A reader asked an interesting question on my recent article about Experian or Equifax – which is best?:
I have recently signed up to Experian and Equifax. Experian’s is what I was expecting to see but Equifax’s has debts that I have no recollection of. I have taken this up with Equifax and all but two of the companies have responded by saying that the debt stands, please get in touch to discuss. Equifax say that they can’t remove anything from my report unless these companies give them permission to do so. How can I get these black marks removed from my file?
I am asking a lot of questions in this article so you know what to look out for. There are several possibilities about what could be happening here and it may take some digging from you to work out which is causing this problem.
Broadly the main possibilities are:
- the debt is yours, you have just forgotten about it;
- the debt is yours, but it has been sold to a debt collector so you don’t recognise the creditor name;
- the debt isn’t yours, it has been wrongly connected to you by either the creditor or the credit reference agency;
- the debt was taken out in your name but not by you – identity theft.
It’s not only your credit score that matters – if you don’t want hassle from debt collectors or even being taken to court, this needs to be sorted. 
Sold to a debt collector?
A common reason for seeing a creditor’s name you don’t recognise is that the original lender has sold your debt to a debt collector, usually because you have defaulted on it.
The debt collector should have sent you a letter, but perhaps it went to a previous address, or it hasn’t yet been sent.
If you can see a debt you know you owe and this shows as closed, with a balance of zero, this has probably been sold to a debt collector who is now reporting the debt. See Help! My debt has been sold to a debt collector for more about this.
Confused with another debtor?
You are less likely to have been confused with someone else if your name is Aristotle Pennyweather and you have lived in the same house for 30 years. If your name is Tom Walker and you have moved three times in the last five years it’s much more plausible. Here is a newspaper article about the problems a Joe Jones had.
So you should double check your credit records with all three credit reference agencies, so get your Experian, Equifax and TransUnion (used to be known as Call Credit) reports. See The best free ways to check your credit records for details.
Go through all the reports line by line. Is anything wrong? Apart from the unknown debts, is there any difference between them?
Do all of them have all your old addresses correctly? If there is an address there that you have never lived at, the credit reference agency may have wrongly linked that address to your name. Ask the credit reference agency to remove the incorrect address and the mystery debt may disappear with it.
Do those lenders only report to one credit reference agency?
Most lenders don’t report to all three credit reference agencies.
If the lenders of your mystery debts don’t report to Experian, then this explains the difference in the reports. It still doesn’t explain what the mystery debts are, but at least it’s clear why they are only showing on Equifax.
But if the mystery lenders do report to Experian, then the question is why Equifax is linking these debts to your credit record but Experian isn’t… I suggest you email Equifax and ask them this specific question. And if you get to the point where you are complaining to the Information Commissioners Office about a creditor (see below) then you should also complain about Equifax.
Find out more about the debt with a Prove It! letter
To find out details about a debt you don’t recognise, you need to contact the creditors directly. There is no point in asking the credit reference agencies, they only report what they are told.
Write to the lender a Prove It! letter, saying that a debt has been reported by them to Equifax/Experian/Call Credit and you have no knowledge of it. I suggest you include more details about yourself – date of birth, your addresses for the last few years – you don’t have to do this, but it may help the creditor realise you are not their debtor. Give them a month to either provide you with details of the debt or to delete the report from your credit record.
If you still don’t recognise the debt from their reply, send them a formal email or letter of complaint. Put COMPLAINT in capital letters at the top of the letter or in the email title! Say that unless they delete the incorrect credit report you intend to complain to the Information Commissioner’s Office and the Financial Ombudsman
If that doesn’t resolve the problem go to the Financial Ombudsman.
Identity theft
If all the mystery debts appear to be fairly recent – in the last year or so – then it would be sensible to consider the possibility of identity theft.
You still need to contact the creditors and ask them to prove you owe the debts (see above), but also become a bit paranoid about identity. See Loans taken out in your name – how to tackle identity theft for details of one reader’s problem and my suggestions.
Identity theft is possible for older debts but it’s less likely as you would probably have found out about it. So if the mystery debts are old, then don’t assume it is identity theft, check out the other possibilities first.
Will paying off debt improve a credit score?
How PPI can get you out of debt!
Are your debts keeping you awake at night?
Ryan says
Hi
I have a default registered in September 2011 but the account was opened in May 2009 I have never known about this account as I never set it up, someone has taken out a loan in my name in a different address how do I get this removed pls help
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Hi Ryan – this article ^^^ looks at what to do if there is a debt you don’t recognise on your credit report – basically you have to contact the debt collector and say you know nothing about this entry and ask them to prove that the debt is yours.
Charles says
I was contacted by a Debt recovery agency for a debt I do not know about 3 months after I paid them about £2200 for F&F for 3 accounts they identified I had with them.
I requested for a prove as I cannot identify the claimed original creditor, I got a reply that they will get the documents on to me if available but advised that all activity regarding it will be suspended until they can provide the proof.
I checked my credit file and saw the debt appearing on my credit file as default which has caused me to lose a credit I applied for.
