the names and addresses of registered voters from local authorities across the UK in accordance with specific legislation. CRAs also have access to public data sources on people and businesses, including from the Insolvency Service, Companies House and commercial business directories.

Information type – Lender provided and creditor provided data

• Description - CRAs receive information that includes personal data from credit applications and about the financial accounts that people hold from the organisations that maintain those accounts. This includes personal data about bank accounts, credit card accounts, mortgage accounts and other agreements that involve a credit arrangement like utilities and communications contracts (including mobile and internet). The collected data includes the name of the organisation the account is held with, the date it was opened, the account number, the amount of debt outstanding (if any), any credit limits and the repayment history on the account, including late and missing payments. CRAs may also receive data about financial accounts like current accounts, credit cards or loans and may receive payments information that businesses hold from the organisations who maintain those accounts.
• Source - Banks, building societies, lenders and other financial services providers supply data including personal data about peoples’ financial accounts and repayments. Other credit providers, such as hire purchase companies, utilities companies, mobile phone networks, retail and mail order, and insurance companies also provide this data when they agree credit facilities with their customers. These organisations may also provide Cifas markers when they suspect fraud. You can find out more about Cifas markers in the Fraud prevention indicators section below.

Information type – Court judgments, decrees and administration orders

• Description - CRAs obtain data about court judgments that have been issued against people. This may include, for example, the name of the court, the nature of the judgment, how much money was owed, and whether the judgment has been satisfied.
• Source - The government makes court judgments and other decrees and orders are made publicly available through statutory public registers. These are maintained by Registry Trust Limited, which also supplies the data on the registers to the CRAs.

Information type – Bankruptcies, Individual Voluntary Arrangement (IVAs), debt relief orders and similar events

• Description - CRAs obtain data about insolvency related events that happen to people and may also obtain this type of data about businesses. This includes data about bankruptcies, IVAs and debt relief orders, and in Scotland it includes sequestrations, trust deeds and debt arrangement schemes. This data includes the start and end dates of the relevant insolvency or arrangement.
• Source - CRAs obtain this data from The Insolvency Service, the Accountant in Bankruptcy, The Stationary Office and Northern Ireland’s Department for the Economy – Insolvency Service, the London, Belfast and Edinburgh Gazettes. Business bankruptcies data are obtained from the London, Belfast and Edinburgh Gazettes.

Information type – Fraud prevention indicators

• Description - The CRAs are all Fraud Prevention Agencies (FPAs) and members of Cifas (www.cifas.org.uk), an organisation that collects and shares data about suspected fraud. When an organisation believes it’s detected fraud or an attempted fraud, it may put a Cifas marker on the relevant person’s credit file to warn other lenders this identity may have been used fraudulently. This helps to prevent any further fraud and protect innocent consumers.
• Source - These fraud indicators are shared among Cifas members through the database held by Cifas.

Information type – Gone Away Information Network indicators

• Description - Some CRAs are members of the Gone Away Information Network (GAIN), a database of people with overdue outstanding debts who’ve moved without giving their lender a forwarding address. Data from GAIN, including the persons’ old addresses and any known new addresses, may be recorded on the relevant credit file.
• Source - CRAs obtain GAIN data from lenders, and additional address data is obtained from Royal Mail.

Information type – Search footprints

• Description - When an organisation uses a CRA to make enquiries about a particular person, the CRA keeps a record of that enquiry which appears on the person’s credit file. This includes the name of the organisation, the date, and the reason they gave for making the enquiry.
• Source - CRAs generate search footprints when enquiries are made about a particular person. The organisation making the enquiry provides some of the data in the footprint (such as the reason for the enquiry).

Information type – Scores and ratings

• Description - CRAs may use the data they receive to produce scores and ratings including credit, affordability, risk, fraud and identity, screening, collections and insolvency scores about people and businesses and credit ratings about people.

o          Organisations that obtain data from CRAs may use it together with other data to provide their own scores and ratings.

o          Credit scores and credit ratings are produced from data like the person’s credit commitments, whether they have made repayments on time, whether they’ve any history of insolvencies or court judgments, and how long they’ve lived at their current address. Each CRA has its own way of calculating credit scores, and most lenders have their own scoring systems too.

• Source - The CRAs produce their scores and ratings using the data available to them. Similarly, other organisations create their own scores and ratings from data obtained from the CRAs as well as other sources.

Information type – Other supplied data

• Description – CRAs receive data from reputable commercial sources. This includes phone number data and politically exposed persons (PEPs) and sanctions data.
• Source - CRAs receive this data from reputable commercial sources as agreed from time to time.

