Cifas markers please help!

[Daisychainsandglitter]

On Thursday my credit card was compromised and the entire balance was spent.
The money was refunded via Nat West and they advised that my details would be uploaded to cifas to protect me should anyone try and steal money from my account again.
The letter I have from Nat west says that this can be in place for up to two years so I thought this would be the victim of an impersonation category.
My credit report via equifax has now flagged that it's been logged as a facility takeover fraud which looks as though it can stay on your credit report for 6 years. It also has a big red flag and I have a horrible feeling it's now going to be really difficult to apply for credit in the future. Does anyone know what this means and if I should ask for it to be removed?

It isn't necessarily difficult to apply for credit. However, this will flag up and you won't automatically have credit agreed.

I was an lending underwriter who dealt with applications where there was CIFAS info. It meant that applications were flagged to me so I could look at the information held and assess the risk.

My assessment would be based on many factors. However, if you had the affordability and the CIFAS information presented as you described then it would not affect the outcome of the application and I would agree the request.

In your case it means we do extra checks to ensure that the application is genuine and from you. So it does protect you from fraud in the future.

Thank you- should I be concerned as everything I read about cifas category 4 appears to be very negative and says 6 years instead of the 2 that Nat west advised me of.

I wouldn't be concerned at the timescale.

The marker will help protect you from being a victim of fraud.
It means extra checks when you apply for credit but is positive overall.

Thank you that's put my mind at rest I was scaring myself reading horror stories in the early hours this morning!

It isn't a negative, it is to protect you from further fraud/ID fraud.

I had one put myself on my credit file after fraudsters targeted my building and stole mail from our post boxes. Then someone got a credit card in my name using the stolen mail.

Thankfully I spotted the fraud and alerted the bank.

Having a Cifas notice just means that companies are warned to be very careful when someone applies for credit, a mobile phone and so on in your name and to do additional checks to verify the identity of the person making the application.

You can also ask Equifax and the others to add a note of clarification to your file. I did the as well and added a note that I had been victim of ID theft, had requested a CIFAS notice myself for extra protection and that any company should ask to see proof of iD like a passport before approving any application and be extra careful.