Is it right for the debt recovery agency to register a default against me when they have not been able to proof or provide evidence to this debt? Please can you advise me about the steps to make them remove the default on my credit file until proven?
Thank you
Sara (Debt Camel) says
You have done the right thing to query the debt with the debt collector. You should also inform Experian that you deny the debt is yours.
M Rahman says
Hi, I have one debt that is £439 and for this consequencely I have one CCJ into my credit report. I didn’t know anything about CCJ. In 2005, When I registered for credit monitoring I saw I got one CCJ. After investigating I found it, who are they? I already contacted with debt collector to discuss further. They gave me two option: if I pay £439 then it will be shown “satisfied” but if I pay discounted settlement balance which is £305 that will be shown “partially satisfied”. Into my credit report Also they will inform the Country Court that debt is settled. Which option should I choose?
Thanks
Sara (Debt Camel) says
A CCJ from 2005 shouldn’t be showing on your credit report – perhaps you meant 2015? If you don’t know what this debt is, I suggest you call National Debtline 0808 808 4000 and talk to them about your options.
Theresa says
I received a parking fine for parking outside my own home and not displaying a permit, which you can see from the photo they provided that I was, after calling up the company and explaining my situation I was told to just ignore it, to then get another bigger fine from a debt recovery , I then called the car park company who assured me they would deal with it and that was the end of it..
Then a few months later a CCJ appears on my credit report, to which I find it’s from this carpark fine..
I don’t think this is correct but don’t know how to go about removing it or appealing it???
Sara (Debt Camel) says
It is a shame you didn’t get the replies from the company in writing :(
If you never got the court papers about the debt, then you have a case to have the CCJ “set aside” and you can then defend the case in court. See https://debtcamel.co.uk/help-ccj/ and as that says, contact National Debtline if you want help completing the court forms.
Phil says
Hello,
I am currently going through the process of buying a house with my partner and we are being careful with the credit we have. The application is going well and we are just waiting on the survey being issued to get our mortgage offer.
This morning, my partner got a notification from Clearscore saying a credit agreement is being added this month to her credit file by Barclays. She has never had any dealings with Barclays at all and absolutely has not taken out a credit agreement with anyone because of the application. She has spoken to Barclays today and they have no record of her name in their system. We’ve spoken to our potential lender and they have no dealings with Barclays so we are stumped and naturally we are worried that this is going to affect our application.
The reference number is completely covered up using * and has 3 numbers and a letter at the end which is totally confusing.
What do you suggest we do and who do we contact to dispute this?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
I suggest you look at your Equifax statutory credit report https://www.equifax.co.uk/Products/credit/statutory-report.html and see if that is more informative.
Rose says
I really don’t know where to start. I have lived at the same address since 2009 and my credit report had no defaults or anything negative and my correct address. I applied for a mortgage and have had a mortgage offer and all was great. Just after Christmas a linked address with my name and date of birth was added through a debt collection company called Cabot on my Equifax report so I contacted equifax and they said it stands and to contact the company. I contacted the company and they were not aware of my current address so I don’t know how the link was made.
Also There is now another linked address linked to the other address, again which I have never lived at. There are now 2 linked addresses on my credit reports which have over £20,000 worth of debts with numerous bank accounts, loans, overdrafts, credit cards, utility bills, debt collections and even CCJ. I really don’t know what to do I’m likely going to lose my mortgage when they check again before releasing funds for debts and addresses that aren’t mine and credit reporting agencies or the other companies won’t remove and can take over 6-8 weeks to investigate. I have contacted the police and action fraud is involved but feel this is more likely mistaken identity. I do not understand how without proof they can ruin someone’s credit and life. How do I get this resolved and why can I do as nothing I do is making any difference and they just want the money and don’t seem to care who from and are saying the link was made through a company called call credit but again no one will tell me or has any proof of how these links have been made.
Mark says
I have recently signed up to money supermarket and there is a ccj in somebody else’s name and it’s beleived that somebody else’s details have been merged with mine as we have similar names I’ve disputed this with transunion but I wonder would I be entitled too compensation for this mistake
Phil says
Hi Mark,
My partner had a similar issue in that her twin brothers mortgage was listed on her credit file. She got in touch with Equifax and to be fair to them, they quickly rectified it and offered her £200 compensation for the mistake. If Transunion don’t offer you any compensation, you are well within your rights to take it to the financial ombudsman.
Hope this helps.
Weatherman says
Hi Mark
If you can show that the error has caused you financial loss or particular hassle or distress, you might be able to get compensation (it’s not likely to be much!). You would need to complain to the credit reference agency first, and you can take it to the Financial Ombudsman Service if you don’t get anywhere. As a rough guide, unless there are quite extreme circumstances, I’d expect the compensation to be somewhere between £50-150.
If the mistake’s not caused you loss or distress, then ‘no harm no foul’. The credit reference agency wouldn’t pay a penalty just for making a mistake.
Make sure you check your other credit reports with Experian and Equifax to see if the same mistake’s been made there.