NO2ID

Did you know that these companies are working closely with the Government ? At Cabinet Office level ? And is any-one taking any notice ?
Regards to you all.
James

They are now working to register the details of all UK housing, whether privately 'owned' - which means mortgaged, or not, which means rented.
And I hear a whisper that they are building databases of all movements into and out of rented accommodation.
Presumably to catch terrorists. Who would never bother investing long-term in bricks and mortar.

CRAs are the biggest 'silent' menace that we face today in the surveillance society. Bigger even than the police, even with their rapacious appetite for information.

The information they now hold on all UK residential addresses is allowing them to sell that information to local authorities for such matters as investigation of 'illegal' sub-letting of council housing and 'fraudulent' single-person council tax rebates. Forgetting the ethics and legality of the practices under investigation, you didn't think that registering to vote or having a current account would allow all sorts of nosey s*ds to go traipsing through the details of your private life on a whim did you? But what else can you expect from a bunch of companies quite willing to do business with pay-day lenders and other such shining exemplars of private enterprise ?

It used to be the case that CRAs only supplied information to organisations that provided it to them. For example, banks furnish the CRAs with monthly updates on all customer accounts, and in return get to access all your most private finanical information from all other contributing organisations. So how do councils fit in to this, I wonder? They don't supply anything - not even the electoral role. That is TAKEN by the CRAs. Maybe the rules have changed and anyone can now buy information from these parasites - anyone know?

Look at their websites, or marketing materials.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-21533587

This story has taken a couple of years to be picked up by the BBC.
It's funny that it says student loans data is not included in credit reports.
The company I work for has been supplying student loans data to credit agencies for years.
What can they be doing with it?

Is this one of the most stupid signs ever:

The Virgin Media shop in Middlesbrough has a sign to greet customers proclaiming ....

Credit Checks are Free

It beggars belief. Yes. Did you know, when the spotty faced youth in the shop pours over your most intimate financial details just so that you can have a mobile phone, you don't need to pay! How good is that!