Credit Report

A search is a footprint left behind by anyone who has requested to see a copy of your credit report from a UK Credit Reference Agency (CRA). Your TransUnion statutory credit report will show search requests to see the information held on you by TransUnion. 

A search on your credit report will confirm:

• Which organisation performed the search
• What personal information was used to search you
• When the search was made
• Why the search was done

There are many reasons why a search can be done on your credit report, for example:

• to assess your creditworthiness or eligibility when you are applying for a new financial product such as, a credit card, mortgage, or loan.
• to complete identify or anti-fraud checks 

A search is completed by an organisation with your permission (for example, when you apply for a credit card, a lender will complete a credit search on you). Searches are not permanent and will be removed from your credit report automatically after 2 years has passed. 

If you see a search on your credit report that you don’t recognise, it may be from an organisation that is part of a wider business group or umbrella organisation. For example, if you applied for an ’Argos’ store card, your search history would show a search by ’Home Retail Group’ as this is the company who would be supplying the credit.

TransUnion are not made aware of the outcome following a search or hold any further details than what is shown on your credit report. Therefore, if you’d like to know more you will need to contact the organisation who performed the search directly. If, however you believe the information is inaccurate, please raise a dispute and TransUnion will investigate on your behalf. 

Please see "What is a Notice of Dispute (NOD)?" for further details about disputes.