To be surprised by just how easy it is to o rain consumer credit?

[WombForTwo]

I have the ClearScore app and keep an eye on my credit score, and regularly get credit card offers. I decided to go in today and just have a look and all of a sudden I have obtained a credit card with a £5,000 limit. No questioning of whether I want a lower limit, no ID checks, and the card is on its way to me! Surely this should be a stricter process?

Surely you're an adult who can manage your money without needing a babysitter.

Why did you take out a CC if you didn't want one?

I’m comfortable financially, it’s just surprised me just how easy it is to do. No id checks, no questions about the limit wanted. Just the maximum and away you go. I was just curious about it, and it’s shocked me.

I guess it’s just me hey! I just couldn’t believe that they issued a credit card in my name without even verifying my ID!

What do you mean "without verifying my id?"
What did you expect them to do?
Don't you have to give them your details to sign up for clear score in the first place, otherwise how would they obtain your credit rating? That will give them your address, name, dob, all other credit and bank accounts you currently have etc - what more ID do you think they need?

It's not really "all of a sudden" that you've magically ended up with a credit. They might have made the process very easy and straightforward but you've still actively chosen to apply for it.

You will have been verified - if you are Jane Smith of 12 Acacia Drive, and there is an electoral roll entry for Jane Smith of 12 Acacia Drive, and a Barclays current account and EE mobile contract for Jane Smith of 12 Acacia Drive, then why should it be a problem sending a credit card in the name of Jane Smith to 12 Acacia Drive?

I mean not taking a drivers licence picture - like you have to do when you open bank accounts online. Anyone could use my details and open up the account

That’s a fairly low limit cc, mines 25K, my ds was given one with 100K limit by his bank upon graduation from university.
As others have said, there’s information “out there” regarding your banking history.
No photo required for any cc’s.

That’s what is so concerning - they just set it up. Easy for someone to then go on and change addresses etc

But clearscore have all your details? So surely that’s the whole point with picking up an offer through them - you are effectively pre approved?

The credit referencing agency data which is used to assess your eligibility for credit provides data on you from other lenders and financial institutions about how you’ve managed your current and historical accounts. They also have access to public records, the electoral roll, and government data. They essentially know that your identity has been verified through your relationships with other financial institutions, and that you live where you’ve said you do - that’s why people who don’t have many other accounts or aren’t registered on the electoral roll struggle to obtain even small amounts of credit.

They don’t automatically know your income or whether you can afford to make repayments; but actuarial assessments are made based on the data they have available about the likelihood of somebody with your credit history being low or high risk. They’ve calculated that you’re probably a suitable candidate for lending £5,000 to.

Identity fraud does happen, of course, but with all the interconnected data systems, it requires somebody trying to steal your identity to get credit to have an awful lot of information about you. It also doesn’t usually work unless they can intercept your post and have your bank details: somebody could try to take out a credit card in your name, but if they’re using your address to obtain it, the card is going to arrive in your mail, to the address which CRAs have verified is yours, at which point you’d know something was up.

Yes but my point is you don’t have to put ID for ClearScore. It must baffled me that it was so easy

But clearscore contains bank details / mortgages / credit agreements etc that you already have so effectively they have your ID via that as they will have been validated I guess when you got them.

i suppose I have no idea if it’s possible to set up a clearscore account in someone else’s name and address but surely not…..

ClearScore explain on their website that they are a broker, and obtain information on you via the main UK credit referencing agencies, and Open Banking, from which they recommend you suitable financial products, eligibility for which is decided by the institutions providing the product in question. They aren’t lending anything to you themselves, or approving you for credit.

My point is that nobody verified it’s me signing up to ClearScore. Anyone could have obtained my details and thus got into ClearScore. It just surprised me.

That’s insane! I am incredibly surprised anyone, anywhere, would give a graduate a credit limit of £100,000. That seems like a huge risk for any bank to take.

They will check your ID electronically when you sign up. No need for physical documents.

I highly doubt they did. I earn a lot and was only offered £5k off the bat.

But my point is they didn’t ask for any ID docs

That’s why your application still has to go through the lender’s processes - and they will use all available data out there, including your verified relationships with other institutions, to establish, to the best of their knowledge, that you are you. ClearScore is just an intermediary, suggesting products you might like.

@StormyPotatoes as parents we laughed as well, he could have bought a car or a decent down payment on a house!
being a decent human he contacted the bank and requested the limit be changed to 2K.

Are you just purposely ignoring that they did not ask for any ID docs whatsoever

I’m not purposely ignoring it, I’m trying to explain why they don’t need to. Read up on how credit referencing and Open Banking works, you’ll gain more understanding processing it yourself.

Of course they need to. They have verified that the profile on ClearScore lines up with my details. They haven’t verified that I am the person then using these details to sign up for credit.

Either read up on it yourself, or take it from me: you haven’t uncovered some esoteric flaw in the entire financial services industry which nobody else has ever thought about and means lenders have no idea whatsoever who they’re lending to.

They don’t need to. They use electronic systems that take your name/address/DOB and check it against your footprint. Yes someone else could use your details. Anyone could take out a credit card in your name. You wouldn’t know about it until you received the bill. At that point you would report it as identity theft.