Last year I was the victim of identity fraud. When checking my credit report, I discovered a current account at Santander I had not applied for. The fraudster had taken out a loan from Sainsbury’s Bank for £11,420 and paid it into the Santander account.
Sainsbury’s was informed and it raised an indemnity against Santander to recover the money, but told me my credit file would not be corrected until this was done.
The Santander account has been closed, but the bank loan is still reflecting on my credit report.
This seems a flagrant violation of my right to have inaccurate data rectified. JD, London
This shows the high cost of having to rely on two financial giants to communicate. Sainsbury’s claims that the first it knew of your complaint was when the Observer got in touch, and it decided to restore your credit record, which usually takes 60 days.
Santander, however, insists it alerted Sainsbury’s as soon as you reported the fraud and that it confirmed it would arrange an indemnity (a request between banks for the return of erroneously or fraudulently transferred funds) and close the loan.
Nothing more happened until eight days after I contacted Sainsbury’s. Despite telling me it had not been told of the fraud, it had chased Santander for the indemnity.
Santander insisted it had never received an indemnity request and would need 30 days to action one.
Happily, it was decided that modern technology could be embraced and the indemnity emailed.
Sainsbury’s now admits it was contacted by Santander when you discovered the fraud, but says that the rival bank failed to respond to its requests for an indemnity. It has amended your credit file and paid £100 compensation.
Who knows which bank’s inertia caused the saga; what is clear is that had you wanted to apply for credit during the weeks of waiting, you would have been refused. Even if action had been taken promptly, the 60-day timescale is far too long to amend a credit record.
• If you need help email Anna Tims at your.problems@observer.co.uk or write to Your Problems, The Observer, Kings Place, 90 York Way, London N1 9GU. Include an address and phone number
