Jill Stevens of Experian

This is from Asil from Strathclyde. Is it safe to divulge personal information to a website offering me a credit report?

The three credit reference agencies in the UK are Experian, Equifax and Callcredit. Websites that offer you your credit report must deal with one or other of these on your behalf. Experian prefers to deal directly with consumers so that we can answer any queries they have about the information we hold and be sure that they are given the proper help and advice if they need any.

Mandy emailed this:

My husband and I take out credit cards with 0% interest and put the money in a high rate savings account. We pay off the balance before any interest is due. Does this affect our credit rating in anyway? We saved about �375 last year.

Your savvy behaviour is obviously paying dividends. Well done. But in order to maintain your creditworthiness you should cancel any cards you are not using. Lenders are under a lot of pressure to lend responsibly so they look at how much credit you have access to, as well as how you have managed your accounts in the recent past. If they see you have several cards with money available they might say no when you next apply for your 0% card.

Peter from Hoddesdon has this question:

Is it a legal obligation to have a credit rating? As a pensioner I am concerned about identity fraud. Can one opt out or be de-registered?

If you have a mortgage or other credit then you are likely to have a credit report.

Lenders are legally allowed to store information about their credit customers with a credit reference agency with the consent of the customer. And you will have given that permission in the past, Peter.

Nearly everyone has a credit report so it doesn't put you much more or less in danger of identity fraud. Luckily, being a pensioner does mean you are probably less likely to be targeted, simply because fraudsters are looking for victims who are likely to be granted high amounts of credit. Identity fraud does exist, but it's not something we should all be scared of.

We should just take proper precautions with our personal information and be glad that there is help available if we are caught. You could add a password to your credit report if you were really concerned, but I don't think you need to be. Christine from South Oxfordshire says: I was the victim of identity fraud in July this year; someone went into three stores in less than a week and tried to take out store cards in my name. They succeeded at two - getting away with goods worth �5,500. Luckily Christine found out and stopped the third attempt.

But this third fraudulent application is still on her credit record.

Should she bother to get it removed?

There are many ways in which fraudsters can get information about consumers. We just have to be very careful not to give our personal details to anyone who shouldn't have them.

Public registers do contain information about us, but not usually enough for a fraudster to get credit in our name or plunder our bank accounts. And we have to have some measure of trust, or life becomes impossible. There are people, and organisations, that we have to give our details to and we just have to trust that our data is safe with them. It's a fact of modern life.

You've been unlucky, Christine, and someone has managed to impersonate you despite all the precautions you take. But you've done the right thing by taking out CIFAS protective registration. More can be done, though, and if you contact Experian's Victims of Fraud team, we will make sure that all the information relating to the fraud is removed from your credit report. Because, no, you shouldn't have to wait for it to 'drop off'. While it's there it could be damaging your credit history.

We formed the Victims of Fraud team at Experian because people who have been targeted by fraudsters need special help to quickly and efficiently clear their credit reports. If you contact the Consumer Help Service (www.experian.co.uk/consumer or 0844 481 8000) and tell them you're a victim of fraud you'll get referred to someone who can give you this special help.

John from Cheltenham emailed this: I recently opened a current account with a well known bank. This resulted in searches being conducted, and resulted in my rating being dropped from 'excellent' (this was the norm) to 'good'. My wife and I are both solvent, we have no debt. But i was surprised to discover that there are influences.

Can you explain these technicalities that can reduce your credit rating?

Nobody knows exactly how lenders score, or rate, applications. The way in which they decide whether or not to lend is a commercial secret. They don't tell us and they don't tell their customers.

We give consumers some idea of how a lender would view the information on their credit report, but we do stress that this is just a guide and not a definitive score, or rating.

Lenders take lots of different things into account. They'll look at how much credit you already use and how much you have access to. They'll sometimes ask you how much you earn and what job you do and whether or not you own your home. And they will see how many times you've applied for credit in the last year.

They're really looking for abnormal behaviour, which can suggest that you are either applying for lots of credit, or that you're the victim of fraud. So having just one or two searches on your credit report may affect your credit report score, but if you apply for credit 'in real life' it is unlikely to affect you badly as long as everything else is as it should be.

Lyn from Birmingham says: I keep receiving e-mails from 'CreditExpert' saying they are a service of Experian and that if I click on the links and answer their questions they will provide me with a free credit report. They want details of my date of birth. I am wary of providing this information via the internet. Are they genuine?

CreditExpert is a bona fide company owned by Experian. If you don't want to receive e-mails from them, unsubscribe or reply asking them to remove you from their mailing list.

