Data sharing

We share data with Credit Reference Agencies. We highlight this to you in privacy statements included in your bills and also here on our website.

How and why we share your data:

Why are we sharing data with Credit Reference Agencies?

We will share your personal information with Credit Reference Agencies and Fraud Prevention Agencies to better understand our customers and help:

prevent criminal activity, fraud and money laundering
verify the accuracy of the data you have provided
better tailor the services and products we provide to you
you to build a credit history
identify early sign of financial hardship so that we may extend appropriate support
assist in the prevention of over indebtedness
trace and recover debts - helping to keep your bills lower
manage your account
assess creditworthiness

Do Anglian Water need my consent to Data Share with the Credit Reference agencies?

Most of the personal data that we collect from or about you is needed to enable us to comply with legal obligation and to pursue our legitimate interests in a way which might reasonably be expected as part of running our business, and which does not materially impact your rights, freedom or interests.

The sharing of your information with Credit Reference Agencies does not require your consent. It is done for the purposes of legitimate interests pursued by Anglian Water. The legitimate interest in data sharing is to promote responsible lending, prevention of bad / unpaid debt, prevention of fraud and money laundering, etc.

We may carry out credit and identity checks on you whilst you are customer of Anglian Water.

Can anyone access or view my personal Data?

Your financial information will only be available to members of the sharing scheme administered by the Credit Reference Agencies. The information-sharing scheme is carefully regulated, by the law, and by strict rules drawn up by the organisations who share information.
 
The identities of the Credit Reference Agencies, their role also as fraud prevention agencies, the data they hold, the ways in which they use and share personal information, data retention periods and your data protection rights with the Credit Reference Agencies are explained in more detail in the Credit Reference Agency Information Notice (CRAIN).

What is a Fraud prevention Agency?

Fraud Prevention Agencies collect maintain and share information on known and suspected fraudulent activity.
 
We need to detect and prevent fraud, money laundering and crime and pass this information to the police and organisations involved in crime and fraud prevention.
 
We use personal data to protect ourselves and you from fraud by verifying your identity.

How will Data Sharing affect me?

Where payments are made on time the sharing of information about the regular payment of water bills will contribute positively towards building a credit history, particularly for customers who are not financially active in other credit services. This may extend the options available to those customers for accessing mainstream credit and financial services and products.
 
Where payments are made outside of our payment terms this may have a negative impact on your credit score and could cause you to be refused credit.

If you are having problems paying your bill, we may be able to help, please call us on 0800 169 3630.

More about Credit Reference agencies:

What are Credit Reference Agencies?

Credit Reference Agencies collate data on individuals or companies, about their borrowing and repayment history, which allows lenders and other organisations, such as utility companies, to make decisions about whether to lend money or what is the best method for a customer to pay based on reliable and consistent information.
 
The three main consumer credit reference agencies in the UK are Experian, TransUnion, and Equifax. They are also Fraud Prevention Agencies. We share data with all three agencies. We started to share date with Experian in 2014, TransUnion in 2016 and with Equifax in 2020.

Where can I find detailed information on how you share data with Credit Reference Agencies?

For more detailed information on how we share data with Credit Reference Agencies and what else we do with your information please see our privacy notice.

Where do the Credit Reference Agencies get their information from?

Most of the information held by the CRAs relates to how you have maintained your credit and service/utility accounts and it comes from Banks, Building societies, credit card, utilities and telecommunication companies. It also includes details of your previous addresses and information from public sources such as the electoral roll, public records including county court judgments, bankruptcy and insolvency data, Fraud Information may also come from fraud prevention agencies.

How do I contact the Credit Reference Agencies?

TransUnion
One Park Lane, Leeds LS3 1EP
0330 024 7574
consumer@transunion.co.uk

Experian
PO Box 9000, Nottingham NG80 7WP
0344 481 0800
consumer.helpservice@uk.experian.com

Equifax
PO Box 100436, Leicester LE3 4FS
0333 321 4043
equifax.co.uk

Queries about your account or your credit report:

How do I get a copy of my credit report?

Everyone has the right to request a copy of the information held about them from any of the Credit Reference Agencies. If you want to request information about your financial standing, look for the phrase ‘statutory report’ on the Credit Reference Agencies websites. You don’t need to pay a fee for obtaining a statutory report. You can find out how to contact the credit reference agencies we use under ‘How do I contact the Credit Reference Agencies?’

What can I do if I can see you are holding Incomplete or Inaccurate data?

Please make us aware as soon as possible if any information that we hold about you is incomplete or inaccurate.

We’ll update our records and update the information we share about you with the Credit Reference Agencies. There are some instances where we may ask you to send supporting evidence so that we can complete the update for you. If something doesn’t look right on your credit file you should also contact the Credit Reference Agencies directly.

If you believe there is an error on your credit report, you can contact us on 0800 169 3630 or send an email using our online enquiry form.

Why has my credit score has been affected by Anglian Water?

Each Credit Reference Agency (CRA) has its own method of calculating your credit score and this is calculated from all of the credit data the Credit Reference Agency holds about you.

You can find out more about how your credit score has been calculated, by contacting the Credit Reference Agency directly.

Understanding your payment arrangement and how it affects you

We have two types of payment arrangements. The first is a payment scheme the other is an instalment plan.

Payment schemes:
A payment scheme is set so that you’re paying for your services as you are using them. When the bill is issued, you’ll have paid enough to cover your bill amount. We review these payments once a year to make sure that they are in line with your charges and that they will continue to cover them. A payment scheme will meet our payment terms and will contribute positively towards your credit file.

