Standard Credit Repair Letters

Your rights to check the information held on you

• If you are refused credit for up to £25,000, you have a legal right to know the name and address of any credit reference agency that provided information about you.
• Write to the lender within 28 days of your last contact about the credit deal.
• The lender must tell you the name and address of the agency within seven working days from receipt of your letter.
• The lender does not have to reply if an agency was not used.

Example Letters

1. Example letter 1 - identifying the credit reference agency
   
2. Example letter 2 - requesting your file from the credit reference agency
3. Example letter 3 - requesting disassociation
4. Example letter 4 - appealing if the agency refuses to disassociate you
5. Example letter 5 - asking the credit reference agency to amend incorrect information
6. Example letter 6 - a formal notice of correction
7. Example letter 7 - writing to the Data Protection Commissioner
8. Useful Addresses

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Example letter 1 - identifying the credit reference agency

423 Any Street Anytown E43 4KV 20th August 2001 Dear Loan Company, I am writing under Section 157 of the Consumer Credit Act 1974. Please tell me the name and address of any credit reference agency which has given you information about me. I expect a reply within seven working days of your getting this letter. Yours faithfully ALAN N OTHER

Seeing your file

• You can write to credit reference agencies at any time to see what information they have about you. You must:
  • send £2 (non-returnable);
  • give your full name and address, including post code;
  • include any other address used during the previous six years to help the agency trace all the information it may hold.
  • if you're a sole trader or partnership also give your business name and address because this information may be held separately. (Limited companies do not have any rights under the Consumer Credit Act).
  • keep copies of any letters you write.

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Example letter 2 - requesting your file from the credit reference agency

423 Any Street Anytown E43 4KV1 1st September 2001 Dear Credit Reference Agency I am writing under Section 158(1) of the Consumer Credit Act 1974. Please send me a copy of my file. I enclose a (postal order/cheque) for £2. I have lived at the above address for three years. Before that I lived at 234 High Street, Anytown, E43 6RS. I expect a reply within seven working days of your receiving this letter. Yours faithfully ALAN N OTHER

If the agency doesn't require further details to locate your file it must send you the file within seven working days of receiving your letter or tell you that it has no file.

Amending your file

An agency will not remove correct information you find embarrassing. If you want credit, lenders need to know your full credit history. You can ask for your file to be amended if:

• it includes people that have no financial connection with you.
• the information is incorrect.

The procedures are different in each case.Information about other people

Agencies are only allowed to give lenders information about:

• you.
• people with the same or similar name, who are or who have lived at your current or previous address.
• other family members living in your household.

Agencies must not report financial information about other people:

• if they have not lived at your current or last address as a member of your family at the same time as you.
• if the agencies believe that you have no financial connection with them.

If a credit reference agency includes such information on your file, you can ask the Data Protection Commissioner to investigate.Agencies can supply the name of anyone who was or is listed on the electoral roll at your addressesDisassociationIf your file includes family members that have no financial connection to you, write to the agency to disassociate yourself from them. Unless the agency has a good reason to doubt you, it must stop giving lenders information about those other people. You need only write to the agency which supplied your file, since disassociation information will be shared between the agencies

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Example letter 3 - requesting disassociation

423 Any Street Anytown E43 4KV1 23rd April 2001 Dear Credit Reference Agency Your reference 123456/7890 Thank you for sending me my file. The information on it about John K Other relates to my adult son. He has now left home and I no longer have any financial connection with him. Please create a disassociation between us, so that financial information about him no longer appears on my file, and information about me does not appear on his. Yours faithfully ALAN N OTHER

If a credit reference agency refuses to make a valid change you can ask the Data Protection Commissioner to investigate.

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Example letter 4 - appealing if the agency refuses to disassociate you

423 Any Street Anytown E43 4KV1 23rd April 2001 Dear Data Protection Commissioner I enclose a copy of all correspondence I have had with (name of credit reference agency). As you can see it has refused to accept that there is no financial connection between my son and myself, and will not remove information about him from my file. I would be grateful if you would investigate this matter for me. Yours faithfully ALAN N OTHER

Incorrect Information

You can write to an agency asking it to amend any entry which you think is wrong.

