Can you freeze your file?

There is no UK equivalent of the American credit freeze. You cannot ring Experian, Equifax or TransUnion and ask them to lock your file so that no lender can look at it. What the UK has instead is a warning flag placed against your name and personal details on a fraud prevention database, run by Cifas, and a statement you can add to your own credit file, called a notice of correction.

The two do different jobs. Cifas Protective Registration tells lenders to carry out extra checks before opening an account in your name. A notice of correction explains your circumstances to anyone reading your file. Neither one blocks credit, and neither one stops you applying for credit yourself.

Experian does offer something closer to a lock, but only as part of a paid subscription. With a CreditExpert or Identity Plus subscription you can lock your Experian Credit Report to help protect against fraudsters applying for credit in your name¹. That lock applies to your Experian report only, not to the files Equifax and TransUnion hold on you.

The UK has no credit freeze like the US

A credit freeze in the United States lets a consumer shut down access to their credit file so that lenders cannot see it at all. Nothing in the UK works that way. The three biggest organisations for checking your credit report are TransUnion, Equifax and Experian, and none of them offers a general freeze⁷.

What people often mean when they ask about freezing a file is protecting themselves against fraud, and there is a separate misconception tangled up in that: the idea of a credit blacklist. There is no such thing as a credit blacklist⁸. Lenders assess each application on the information in front of them, and a poor record is not a permanent bar. Experian estimates 5.8 million people have a thin or non-existent credit file in the UK, which is a different problem from a bad one⁹.

It is also worth knowing that there is no universal score used by lenders or credit reference agencies⁸. Each agency produces its own score from its own data, and each lender applies its own rules on top. That matters here because it means no single company can switch your creditworthiness off, and no single company can switch it back on either.

Protective Registration with Cifas: the closest option

Cifas is the UK's Fraud Prevention Service, and its Protective Registration is the nearest thing the UK has to a freeze. Protective registration places a warning flag against your name and other personal details on their National Fraud Database². The Information Commissioner's Office, which regulates how personal data is handled, directs people who have been affected by a data breach to contact Cifas to apply².

The effect is that lenders who check the database see the flag and know to carry out more checks before opening an account or issuing credit in your name. Independent guidance describes it as a service you contact Cifas to sign up for, after which a warning flag is placed against your details¹⁰.

There is a fee to use the service², described in independent guidance as a small fee¹⁰. Because Protective Registration is a commercial service rather than a statutory right, the fee is set by Cifas rather than by a regulator, and the sources here do not give a figure.

Will Protective Registration stop me getting credit myself?

No. It does not freeze, lock or block credit. If you have Protective Registration, you can still apply for credit, but lenders should carry out more checks to make sure it is really you¹. That is the whole point of the flag: it slows the process down rather than stopping it.

Using Cifas does not affect your credit score, but due to the extra checks it can make your credit applications take a little longer¹⁰. That delay is the trade-off. If you are applying for a mortgage or a loan and time matters, the extra checks are worth knowing about in advance.

There is a separate point about applications that fail. If you apply for a mortgage and the lender rejects you, it will be recorded on your credit file¹¹. A rejected application is not the same as a fraud marker, but it does leave a trace, which is one reason to use an eligibility checker before applying rather than applying speculatively.

Adding a notice of correction to your credit file

A notice of correction is a statement you write yourself and ask a credit reference agency to attach to your file. It allows you to write a statement explaining your situation which will be seen by anyone who looks at the entry on your credit reference file and should be taken into consideration if you apply for credit⁴. Independent guidance suggests asking the agency to add one if exceptional circumstances, like redundancy, led to your debt¹².

The practical limits are these. A notice can be up to 200 words¹³, and it is free to add¹⁴. It can be added or removed at any time, and only organisations that check your credit reference file will see it⁵. Credit reference agencies will not remove adverse information if it is correct, although consumers may ask to submit a notice of correction to explain the circumstances¹⁵.

A notice of correction will not affect your credit score, but it may affect how quickly lenders deal with any new borrowing you apply for³. Once you add one to your credit report, any application for credit must be read by a person and not given an automatic decision by a computer⁵. That human review is the benefit and the delay at the same time.

How to check your credit file for signs of fraud

The single most useful habit is to look at your own file regularly. The ICO advises people to regularly check credit card and bank statements for suspicious activity and monitor their credit report¹⁶. If you suspect a county court judgment has been made against you, check your credit report with Experian, Equifax or TransUnion¹⁷.

You can do this through Experian, Credit Karma or Equifax¹⁸, and you can check your credit file for free for any credit taken out in your name fraudulently¹⁹. If there has been any fraud against you, for example if someone has used your identity, there may be a marker against your name to protect you, and you will be able to see this on your credit file²⁰.

There are other records worth checking where fraud tends to show up. If you are checking whether deductions have been made from your pay, you can use your Personal Tax Account, HMRC app, National Insurance record, or Student Loan repayment account if you have one²¹. If you are trying to identify a lender from an old agreement, check old bank statements, contact the dealer where you got the car, or check your credit file, which you can access for free through Experian and TransUnion²².

What to do if someone has used your identity

Speed matters more than anything else here. Speak to your bank or building society straight away if you think your credit or debit card, online bank account or cheque book have been stolen or hacked²⁴. Contact your bank, credit card company and the local police on the non-emergency phone number, 101, as soon as possible²⁵.

Then report it. Contact Action Fraud using the Action Fraud online reporting tool²⁶, or report it to Report Fraud or telephone 0300 123 2040⁶. Request a copy of your credit file to check for any suspicious credit applications¹⁶, and contact Cifas to apply for protective registration¹⁶.

Be aware that your bank can act on its own account too. Payment services providers, for example banks and building societies, are allowed to block payments and freeze your current account if they suspect it has been used as part of fraudulent activity, for money laundering or other illegal activity, or if a court orders them to do so²⁰. If that happens and you disagree with how it was handled, the Financial Ombudsman Service deals with complaints about frozen accounts and blocked payments²⁰.

Where the protection stops

Neither option is a guarantee. Protective Registration does not block credit, and a notice of correction does not remove anything from your file. Credit reference agencies will not remove adverse information if it is correct¹⁵, so a notice explains a bad mark rather than erasing it.

The consequences of adverse information run on their own timetable. A default notice will negatively impact your credit rating for six years, and would be quite damaging for future financing plans²⁷. A default notice itself does not affect your credit file, but the account defaulting does²⁸. Getting a debt written off will have a negative impact on your credit reference file and may affect your ability to obtain credit for up to six years²⁹.

In Scotland the position differs in places. A Protected Trust Deed will lower your credit score and will stay on your credit report for 6 years³⁰, and a trust deed shows on your credit file for six years³¹. Where a mortgage has fallen into arrears, a notice of default says you have missed payments on your mortgage or loan³².

If money problems are behind the fraud or sitting alongside it, free and impartial help exists. StepChange, National Debtline and Citizens Advice all provide debt advice at no cost, and the Financial Ombudsman Service can look at complaints about how a bank handled a frozen account or a blocked payment²⁰.