Information type – Other derived data

• Description – The CRAs produce some other kinds of data themselves to manage their databases efficiently and ensure that all the relevant data about a person is on the correct credit file.

o          Address links: when a CRA detects that a person seems to have moved to a new house, it may create and store a link between the old and new address.

o          Aliases: when a CRA believes that a person has changed their name, it may record the old name alongside the new one.

o          Financial associations and linked people: when a CRA believes two or more people are financially linked with each other (for example, because they have a joint account), it may record that fact.

o          Flags and triggers: through analysis of other data, CRAs can add indicators to credit files. These aim to summarise particular aspects of a person’s financial situation. For example, a Cifas flag protects those who’ve been flagged as subject to fraud and invites additional checks as a defence against further fraud risk.

• Source – The CRAs generate this data from the data sources available to them.

Information type – Data provided by the relevant people

• Description - People sometimes provide data directly to CRAs. For example, they can ask a CRA to add a supplementary statement to their credit file if they want to explain the reason for a particular entry on the file. The right to do this is explained in Section 10 below.
• Source - This data is provided directly by the relevant people.

Q5. Who do credit reference agencies share personal data with?

A5. This Q&A section details about the types of recipient each credit reference agency can share data with. Each CRA has its own access control processes in place. Before it shares data with any another organisation, it must check that organisation’s identity and, where applicable, confirm where it is registered with regulators.

In many cases where an organisation uses CRA services, there will be information accessible, for example, from website or at point of application or service, to explain that an organisation may check your data with a credit reference agency (for things like identity authentication and fraud checking). In some cases, some organisations can compel CRAs by law to disclose data for certain purposes.

Members of the credit reference agency data sharing arrangements

Each organisation that shares financial data with CRAs is entitled to receive similar kinds of financial data contributed by other organisations. These organisations are typically banks, building societies, and other lenders, as well as other credit providers like utilities companies and mobile phone networks.

Fraud Prevention Agencies

If a CRA believes that fraud has been or might be committed, it may share data with fraud prevention agencies (FPAs). These FPAs collect, maintain and share data on known and suspected fraudulent activity. Some CRAs also act as FPAs.

Resellers, distributors and agents

CRAs may and do use other organisations to help provide their services to clients and may provide personal data to them in connection with that purpose.

Other organisations

Some data, where permitted in accordance with industry rules or where it’s public information, can be shared with other organisations that have a legitimate use for it - ID verification services, for example.

Public bodies, law enforcement and regulators

The police and other law enforcement agencies, including public bodies like local and central authorities and the CRAs’ regulators, sometimes ask the credit reference agencies to supply them with personal data.

This can be for a range of purposes such as preventing or detecting crime, fraud, apprehending or prosecuting offenders, assessing or collecting tax, investigating complaints or assessing how well a particular industry sector is working.

Processors

The CRAs may use other organisations to perform tasks on their own behalf (for example, IT service providers and call centre providers).

Individuals

People are entitled to obtain copies of the personal data the CRAs hold about them. You can find out how to do this in Section 9 below.

Q6. Where is personal data stored and sent?

A6. The three CRAs are based in the UK and their main databases are kept there. They may also have operations elsewhere inside and outside the European Economic Area and personal data may be accessed from those locations as well. In both instances, the personal data use in those locations is protected by European data protection standards.

From time to time, the CRAs will need to send or allow access to personal data from elsewhere in the world, for example, when a processor or client of the CRA is based in and/or uses data centres overseas.

Although countries in the European Economic Area do all ensure a high standard of data protection law, some parts of the world may not provide the same level of legal protection when it comes to personal data.

For this reason, when a CRA sends personal data overseas it makes sure suitable safeguards are in place in accordance with European data protection requirements to protect the data. These safeguards might include:

• Putting a contract in place with the recipient containing terms approved by the European authorities as providing a suitable level of protection.
• Sending the data to a country that’s been approved by the European authorities as having a suitably high standard of data protection law. Examples of countries such as this include the Isle of Man, Canada and Switzerland.
• Sending the data to an organisation which is a member of a scheme approved by the European authorities as providing a suitable level of protection. For example, the Privacy Shield scheme agreed between the European and US authorities or Binding Corporate Rules.

If your data has been sent overseas, you can find out more about the safeguards used from the CRAs directly, whose contact details are set out in Section 1 above.

Q7. How long is personal data kept for?

A7. Personal is kept for a duration of time by CRAs that differs according to what type information it is. These terms are outlined below.

Identifiers

Identification data like names and addresses are kept while there’s a continuing need to keep it. This need is assessed regularly and data that is no longer needed for any purpose will be disposed of.

Financial accounts and repayment data

Data on live and settled accounts is kept on credit files for six years from the date they are settled or closed. If the account has defaulted, the data is kept for six years from the date of the default.

