# Irish Credit Bureau



## moneyhoney (14 Jun 2005)

A report in Which magazine said recently that if you shop around for loans then all queries made by banks are recorded on your file with the ICB. Is this true & if so, does it look like all these loans have been refused, as the query was made but then no loan taken?? Worrying if this is the case.


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## ClubMan (14 Jun 2005)

I'm not sure that is actually the case.  states:


> Your credit record includes:
> 
> your name, date of birth and address;
> the names of lenders and account numbers of loans you currently hold, or that were active within the last five years;
> ...


Also...

 doesn't mention anything about loan refusals being recorded   
nor does [broken link removed] on the [broken link removed] describe any codes for such purposes 
 Hope this helps.


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## Ann-Marie (14 Jun 2005)

i recently got a copy of my credit rating and it shows the banks that have requested information on your credit report it shows the date and time and what bank if this helps it doesnt say if you were refused


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## moneyhoney (14 Jun 2005)

The article was basically claiming that if a bank made a query, it would be recorded & if there was no loan from that bank on your record, then other banks would assume that it was refused. Is this possible? Does anyone know any lenders who could confirm/deny this???


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## ClubMan (14 Jun 2005)

I don't see how they could necessarily assume that queries of one's _ICB _record not followed up by a loan being taken out were credit advancement refusals rather than, say, the borrower simply shopping around for the best deal. Of course they probably don't have to give a reason if they refuse credit...


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## tonka (14 Jun 2005)

ClubMan said:
			
		

> I don't see how they could necessarily assume that queries of one's _ICB _record not followed up by a loan being taken out were credit advancement refusals rather than, say, the borrower simply shopping around for the best deal.


Then there is the recent (last year or two) practise in certain banks to 'pre-approve' you for a loan. In the case of one major bank this involves fishing thru the ICB record , minging up a scoring system out of that fishing and then writing or calling you to say that you have been pre approved for a loan if you 'score' . 

This would create clutter in your ICB record even though you never asked for a loan. 

The other banks are wise to this bank and may indeed have a scoring system based on whether you took that loan you were pre approved for and if not why not  ????

This is all computerised and extremely obscure as the behaviour and pattern  matching has moved onto a rather abstract plane ....thats  unless you are <cough> Eddie Hobbs himself


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## legend99 (14 Jun 2005)

1. Worked on an online bank in the UK. Think we used Equifax. One of the lads was accidently connected to their live system when testing loan apps. He kept getting declined. Turned out this was on his UK record. He had to go the business analyst guy we were working with from Equifax and get his score reset as he would have been declined like a hot spud from anything else in the UK.

2. About 3 months ago I requested PTSB to move my mortgage repayment date from the end of the month to the start. However, they moved the day from 25 to 3 too late and the direct debit on the 3rd did not kick in. I got a nasty letter from them saying my mortgage was in arrears even though it was they who had messed up the direct debit move. 
Should I go back to them and address this from the point of view of demanding that this is not reported as a repayment month misssed on my mortgage by the ICB??


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## CCOVICH (14 Jun 2005)

legend99 said:
			
		

> Should I go back to them and address this from the point of view of demanding that this is not reported as a repayment month misssed on my mortgage by the ICB??


 
Yes indeed you should, and sooner rather than later.  I presume you can prove it was their fault or they have admitted their error?


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## ClubMan (14 Jun 2005)

legend99 said:
			
		

> 1. Worked on an online bank in the UK. Think we used Equifax.



Isn't _Equifax _a credit scoring/rating agency? The _ICB _is not a credit scoring/rating agency. They merely store credit history records. It is up to financial institutions or other third parties to use these credit history records to assess the credit worthiness or otherwise of potential borrowers.


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## daveco23 (14 Jun 2005)

ClubMan said:
			
		

> Isn't _Equifax _a credit scoring/rating agency? .


No, its not - it works in exactly the same way as ICB does - info only, no scoring.


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## ClubMan (14 Jun 2005)

legend99 said:
			
		

> He had to go the business analyst guy we were working with from Equifax and get his score reset as he would have been declined like a hot spud from anything else in the UK.



Can you explain the bit about getting the (credit?) score reset so?


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## Money (15 Jun 2005)

What is the Banks policy on savings if they think you own money to another lender in the EU, are banks tell other lenders that you may have debt with your deposit account details ie how much saving you may have in a a deposit account?


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## daveco23 (15 Jun 2005)

Money said:
			
		

> What is the Banks policy on savings if they think you own money to another lender in the EU, are banks tell other lenders that you may have debt with your deposit account details ie how much saving you may have in a a deposit account?



