Credit score - open to identity theft?
Discussion
I think I am being overly paranoid here but am a bit concerned. I signed up to a 14 day trial credit reports to get my credit report. If you cancel within 14 days the report is virtually free. The catch is you need to call customer services to cancel, which I did.
I am surprised to see that the guy on the other end have more detailed information than what is shown on my report. He spent a good 10 minutes convincing me to stay but in the end I told him I wasn't ready to pay almost £16/month for the report.
This got me thinking though, which the information he has it would be very easy to use my information to commit identity fraud. Am I wrong in thinking this way?
I am surprised to see that the guy on the other end have more detailed information than what is shown on my report. He spent a good 10 minutes convincing me to stay but in the end I told him I wasn't ready to pay almost £16/month for the report.
This got me thinking though, which the information he has it would be very easy to use my information to commit identity fraud. Am I wrong in thinking this way?
crazy about cars said:
I think I am being overly paranoid here but am a bit concerned. I signed up to a 14 day trial credit reports to get my credit report. If you cancel within 14 days the report is virtually free. The catch is you need to call customer services to cancel, which I did.
I am surprised to see that the guy on the other end have more detailed information than what is shown on my report. He spent a good 10 minutes convincing me to stay but in the end I told him I wasn't ready to pay almost £16/month for the report.
This got me thinking though, which the information he has it would be very easy to use my information to commit identity fraud. Am I wrong in thinking this way?
Paranoid.I am surprised to see that the guy on the other end have more detailed information than what is shown on my report. He spent a good 10 minutes convincing me to stay but in the end I told him I wasn't ready to pay almost £16/month for the report.
This got me thinking though, which the information he has it would be very easy to use my information to commit identity fraud. Am I wrong in thinking this way?
What makes you so special that someone (who probably has hundreds of people call him each month and has access to millions of details) is willing to pick your details about anyone elses, in order to ruin their own life on the off-chance of making a few quid?
Bank employees, doctors, estate agents - anyone in a position of trust could do the very same thing. But they don't, for the most part, do they?
Paranoid, they had all the information they discussed with you already - they're the people who actually hold it.
There is a possibility that a member of staff at Experian et all could take every single bit of financial information about you and use it to get up to no good - however it's not easy - there are loads of safeguards in place, to have access to this sort of information you have to go through an annual background check, if you're in financial trouble - you won't get a job, and people are sacked and reassigned if they get into trouble.
Secondly, simply having someone's Name, Address, DOB etc isn't the key to simply walking into DFS and walking out with a brand new sofa with someone else name on the finance paperwork - all those annoying bits of 'petty bureaucracy' 'computer says no' and 'silly rules' which can seem pointless, actually do make sense if you understand the bigger picture. In actual fact, getting all the details about someone to complete a credit application is a lot easier than getting a job in a finance role or at Experian, making it useful for criminal activity is much harder - which is why even in an age of chip and pin and ever more secure internet security - you're far, far more likely to have your card details compromised.
As for Experian credit expert and all that, it's a lot of smoke and mirrors - utterly useless. If you want to know what information they hold on you, write to them and pay the £2. Risk scores are entirely down to the actual application and the organisation you're applying with and will vary hugely, there isn't even a standard scale - some places have a 1-10, a -5 to +15 or even a 0-1600, even then the score is just part of the puzzle.
There is a possibility that a member of staff at Experian et all could take every single bit of financial information about you and use it to get up to no good - however it's not easy - there are loads of safeguards in place, to have access to this sort of information you have to go through an annual background check, if you're in financial trouble - you won't get a job, and people are sacked and reassigned if they get into trouble.
Secondly, simply having someone's Name, Address, DOB etc isn't the key to simply walking into DFS and walking out with a brand new sofa with someone else name on the finance paperwork - all those annoying bits of 'petty bureaucracy' 'computer says no' and 'silly rules' which can seem pointless, actually do make sense if you understand the bigger picture. In actual fact, getting all the details about someone to complete a credit application is a lot easier than getting a job in a finance role or at Experian, making it useful for criminal activity is much harder - which is why even in an age of chip and pin and ever more secure internet security - you're far, far more likely to have your card details compromised.
As for Experian credit expert and all that, it's a lot of smoke and mirrors - utterly useless. If you want to know what information they hold on you, write to them and pay the £2. Risk scores are entirely down to the actual application and the organisation you're applying with and will vary hugely, there isn't even a standard scale - some places have a 1-10, a -5 to +15 or even a 0-1600, even then the score is just part of the puzzle.
Thanks, thats very insightful.
P-Jay said:
Paranoid, they had all the information they discussed with you already - they're the people who actually hold it.
There is a possibility that a member of staff at Experian et all could take every single bit of financial information about you and use it to get up to no good - however it's not easy - there are loads of safeguards in place, to have access to this sort of information you have to go through an annual background check, if you're in financial trouble - you won't get a job, and people are sacked and reassigned if they get into trouble.
Secondly, simply having someone's Name, Address, DOB etc isn't the key to simply walking into DFS and walking out with a brand new sofa with someone else name on the finance paperwork - all those annoying bits of 'petty bureaucracy' 'computer says no' and 'silly rules' which can seem pointless, actually do make sense if you understand the bigger picture. In actual fact, getting all the details about someone to complete a credit application is a lot easier than getting a job in a finance role or at Experian, making it useful for criminal activity is much harder - which is why even in an age of chip and pin and ever more secure internet security - you're far, far more likely to have your card details compromised.
As for Experian credit expert and all that, it's a lot of smoke and mirrors - utterly useless. If you want to know what information they hold on you, write to them and pay the £2. Risk scores are entirely down to the actual application and the organisation you're applying with and will vary hugely, there isn't even a standard scale - some places have a 1-10, a -5 to +15 or even a 0-1600, even then the score is just part of the puzzle.
There is a possibility that a member of staff at Experian et all could take every single bit of financial information about you and use it to get up to no good - however it's not easy - there are loads of safeguards in place, to have access to this sort of information you have to go through an annual background check, if you're in financial trouble - you won't get a job, and people are sacked and reassigned if they get into trouble.
Secondly, simply having someone's Name, Address, DOB etc isn't the key to simply walking into DFS and walking out with a brand new sofa with someone else name on the finance paperwork - all those annoying bits of 'petty bureaucracy' 'computer says no' and 'silly rules' which can seem pointless, actually do make sense if you understand the bigger picture. In actual fact, getting all the details about someone to complete a credit application is a lot easier than getting a job in a finance role or at Experian, making it useful for criminal activity is much harder - which is why even in an age of chip and pin and ever more secure internet security - you're far, far more likely to have your card details compromised.
As for Experian credit expert and all that, it's a lot of smoke and mirrors - utterly useless. If you want to know what information they hold on you, write to them and pay the £2. Risk scores are entirely down to the actual application and the organisation you're applying with and will vary hugely, there isn't even a standard scale - some places have a 1-10, a -5 to +15 or even a 0-1600, even then the score is just part of the puzzle.
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