Court judgments, decrees and administration orders

Court judgments and other decrees and orders are kept on credit files for six years from the date of the judgment, decree or order. However, they can be removed if the debt is repaid within one calendar month of the original date or if the judgment is set aside or recalled by the courts.

Bankruptcies, IVAs, debt relief orders and similar events

Data regarding bankruptcies, IVAs and other insolvency-related events and arrangements are usually kept on credit files for six years from the date they begin.

This period is further extended if they last longer than this period. Some data, like a bankruptcy restrictions order, can also remain on the credit file for longer than six years.

The start of these events is automatically reported to the CRAs, but the end (such as a discharge from bankruptcy or completion of an IVA) might not be. People are advised to contact the CRAs when this happens to make sure their credit files are updated accordingly.

Search footprints

The CRAs keep search footprints for different lengths of time. Experian and Equifax keep most search footprints for one year from the date of the search, although they keep debt collection searches for up to two years. Callcredit keeps search footprints for two years from the date of the search.

Scores and ratings

CRAs may keep credit scores and credit ratings for as long as they keep a credit file about the relevant person.

Derived or created data

CRAs create data, links and matches between data. For example, CRAs keep address links and aliases for as long as they’re considered to be relevant for credit referencing purposes.

Links between people are kept on credit files for as long as the CRA believes those individuals continue to be financially connected. When two people stop being financially connected, either party can write to the CRA and ask for the link to be removed. The CRA will then follow a process to check the people are no longer associated with each other.

Other data

Other third party supplied data such as politically exposed persons (PEPs), sanctions data and mortality data will be stored for a period as determined by criteria such as the agreed contractual terms.

Archived data

CRAs may hold data in an archive form for longer than the periods as detailed above for purposes like research and development, analytics and analysis, (including refining lending and fraud strategies, scorecard development and other analysis such as loss forecasting), audit purposes and as appropriate for establishment, exercise or defence or legal claims.

The criteria used to determine the storage period will include the legal limitation of liability period, agreed contractual provisions, applicable regulatory requirements and industry standards.

Q8. Do the credit reference agencies make decisions about me or profile me? How are lending decisions made?

A8. CRAs don’t tell a lender if it should offer you credit – this is for the lender to decide. Credit reference agencies provide data and analytics that help lenders make decisions about lending.

The scoring tools and data CRAs provide may profile you and are a valuable tool in the lender’s overall processes and with the criteria they use to make their decisions. A lender’s own data, knowledge, processes and practices will also generally play a significant role in that lender’s business decisions and lender decisions will always remain for lenders to make.

The same analytics from a CRA may lead to different decisions from different lenders, as they can place differing importance on some factors than others. That’s why you may receive a “yes” from one lender but a “no” from another.

The data CRAs provide is just one of the things that a lender might consider when they make a lending decision. The lender might also consider data provided by the person applying for credit, as well as any other data available to the lender from other sources. Each lender will have its own criteria for deciding whether they will lend.

Scores and ratings

When requested, CRAs use data that they obtain to produce credit, risk, fraud, identity, affordability, screening, collection and/or insolvency scores and credit ratings; these are explained in Section 4 above. As covered above, CRAs do not tell a lender if it should offer you credit as this is for the lender to decide. Each credit reference agency, and each lender, will have its own criteria for how to calculate a credit score, but the following factors will usually have an effect:

• How long the person has lived at their address.
• The number and type of credit agreements and how they use those credit products.
• Whether the person has been late making payments.
• Whether the person has had any court judgments made against them.
• Whether the person has been bankrupt or had an IVA or other form of debt-related arrangement.

The CRAs may provide or make available further information on profiling where necessary from time to time.

Q9. What can I do if I want to see the personal data held about me? Do I have a ‘data portability’ right in connection with my bureau data?

A9. You have a right to find out what personal data the credit reference agencies hold about you.

Data access right

Each CRA provides more information about access rights on their websites. You can request details online via the information provided in Section 1 above or make a request by post to:

• Callcredit Limited, Consumer Services Team, PO Box 491, Leeds, LS3 1WZ.
• Equifax Ltd, Customer Service Centre, PO Box 10036, Leicester, LE3 4FS.
• Experian Ltd, Customer Support Centre, PO BOX 9000, Nottingham, NG80 7WF.

Data portability right

Data protection legislation contains a right to data portability that may give consumers a right in some data processing contexts, to receive their personal data in a portable format when it’s processed on certain grounds, such as consent.

This is not a right that will apply to bureau data as this data is processed on the grounds of legitimate interests. To find out more about legitimate interests please go to Section 3 above.

Q10. What can I do if my personal data is wrong?

A10. When the CRAs receive personal data, they perform many checks to try and detect any defects or mistakes. However, ultimately, the credit reference agencies do rely on their suppliers to provide accurate data.

