A credit reference agency is an independent body who will hold information about your credit worthiness. The can provide you with a statutory credit report under section 7 of the Data Protection Act 1998.

The information held by credit reference agencies are used by lenders and credit card companies to decide whether or not to grant you credit.

The way credit reference agencies collect their information is through the following.

• Electoral roll details. Updated every December the credit reference agencies information is directly updated.
• County Court Judgments. Information is gathered from the County Courts in England and Wales and the Sheriff’s Courts in Scotland. This type of information is kept for 6 years.
• Bankruptcies. This information is gathered from the official London, Edinburgh or Belfast Gazettes or from Insolvency Services.
• From existing lenders. Lenders provide the agencies with information on your current loans and credit agreements. This helps to make sure you are managing your credit in a proper way.
• Previous loan / credit applications or credit searches
• Previous addresses
  

  It must be pointed out that credit reference agencies do not make any decisions on you loan or credit application. They only provide the lender with your credit worthiness information

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