Information?

Q: After a long running dispute with my Building Society I have just found out that my credit rating has been utterly trashed -- cutting out a long story, they caused me to have many unauthorised overdrafts which I was powerless to stop. This has now been reported to Experian, and considering I had a perfect credit rating previously, I was appalled to find that I am now classed as a "very high risk borrower". I intend to write a letter to the Building Society urgently asking them to remove the false information. If the Building Society are unhelpful, are there any legal remedies? Can I obtain an injunction against them for reporting libelious false information? How much will it cost, considering I am a student and don't exactly have a massive income?

A: Actually, that's not how the credit reference agencies work in the UK. They store and sell facts about you and your credit history - they don't offer any opinion about how much of a risk you are. Each company which is considering offering you interest can buy and review these facts, giving weight to whichever of them it considers important, and then make a decision. There's no central "Credit Rating". You have a statutory right to receive a copy of all the information held about you by each of the credit reference agencies, for a fixed sum of £2 from each. Don't be fooled by their web sites which try to sign you up to monthly updates or special services - if you search the pages you will find a link to order he statutory

report for £2. If any of the "facts" held about you are incorrect, you have the right to get them corrected, although you will have to provide evidence. Not normally the case, you merely have to dispute the particular credit reference that you are not happy with and Experian will contact the company concerned and report back accordingly, this would be the point when evidence could be called for. Also, one has the option to correct any misunderstandings or objections to valid credit references, this is by way of a short explanation that you can place on line. This would be read or be available to anyone searching you and your credit file.