If you think any personal data a CRA holds about you is wrong or incomplete, you have the right to challenge it. It’s worth knowing that the CRA won’t have the right to change the data without permission from the organisation that supplied it, so the credit reference agency will need to take reasonable steps to check the data first, like asking the organisation that supplied it to check and confirm its accuracy.

If the data turns out to be wrong, the CRA will update its records accordingly. If the CRA still believes the data is correct after completing their checks, they will continue to hold and keep it, although you can ask them to add a note to your file indicating that you disagree or providing an explanation of the circumstances.

If you would like to do this, you should contact the relevant CRA using their contact details in section 1 above.

Q11. Can I object to the use of my personal data and have it deleted?

A11. You have the right to lodge an objection about the processing of your personal data to a CRA. If you want to do this, you should contact the relevant CRA using the contact details set out in section 1 above.

Although you have freedom to contact a CRA with your objection at any time, under the General Data Protection Regulation, your right to object doesn’t automatically lead to a requirement for processing to stop or for personal data to be deleted, in all cases.

Please note that, because of the importance of the credit referencing industry to the UK’s financial system, and the important purposes the personal data is needed for (like supporting responsible lending, and preventing over indebtedness, fraud and money laundering) it will be very rare that the CRAs do not have compelling, overriding grounds to carry on using the personal data following an objection.

In many cases, it won’t be appropriate for the CRAs to restrict or to stop processing or delete bureau data, for example, where the result would be to hide a poor credit history that could enable a person or organisation to get credit that they otherwise wouldn’t be eligible for.

This section helps you understand how to use your data protection rights to object to your personal data being used and how to ask for it to be deleted, in connection with bureau data. To understand these rights and how they apply to the processing of bureau data, it’s important to know that the CRAs hold and process personal information in bureau data under the Legitimate Interests ground for processing (see section 3 above for more information about this), and don’t rely on consent for this processing.

Q12. Can I restrict what the credit reference agencies do with my personal data?

A12. In some cases, you can ask credit reference agencies to restrict how they use your personal data. Your rights are set out at Article 18 of the GDPR.

You can find the contact details for each CRA in Section 1.

This is not an absolute right, and your personal data may still be processed where certain grounds exist. This is:

• With your consent.
• For the establishment, exercise, or defence of legal claims.
• For the protection of the rights of another natural or legal person.
• For reasons of important public interest.

Only one of these grounds needs to be demonstrated to continue data processing. The CRAs will consider and respond to requests they receive including assessing the applicability of these exemptions.

Please note that given the importance of maintaining complete and accurate credit records for purposes including for responsible lending, it will usually be appropriate to continue processing credit report data, in particular, to protect the rights of another natural or legal person, or because it’s an important public interest of the union or member state.

Q13. Who can I complain to if I’m unhappy about the use of my personal data?

A13. Each CRA tries to ensure that they deliver the best customer service levels. However, if you’re not happy, you should contact them so they can investigate your concerns.

Callcredit Limited

Post: Callcredit Information Group, One Park Lane, Leeds, West Yorkshire LS3 1EP.

Email: [email protected]

Phone: 0330 024 7574

Equifax Limited

Post: Equifax Ltd, PO Box 10036, Leicester LE3 4FS

Email: [email protected]

Phone: 0333 321 4043 or 0800 014 2955

Experian Limited

Post: Experian, PO BOX 8000, Nottingham, NG80 7WF

Email: [email protected]

Phone: 0344 481 0800 or 0800 013 8888

Financial Ombudsman Service

If you’re not happy with how the CRA has investigated your complaint, you have the right to refer it to the Financial Ombudsman Service (Ombudsman) free of charge. The Ombudsman is an independent public body that aims to resolve disputes between consumers and businesses like CRAs.

Post: Financial Ombudsman Service, Exchange Tower London E14 9SR

Email: [email protected]  

Phone: 0300 123 9 123 (or from outside the UK on +44 20 7964 1000)

Website: www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk

Information Commissioner’s Office (or ICO)

You can also refer your concerns to the Information Commissioner’s Office (or ICO), the body that regulates the handling of personal data in the UK.

Phone: 0303 123 1113

Post: Information Commissioner’s Office, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, SK9 5AF

Website: www.ico.org.uk

Q14. Where can I find out more?

You have the right to object to credit reference agencies using your personal data. Please see Section 11 to find out more.

The work credit reference agencies do is complex, and this document is intended to provide only a concise overview of the key points. More information about each CRA and what it does with personal data is available directly from the CRAs as detailed in Section 1.

The Information Commissioner’s Office also publishes advice and information for consumers in its Credit Explained leaflet, available at https://ico.org.uk/media/for-the-public/documents/1282/credit-explained-dp-guidance.pdf