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Example letter 5 - asking the credit reference agency to amend incorrect information

423 Any Street Anytown E43 4KV1 11th November 2001 Dear Credit Reference Agency Your reference 123456/7890 I am writing under section 159(1) of the Consumer Credit Act 1974. Thank you for sending me my file. Would you please make it clear that the judgement for £200 was paid in 1993? I enclose a (Certificate of Satisfaction (England and Wales)/a letter from the pursuer showing that the debt has been paid (Scotland)). I expect a reply within 28 days of your getting this letter. Yours faithfully ALAN N OTHER

• Before a court will issue you with a Certificate of Satisfaction you must provide it with proof of payment, generally a receipt from the plaintiff, and pay the court fee of £3.
• Within 28 days of receiving your letter, the agency should tell you if it has removed or modified information. If it will not, send it a notice of correction within 28 days of receiving the agency's letter.
• A notice of correction is a statement of up to 200 words written by you. It should give a clear and accurate explanation of why you consider the entry to be incorrect. Remember, lenders only look at your file to decide whether to lend you money.
• The agency can reject your notice if it thinks it is incorrect, defamatory, frivolous or scandalous, or is for any other reason unsuitable.
• The letter below is an example of how to write a notice of correction.
• If the agency has not replied to your letter to remove or change an entry within the 28 days, you have a further 28 days in which to send it a notice of correction.
  

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Example letter 6 - a formal notice of correction

423 Any Street Anytown E43 4KV1 28th October 2001 Dear Credit Reference Agency Your reference 123456/7890 Thank you for your letter dated 2 October. I note that you will not remove the entry from my file. Please add the following notice of correction to my file. NOTICE OF CORRECTION I, Mr A N Other, of 423 Any Street, Anytown E43 4KV would like it to be known that the judgement recorded against me for £200 relates to a bill which I was unable to pay because I was made redundant in 1994. I paid the bill in full after I got a job in 1995. I would ask anyone searching this file to take these facts into account. I look forward to receiving confirmation from you within 28 days of your receiving this letter that you have added my notice of correction as set out above. Yours faithfully ALAN N OTHER

What happens next?

• After the agency has amended or added the notice of correction to your file, it must update any lender who has asked about you in the previous six months.
• The new information must be used in future.
• If the notice of correction relates to a county court judgement or a sheriff court decree, the agency will pass it to Registry Trust Limited, who will pass it to the other credit reference agency.
• If the notice of correction relates to information other than a judgement or decree, you may wish to check whether the other agency holds the same information and if so, send it the notice of correction.
• If the agency does not reply within 28 days of receiving your letter, you can ask the Data Protection Commissioner to intervene in the dispute.
• If an agency declines to add a notice of correction to your file, it must refer the matter to the Data Protection Commissioner for a final decision.
• Within 14 working days of receiving a request for his intervention from an agency, the Data Protection Commissioner will invite your comment and the dispute should be resolved within two months of this.

Contacting the Data Protection Commissioner

If you have followed the above steps within the time limit, and have not heard from the agency or the agency refuses your notice of correction, write to the Data Protection Commissioner.

• say that you are writing under section 159(5) of the Consumer Credit Act 1974;
• give your full name and address and the name of the agency;
• give details of the disputed entry in the file. Say why you think it is incorrect, and why you think you will be prejudiced if it is not changed;
• give the date you sent the notice of correction to the agency;
• enclose any correspondence between you and the agency, and a copy of your notice of correction.

Within 14 working days of receiving your letter, the Data Protection Commissioner will ask the agency to comment. The agency's reply will be sent to you for your views. The Data Protection Commissioner will decide how the matter should be resolved, usually within two months of this.

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Example letter 7 - writing to the Data Protection Commissioner

423 Any Street Anytown E43 4KV1 30th November 2001 Dear Data Protection Commissioner I am writing under sectrion159(5) of the Consumer Credit Act. I got my file (reference number 123456/7890) from (name of credit reference agency) and asked it to change an entry about a (county court judgement/sheriff court decree). Because it would not take this off my file, I sent the agency a notice of correction to add to my file explaining why I was taken to court. It is now more than 28 days since I wrote and I have heard nothing. I believe that if the notice of correction is not added to my file, it will not be clear why I was taken to court. Please can you contact the agency for me and resolve the matter. I enclose copies of all my letters to the agency. Yours faithfully ALAN N OTHER

Useful addresses

The Data Protection Commissioner
Wycliffe House
Water Lane
Wimslow
Cheshire SK9 5AF

Registry Trust Limited
173-175 Cleveland Street
London W1P 5PE

The local county court can provide information about county court judgements and court procedures generally. The address is under 'Courts' in the telephone book.

The local Trading Standards Department. In Northern Ireland the address is:
Department of Economic Development
Trading Standards Branch
176 Newtownbreda Road
Belfast

BT8 4QS