Response to Experian and Equifax - the whole story?

The majority of people that I know that have checked for this entry have found it does not mention repossession debt. However, I would argue that any credit reference agency or any lender that logs an *unproven* repossession shortfall debt is setting themselves up for a defamation claim from the customer. (One should make such claims as a counterclaim to the lender's own shortfall recovery claim against you if one is going to take a defamation claim to court).

However, there may be a notice of the repossession itself but with no shortfall amount included. The majority of repossessees that have checked find no mention of this but I kow of two who have.

Everyone - without exceptions - should serve a £10 DPA Subject Access Rights Notice on Experian, Equifax, MCLS and possibly CIFAS. This is *not* the same as asking to see your credit information they hold on you. This is asking to see *all* the electronic data they hold that is identifiably linked to you.

At the time of writing - mid-March 2001 - we are still seeing signs that Equifax staff do not understand that you have SARN rights. They write back asking you to send it £2 for a credit reference file check instead. If you receive such a letter from Equifax, please, please send a copy of it with a request for an assessment to the Information Commissioner (formerly Data Protection Commissioner).

The more that the IC sees that Equifax is playing funny over SARNs the quicker this company will invest in adequate legal training for its staff.

Lee

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