Credit Checks For Benefit Cheats

[mikey4444]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-26573321

"Benefit cheats will be subject to credit checks to see if they have any high-value assets, in a bid to clamp down on fraud, ministers have said"

I am all for benefit cheats being found out and dealt with. But how is credit referencing going to help ? If I had a large amount of money in a Building Society ( I wish ! ) would it show up in a credit reference check ? Ditto with large cars, etc.

I might be wrong here but I always thought debts were on the only thing held by credit reference agencies, like Experian.

[Old_Geezer]

Dunno.

It occurs to be sometimes how this desire to only help those in deep dodo affects how folk think. Fritter away wealth when you have it, rather than be prudent and responsible, and in bad times you get the help you need. Be a good citizen and forgo pleasures in order to have something behind you and when you fall on harder times you are told to clear off and spend what you have. I can see the welfare should be there to help those who need rather than want, but the result of holding that strictly is to tell folk don't bother, you end up paying both for yourself and others by your sacrifice whist they go mad in the good times and take what you provided at other times. Must be a better solution.

[DrFilth]

not read your link but when you go to sign on you have to show bank statement, building society book , shares etc , you give up all rights to any privacy

think they check with credit agency to see what info they have to see if you have any other accounts and money , property etc to cross check to see if you are telling the truth

[marje]

I think they have which banks you deal with as well.

[DrFilth]

should have also put that if you have £200 a week coming in and £320 a week going out they can see that you have undeclared income

[THECORBYLOON]

There are strict criteria that have to be satisfied before checks can be made and they are not performed routinely or on a whim. The legislation used is the Social Security Fraud Act 2001so it's been in existence for a few years now.

[DrFilth]

may i ask who checks they adhere to this strict criteria

[sandyRoe]

The checks generally uncover a bit of savings. Means tested benefits aren't available to anyone who had a few thousand in the bank.

[Peter Pedant]

Experian and Equifax are reqd by law to offer a credit check for £2
and I advise you all who 'dunno' to get one

The £2 option is usually hidden in a corner - well behind the sign up for £10 a month but it is there.

I get them regularly in case I have been zapped by an undefended CCJ..

They show - credit card repayments and whether in the last 24 you have eva been late
oh - mortgages and whether you have defaulted - so high value assets would show up on that
CCJs and bankruptcies...

Credit amounts Mikey are NOT shown

and in writing this it reminds me I need to get one for this year....

[THECORBYLOON]

There will be various checks carried out to ensure the access is justified and there will be audits performed on those checks to make sure that the checkers are performing their checks accurately. If you have a read of this, https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/code-of-practice-on-obtaining-information-social-security-fraud-act-2001, it gives some info about the process and when the Act can be used.

[Peter Pedant]

link dead Corbe

[THECORBYLOON]

Try again, https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/code-of-practice-on-obtaining-information-social-security-fraud-act-2001

[Peter Pedant]

yes yippee thanks - this will keep me off the streets for a few hours

[DrFilth]

THECORBYLOON > There will be various checks carried out to ensure the access is justified and there will be audits performed on those checks to make sure that the checkers are performing their checks accurately <

forgive me for not reading your link but may i just point out that at my old place of work we had to adhere to some rules and they involved the c and e

i am not prepared to spend an hour typing out what happened but i did prove to my gaffer that what was in print was not adhered to

for me being correct my award was to be transferred onto another shift out of his way -)

[mikey4444]

I am still not sure if a credit reference agency check will show up what you have in various Bank and BS accounts. I was under the impression that it only showed if you owed money, not had any in the first place. I will try this £2.00 check on Monday