Not sure what you mean by this - If you owe Money to a bank in the UK and apply for a loan in Ireland, ICB will not have your payment history with the English bank on record.


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## Money (15 Jun 2005)

Not applying for any loans but if a credit contacts a bank in Ireland where there is savings does the bank have to tell them about the saving details - if you have savings with them and how much you have the saving account.


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## royrogers (15 Jun 2005)

My elderly uncle was going to purchase a property in Ireland in 200 and wanted to go back to his roots but due to ill health and other family compilation he did not get around to purchasing in 2000 he sold his flat in the UK and transferred it to Ireland.  He has been going back and forth since 2002 to find a place to no avail because property got too expensive there.  He left his money in on one Ireland biggest bank, 



Last year he got a letter from a debt collecting agent saying that he owed money and they were going to collect it.  My uncle did not owe the money however the debt collecting agent got wind of his saving account in Ireland and they must have contacted them.  It was amazing the way the bank in Ireland treated my uncle as if he was a criminal.  The person in the bank in Ireland who called him/herself a financial adviser was more of a problem than the debt collecting agent in the UK.   I am almost certain that my uncle details of his account were disclosed to that debt collector in the UK.  



So much for the banks confidentiality policy, how can my uncle can prove that horrible bank did not disclose his deposit details to that equally horrible debt collector.  So be very careful who you bank with in Ireland if you do not reside there they can cause you very unnecessary stress.


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## CCOVICH (15 Jun 2005)

Did you complain to IFSRA or the FSA?  I am not trying to be smart, but if the facts are indeed as you describe them, I would be very quick to do so, as this doesn't sound right to me. Can you be sure that the debt collector didn't have a way of getting this information from anywhere other than the Irish bank?

I'm only guessing, but if someone had a judgement registered against them, could a bank seek to recover the monies from a savings policy with another institution?  Is a judgement registered in the UK enforceable against Irish held assets?

P.S. I'm not suggesting your uncle had any debts or judgements, I am just asking a question in general.


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## royrogers (16 Jun 2005)

No my uncle did not have any ccj's against his name.


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## Money (20 Jun 2005)

BoI are in contact with debt collectors in the UK all the time, I have been told this by an exemployee of the Bank, does anyone know if this is true?


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## bond-007 (20 Jun 2005)

Money said:
			
		

> BoI are in contact with debt collectors in the UK all the time, I have been told this by an exemployee of the Bank, does anyone know if this is true?


 Surely there are data protection issues here. The banks can't be going around sharing info with each other.


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## daveco23 (22 Jun 2005)

bond-007 said:
			
		

> Surely there are data protection issues here. The banks can't be going around sharing info with each other.


Many Debt collection agencies in the UK have Irish operations also - this is probably what your friend means


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## Money (23 Jun 2005)

daveco23 - my friend said that their investment department had access to the credit agency records in the UK and they went through investments that were made by UK residents, mainly expats addresses, to see if there were any monies owing to other banks in the UK linked to that address.  If there were monies owing to that address then an official of the Ireland bank who was supposedly looking after the punter investment would contact a debt collector in the UK to see if they could recover the debt and if was successful they would share what money that was recovered!   

I think that this is wrong, as when you have saving in any bank than that is a private matter and details should not be divulge to anyone let along some debt collector in the UK.  

Banks in Ireland are in contact with the UK banks all the time and if they get sniff that they can get a hold of some money then they will stop at nothing to get their sticky fingers on it!


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## Money (23 Jun 2005)

This link says it all

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/4121934.stm


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## RainyDay (25 Jun 2005)

Money said:
			
		

> daveco23 - my friend said that their investment department had access to the credit agency records in the UK and they went through investments that were made by UK residents, mainly expats addresses, to see if there were any monies owing to other banks in the UK linked to that address.  If there were monies owing to that address then an official of the Ireland bank who was supposedly looking after the punter investment would contact a debt collector in the UK to see if they could recover the debt and if was successful they would share what money that was recovered!
> 
> I think that this is wrong, as when you have saving in any bank than that is a private matter and details should not be divulge to anyone let along some debt collector in the UK.
> 
> Banks in Ireland are in contact with the UK banks all the time and if they get sniff that they can get a hold of some money then they will stop at nothing to get their sticky fingers on it!


No disrespect intended, but this sounds like one of those shaggy dog stories to me. Why would the bank bother doing this?


