Why am I expected to send my original ID documents through the post in order to see my paper credit report? This puts me at risk of identity fraud, and contravenes Home Office advice.

Also, why am I expected to pay £2 for my statutory report when I could sign up to see my report online for free, then cancel my direct debit before a payment is taken?

K Stanley

I understand your concerns - identity fraud is a big problem and we must all be careful who we share our personal details with and how. This is exactly why the credit reference agencies run checks to authenticate all personal credit report applications, so we can be sure we only make them, and the very personal details they contain, available to genuine consumers.

Please don't be alarmed by our request. We regularly ask people to send us documents and for a variety of reasons. This could be because they have moved recently and have little or no information registered at their new address, or because they simply aren't very credit active.

The Government does urge us all to be vigilant with our personal details, but there's a sensible balance to be struck and, in order for society to function properly, we do need to provide details to confirm our identities from time to time and to have faith in things like the postal service.

We will return any original documents to you as soon as we've checked them, but if you're worried about sending them standard delivery, perhaps you'd feel safer using a registered service.

The Government has set the statutory fee for a copy of your credit report at £2. But, as you rightly point out, there's absolutely nothing stopping you from taking advantage of the 30-day free trial of our online service CreditExpert and checking your credit report for free. You'll also be able to try out the other benefits of the service, such as the regular alerts to key changes to your report. If you're really worried about identity fraud, monitoring your credit report in this way will alert you very quickly to most types of fraud as soon as it is attempted.

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