Searches are the footprints left behind by anyone who has visited your credit report. They exist to say who, what, when, and why your credit report was viewed, each time it’s viewed a new footprint will appear.

Search footprints are not permanent and will disappear from your report automatically after 2 years. Searches can only be carried out on your credit file with your permission, which is usually applied and granted in the terms and conditions of a new service or product you are using or making an application for.

There are lots of different reasons why your credit report may have been viewed; such as assessing your credit worthiness following an application for credit you’ve made, performing anti-fraud checks as well as verifying you are who you say you are or providing you with quotes for the best deals.

If you do not recognise the name of an organisation who has performed a search on your credit file, the organisation in question might be part of a wider business group and therefore displays a different company name to the one you are expecting to see (e.g. a credit search performed for an ‘Argos’ store card would show up on your search history as ‘Home Retail Group’, as it is this company who would supply the credit. Likewise, if you searched for an insurance quote using a comparison site, the search may show a Group or partner company name.