02 ruined my daughters life

I’m not understanding why you waited the 6 years it takes to simply “drop off” the credit history.
If you are the victim of fraud you report it to the police. You get a crime ref number and then you open a dispute with the credit agency.
I was the victim of a similar fraud, except with catalogue bills that I had never even heard of. This was 14 years ago. I reported it to the police, didn’t take them long to confirm it was indeed fraud, they gave me a ref number and I reported it to Experian. Took a couple of months but Experian removed it all from my credit file and my score shot back up

This sounds mad. Incredibly unlucky with such devastating results. Has she spoken to CAB to find out how to minimise the impact of the identity theft?

OP, i work for O2. And have shared this post on Workplace which is the business version of Facebook. Hopefully you will get some help.

Because it was fraud. Action fraud, the credit reference agencies and the courts sorted it out fairly quickly and cancelled the fraudulent transactions showing on our credit files/ the court system. There is no record of them after that it’s like they didn’t happen

You need to speak to Experian.

Fraud doesn’t stay on your credit file as bad credit.
C’mon, who on earth would/ should tolerate that?!? You’re a victim of a crime and your life is impacted for 6 years as though you actually committed it?!
Your credit file is updated and it’s removed when you provide evidence it’s fraud (your action fraud crime number and confirmation from the company usually)

edited to add- I know this is basically what you’re saying but wanted to emphasise that this would 100% not be a impact of fraud

This happened to us and we also lost a house. Multiple lines of credit taken out AND. A ccj awarded.

Whilst stressful, it was easily sorted and once sorted has no long term impact on your credit rating- it’s simply removed. Action fraud were excellent. We also have a marker for future fraud which makes it slightly harder for us to get our own credit but only admin wise.

we bought another house shortly after as the first had fallen through.

as others have said the not being able to buy a house makes no sense- not least because multiple mobile phone records is hardly a credit problem it itself 🤨 as well as it should’ve been sorted and had no impact after that.

Are you sure she’s telling the absolute truth? Waiting for 6 years wasn’t necessary if she took action and now another 6 years potentially. Before you start contacting press I’d make very sure the story is 100% accurate.

It’s not quite adding up that this would take six years to sort out, would stop her getting a mortgage or that the exact same thing would happen just as she is trying to buy a house for the second time

6 years is the time limit on bad credit. Bad credit expires.

Similar happened to my friend; She can go to a mortgage broker, they will search lenders who will lend. Not all will but there are deals out there.

But she does need to clean this up - as she didn’t get it removed - did she pay it?

Once in contact with the company you are liable - did she ignore all the emails?

You need a strong letter to O2 explaining the issues and see where you get.

I had a similar proble. But not as serious. I signed up to clearscore and experian, looked at what was on file and cleared my credit history. My issue was also a phone (vodafone) that used to be a work phone. My old company had not removed it from my name and some run up a massive bill in my name. I provided all details to Vodafone and they cleared ir from my records.

Something not right here. When she gets it sorted out this time I would suggest she checks her credit file at least monthly. I'm with Credit Karma and they send me an email if something nee appears on my file and also an email regularly to check. Takes seconds and means you are on the ball straight away if anything has gone wrong.

So did the person who did it give your daughters address or a made up one?

Did they forge your daughter's ID?

Once is unlucky but twice is mad.

You can become culpable if you are aware this has happened and don’t report it immediately. Say they were sending bills to her address and she just ignored them or something.

But not for an innocent victim, they can get them removed as soon as they flag them up. It is an offender who has to wait 6 years.

I had defaults and lots of financial issues of my own doing and sorted it and still got bought a house within the same year. Something isn't right, she's either not handled it right or is lying to you. All it takes is a few phone calls to sort things and have thinks removed if it's a genuine mistakes never mind illegal actions

Get her to write to her MP and ask for urgent assistance, they can be very helpful.

Or Moneybox. A great consumer rights programme on BBC sounds.

Firstly you need to contract the police about the fraud. The credit agencies who should remove the adverse credit with evidence that it's fraud. There are also some sub prime lenders who offer mortgages to those with adverse credit but it should not come to that