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## Money (29 Jun 2005)

The bank has got your savings and there is no way you can prove that a financial advisor, say maybe that person is one of the 2,000 peoples that the bank is going to get rid of that was recently announced in the new, and therefore will be leaving the bank or going into debt collection or is being offered a cut of what that is recovered from a third party debt collectors in the UK, who is to know with telephone calls there is no notes made of it?  Bank advisor do not sign a confidential clause to an investor that they will not divulge what savings the have with them, do they??



I am certain that a bank official told an outside debt collector about details of an account.  In the end that BoI advisor became more intimidating that the debt collector?


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## roker (29 Jun 2005)

I was approved a loan last year, the bank gave me it in writing. Because I did not take it immediately they cancelled it, when I phone up after 5 weeks I was told it was not available. Is this recorded as a refusal?


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## RainyDay (30 Jun 2005)

Money said:
			
		

> I am certain that a bank official told an outside debt collector about details of an account.




It might help us to understand where you are coming from if you explain how you can be so certain of this?


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## daveco23 (1 Jul 2005)

moneyhoney said:
			
		

> A report in Which magazine said recently that if you shop around for loans then all queries made by banks are recorded on your file with the ICB. Is this true & if so, does it look like all these loans have been refused, as the query was made but then no loan taken?? Worrying if this is the case.


 
all applications will show up on your file. There is no info regarding refusal or acceptance although if you have been refused a few times or aplied for loans then not taken them up then tis will raise questions from lender. keep in mind that shopping around is ok.Its only when you submit an appliction form then it will show up on ICB


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## Money (2 Jul 2005)

Money

I have deleted your post.

You are an anonymous poster. 

Don't use Askaboutmoney to make serious allegations and slanderous comments.

Don't post links to long winded threads without summarising their content and relevance to an Irish financial situation.


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## Money (5 Jul 2005)

I am disappointed that you have deleted my posting all that I was doing was to allert investers in the UK about the BoI position on confidentially and the link was to let them also know the kind of people that they were in contact with.  As you have probably see the link was peoples complaints about that particular company's scams to get people to pay them.   I could not edit it as it was a link, are you saying that links only have to be of a certain kine.

I understand your guys position in Ireland ie the Bank owns most of you due to the larges mortgage loans that people have with them and obviously want to keep the bank sweet?


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## tonka (5 Jul 2005)

Money, if it happened to you personally then try to detail what happened to you  personally in a dispassionate way.

Explain how this posed a problem for you.  If BoI caused me a problem (they did with a misrepresented Pep in my case )  then I would stick to the issue and detail what happened and how it was resolved (or not) . Most BoI products and BoI staff are very reputable and totally above board but some of what they do ( or omit) amounts to shystering at times . 

Explain clearly how you felt YOU (if resident here)  were wronged according to the norms of IRISH Data Protection ...if any was applicable in your opinion.

Otherwise if the mods see a rant they will simply delete it especially a rant linked to somewhere else with abigger rant . If you moan away about the mods we will all think you are a moaner and will not pay any attention to any substantive issue that you raise.

Moderated Boards are not democracies  Way it is, sorry.


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## MarcelT (20 Jul 2005)

Hi, just looking for a bit of info/advice.
I recently applied for a loan with two different financial institutions. In short, the amount of the loan was 10,000 and the purpose was to consolidate other debts. Having gone through the arduous task of getting proof of identity etc. I was declined credit by both banks. I was quite surprised, as I have always made the required repayments on previous borrowings, with the exception of my credit card. I missed a couple of consecutive repayments, but settled the debt with the bank, and paid it in full and closed the account. I applied to the credit bureau to see what was going on and received my report. The only information enclosed was that the 2 banks had contacted them for info about me. but nothing else. I gave them addresses for me for the last 5 years.. Do I need to cal them to receive more info? I'm a bit confused. thanks


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## daveco23 (21 Jul 2005)

How long ago were these borrowings? ICB keeps records for 5 years so anything before then will not show up. When you filled in the ICB enquiry form, did you include current borrowings? Are the institutions you borrowd from registered with ICB?


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## MarcelT (21 Jul 2005)

Hi, yes I included all my borrowings from previous addresses.. The only institution I borrowed from registered with them is AIB. I called the ICB today and they said there was nothing against my name. Will banks tell you _why_ you've been refused for a loan? I can't think of anything else that could be going against me.


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## bond-007 (21 Jul 2005)

If you make a data protection request they will have to reveal the reason for refusal. They will otherwise hide behind a smokescreen of "confidentiality". Making a request under section 4 of the DPA 1988 will compel them to release all the info relating to the application including the reason for refusal.


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