However, you are right to be wary because fraudsters use phishing e-mails, which pretend to come from respectable companies, to get you to provide your personal details to them.

If you are interested in any service but nervous about clicking through from an e-mail, access the website by putting in the web address you know to be correct in the usual way via your browser.

The CreditExpert credit report monitoring service lets you view your Experian credit report online and alerts you when there is any significant change to your credit information. The other credit reference agencies offer similar services.

You are asked for your name, address and date of birth as part of the application process. This is the same whichever way you apply for your credit report. So if you would like to try this service free for 30 days and see your credit report online, then you are quite safe providing this information to www.creditexpert.co.uk as it is a very secure website.

Andrew says he received letters from a big utility and telephone company that he's not a customer of. He's worried that a check has been made on his address and it will affect his credit score.

He was recently made redundant and is trying to clear the arrears he built up during that time.

I'm sorry to hear about your redundancy. Your credit arrears are what will affect your creditworthiness rather than any record of checks, so you're concentrating on the right thing by clearing your debts.

And checks are made on people, not addresses, so if something funny has been going on, your credit status shouldn't be affected.

However, I think you should get a copy of your credit report and find out exactly what is on there, just in case someone has accurately used your name and address, or in case the name used was so close to your own as to be listed as you. This can happen sometimes.

If there is information on your report that shouldn't be there, we will help you get it removed. And if you've been the victim of fraud it won't affect your creditworthiness, as long as we help you get your credit report sorted out.

Mike from Cheshire emailed to ask this:

I have requested clarification of a bill from a major utility company and they responded with a threatening letter stating that if I do not pay soon they may use a debt recovery agency which could affect my credit status.

Where do I stand if they do proceed to take unreasonable action which affects my credit standing? Do I have a possible action for defamation?

More usefully - since suing for defamation can be a lengthy and expensive business - you have the right to be treated fairly and for the information on your credit report to be accurate.

I'm surprised that your query generated this response. Reputable companies are usually happy to explain their charges and only get 'heavy' when someone persistently fails to pay. And I'm concerned when any organisation uses someone's credit status as a threat, veiled or otherwise.

The fact that a debt recovery company was involved wouldn't in itself affect your credit status. What would affect it is the fact that the utility company had decided you had defaulted on your arrangement with them. Or took out a court order against you for repayment. So you do need to sort this out as quickly as you can.

If you continue to have problems, you might consider getting help from your local Citizens Advice Bureau.

The Office of Fair Trading has issued guidelines for companies collecting debt. If you think they've been breached you can ask the Credit Services Association, which represents debt collectors, to act or you can involve Trading Standards. The full guidelines can be found at: www.oft.gov.uk/shared_oft/business_leaflets/consumer_credit/oft664.pdf

Ralph emailed us: I'm 64 and do not need any credit.

I would like to disable all credit enquiries to the credit reference agencies to avoid any risk of credit fraud.

He can see two options: the first one pay Cifas �11 a year for a password. Or somehow establish the worst credit rating so they won't lend on it!

You can add a note containing a password to your credit report for free. If a fraudster applies for credit in your name at your address they will be asked to provide the password before any application is processed.

You need to contact all three credit reference agencies and arrange for each of them to add the note. This will have the same affect as using the CIFAS Protective Registration Service. You pay for that because they do the work for you.

Adding a password is a much safer way than destroying your creditworthiness! It may not appear valuable at the moment, but you never know when you might need your good credit history.

Tristan from Cumbria says he was called by a company called Dunn & Bradstreet who wanted to update his credit file. He found out his credit rating was low because he had not given them enough information. When he asked for his file to be removed, the company refused - they said they collect information from Companies House and other public information sources. Where does he stand?

Business credit is not my area and I obviously cannot comment on a particular, and rival, company's business practices but can assure you that the file that you are talking about here relates solely to the creditworthiness of your business and is not your personal credit report.

Business bureaus are very well established and do hold information about companies, large and small, which other businesses consult before granting commercial credit facilities. Most of the information comes from publicly available sources, such as Companies House for limited companies and other public sources for non limited concerns. The only reason my company would call a business would be to verify the information we held.

Your personal credit report is a very different document and can be accessed only with your permission when you apply for credit. Some of the information on your personal credit report comes from public sources, like the electoral roll, but the financial information is private and the lenders who provide it have to obey very strict rules and have to have the consumer's consent to share it with each other. As a lawyer I expect you know, John, that you can see your credit report, amend anything that is inaccurate and add a note to explain any of the information if you wish.

I think you should raise your concerns with a senior member of the business information company that contacted you.