James
How much of my credit report is one of your members allowed to see if I have a credit card account with them? Can they see other credit card accounts and how much is owing on them? Is there a legal requirement for this information to be withheld from them? Kind regards.
Mike, Bournemouth
Mike
The very reason credit reference agencies like Experian exist is to enable banks and other lenders to share details about their customers' credit commitments with each other, to help them all lend responsibly and to prevent fraud. The upshot of this is that when you apply for credit, they will come to us to have a detailed look at your credit report. Your report shows them whether you paid your past lenders on time, how much you owe to your current lenders and whether you are up to date with those payments. They don't see the names of your current and previous lenders, by the way - that information is only visible to you. And what they see isn't affected by whether you are an existing customer of theirs. Historically, some lenders chose only to share account details of customers who fell significantly behind with their repayments. Because the data sharing rules that UK lenders work to state that lenders can only access the same level of data that they share, this meant that when these lenders ran a credit check they could only see other lenders' overdue accounts. However, the vast majority of UK lenders now share repayment data about all their customers, meaning that they can carry out full credit checks. Because we have very stringent data-protection laws in the UK, none of this could happen without your consent. When you apply for credit you will usually give the lender consent to 1) check your credit report, 2) for a record of that check to be registered and 3) for details of any credit they give you to be recorded with one or more credit reference agencies and used for certain specific purposes. Without your consent lenders simply wouldn't be able to register and access details about your current and past credit commitments, which would make it very difficult for them to work out your credit rating and give you credit when you ask for it.
James