Instalment plans:
An Instalment Plan is a temporary payment arrangement, which is set at a lower amount to spread the cost of your bills over a longer period of time at an amount you can afford. We don’t review these in the same way as payment schemes.
We may increase the instalment amounts annually, in line with average price increases, and recommend customers contact us to review the instalment amounts whenever personal circumstances change. As an instalment plan is set at an affordable amount to clear arrears on your account, it may have a negative impact on your credit score.

We’ll report the overall account balance, whilst also reporting a status to represent the age of the balance i.e. a status 1 represents it’s overdue by 1 month or more, 2 for 2 months or more and so on up to 6.  However, we also make sure that it’s shown you are making payments toward the balance by reporting an accompanying ‘Arrangement Flag’.

My credit file shows I have missed payments with Anglian Water?

This is calculated on your account’s arrears status. It is determined by how many months overdue your oldest balance is (i.e. a status 1 represents that the balance is overdue by 1 month or more, a status 2 for 2 months or more, and so on, up to a status 6). If you are set up a lowered instalment plan payment arrangement that won’t clear your existing charges before your next bill’s produced, you will also see an accompanying Arrangement Flag to demonstrate you are set up on a payment arrangement and making weekly/fortnightly/monthly payments toward the balance.

My credit file shows a default from you?

A default may be registered against you when your outstanding balance is 90 days or more overdue, where you do not have a payment arrangement set up with us and where you have not contacted us to pay the outstanding balance.

We’ll send you a default notice before the default is registered to make you aware that we intend to register a default against you and ask you to contact us to pay the balance prior to registration. If the outstanding balance remains unresolved and you fail to contact us to set up an arrangement or make payment in full, we’ll register a default against you.

Once a default has been registered against you, a separate default record will be created, and we’ll continue to report against the default record until your defaulted balance has been paid in full.

Water companies do differ to other utilities and lenders, this is because we will continue to provide you with an ongoing service after a default has been registered against you. This means any future bills which remain unpaid for 90 days or more with no arrangement in place can be added into your default record and your default balance will increase.

Where any future bills have been added and where the default balance has not been cleared in full, it is possible for you to see a running default for more than 6 years. However, this will involve the oldest default details dropping off the record at year 6, but the default date along with the default balance amended to those bills included that are less than 6 years old.

How will an agreed payment holiday on my account reported?

Where we’ve agreed and applied a payment holiday to your account, your reporting to the Credit Reference Agencies will not worsen whilst the payment holiday lock is in place.

I’ve been accepted for the Breathing Space Government Scheme

Breathing space is a government Debt Respite Scheme which is designed to give you time to receive debt advice and find a solution to sort out your debt problems. We’ll continue to report to the Credit Reference Agencies as normal each month by telling them your balance, the age of your balance (status) and tell them if an arrangement is in place.

However, whilst you are in Breathing Space, we won’t register a new default against you. If a default has already been registered against you before you entered the Breathing Space scheme, your default will continue to report to the Credit Reference Agencies each month.

What about Joint Accounts?

Where both you and a spouse or financial associate are living at the same property and both named on your Anglian Water account, your data will also be linked to the data of your spouse, any joint applications or other financial associates.

The link will be reported to the Credit Reference Agencies who will also link your records together, this means other companies like banks or insurers might be able to see this in the future. When a joint account is closed, and your account balance has been settled you can contact the Credit Reference Agencies to request a disassociation from that individual. 

Why can I see multiple Anglian Water Records on my Credit File?

You may see more than one record from us where you have held more than one Anglian Water Account number for a different address.

You may also see more than one record if we have registered a default against you. When we first begin your reporting to the Credit Reference Agencies you will have a Current record with us which receives a monthly report. If we later register a Default against you because your balance is overdue by 90 days or more, we’ll transfer the defaulted balance into a separate default record, and your existing current record will close. From then on, a new current record will be created for future bills that aren’t included in the Default.

The same principal applies if any new bills become overdue by 90 days or more with no payment arrangement in place, they’re transferred into the existing Default, closing the current record and creating a new current record for on-going bills.

This is different to other lenders and utilities, as Water companies will continue to provide a service after an account has been registered in default.

My credit file is showing information about someone else who has the same name as me but a different date of birth, what can I do?

In some cases, there may have been a mix up caused by people with the same name living at the same address commonly referred to as a mixed credit file.

Mixed credit files are caused by two individuals sharing nearly identical identifying information, such as names, addresses, dates of birth, and even Social Security numbers.

If you are an Anglian Water Customer, please ask us to update any incomplete information we hold about you for example: provide us with your full name rather than an initial, any middle name(s) along with your date of birth. You should also notify the Credit Reference Agencies who can carry out further checks for you and help you to separate your mixed file. The Credit Reference agencies may need you to provide evidence of your correct address and ask you to provide any information they need.

What is a notice of correction?

If you're concerned about information on your credit report you can ask the Credit Reference Agencies to apply a short statement to your credit file to explain a period of debt, this is called a Notice of Correction.

A Notice of Correction is most often applied for one-off incidents, where there were mitigating circumstances. It explains why a debt is showing up and why this is not reflective of your general approach to meeting repayments. Examples of why you might request a notice of correction include missed payments due to unemployment or illness. You’ll need to contact the Credit Reference Agencies directly to find out more and if this is the right approach for you.

What does a Q Flag and Status U on my credit report mean?

A Query (Q) Flag along with a U status is reported to the Credit Reference Agencies when we have placed a hold on your account and has been sent to represent an account query at the time of reporting to the CRA’s. For example, we have held your account because you have raised an account dispute, there is a consumption query or payment query with us.

Further information

For more detailed information on how we share data with Credit Reference Agencies and what else we do with your information please see our Privacy Notice.

You can find out how to get in touch with us here.

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Data sharing