Credit Rating: How it works and How to improve it discussion area

Hazzinho

Again ignore the scores, don't worry about them. If you have or had joint accounts you will be financially associated so remove any associations from closed accounts, financial associates impact your credit file.

As I mentioned get the reports from all three agencies direct, the reports aren't all the same.

scorpioyorks

Great, will do that then, thanks for your advice :-)

RL11

My credit score seems to be getting lower and lower! This time last year it was 5/5 and now it's 3/5! (Noddle). I have never missed a payment, never had a ccj, have always been on the electoral role, have lived at same address for 19 years and earn a very good salary. I cannot think what would make my score get worse except that I have a large amount on interest free across several cards. I was just turned down for a Lloyds card that I wanted to use to transfer a balance to. Presumably that will make my score worse again?! If I can't get another card, I will have to pay off the CC but would rather do that than risk another application failure. What can I do to get my credit score back up, other than pay off some of the CC's I already have? How can I find out EXACTLY why I failed the CC companies criteria? e.g. If I knew that if I closed one card or paid off a certain amount, I would do just that but I don't know how I find out that information. Why don't they say exactly what the reason is? Credit reports don't seem to be a way to tell me why my score is low unless it's something obvious - and I have nothing obvious keeping it low. Incidentally my wife has a 5/5 score but earns a fraction of my salary!!!

danlightbulb

Hi. In the MSE article on credit scoring it only refers to equifax, experian and call credit as the three credit reference agencies.

However there is also a company called noddle who offer free for life credit reports. Is the information on noddle the same as the big three agencies?

Tessie_Balloon_Juice

danlightbulb wrote: »

Hi. In the MSE article on credit scoring it only refers to equifax, experian and call credit as the three credit reference agencies.

However there is also a company called noddle who offer free for life credit reports. Is the information on noddle the same as the big three agencies?

Noddle is a free service offered by CallCredit. If you have a look under the Noddle logo on the website, you'll see it says "Part of the CallCredit Information Group".

MrsWinters

Sorry if this has been asked already.
I have never had CCJs, or been declared bankrupt, however, over the last few years I have succumbed to payday loans as well as missed payments on phone bills and my barclaycard (change of bank accounts and that dd not going through). I have 2 missed payments on a payday loan at the moment, but that will be paid off in full next month.

How bad will my credit score be, and how long until I can fix it?

MrsWinters

Well, good job I stumbled upon this! Just checked my status on Noodle and had poor credit. The only things that showed up as flagged was a late payment on my credit card, which I knew about, and also a lending stream loan. I don't owe lending stream anything!
I've disputed it, so hopefully that will clear up.
My credit score is still low though

matttye

MrsWinters wrote: »

Well, good job I stumbled upon this! Just checked my status on Noodle and had poor credit. The only things that showed up as flagged was a late payment on my credit card, which I knew about, and also a lending stream loan. I don't owe lending stream anything!
I've disputed it, so hopefully that will clear up.
My credit score is still low though

Don't worry about the score - it doesn't mean anything. It's the information in your reports you need to concentrate on.

magnace

I had some debt problems a while ago but I've been debt free for two years apart from a credit card from Vanquis (since settled) and replaced by Capital One I am using to build a good credit score.

My credit limit was £500 when I opened the account, but after a few months I was offered £1500. Because I didn't want to extend my credit beyond my means to repay in full each month I turned it down. I thought this was the responsible thing to do.

However I obtained my Experian credit report and discovered because I have a low credit limit (and use about 90% of the limit each month) this is a Negative factor in my report!

So much for a credit score building solution!

I wonder if this should be reviewed by the lenders?

Rather than looking at a low credit limit (especially in combination with the %usage of that limit) as a negative it should be reflected that the borrower is repaying in full each month. and could borrow more but has chosen to live within their means and not stretch themselves.

Of course this won't happen because people like me who repay in full every month don't make any money for the lenders!

The lenders want you to borrow beyond your ability to repay in full each month so they can charge interest and fees etc.

So I've asked Capital One to increase my limit to £1000.

Therefore when I use about £4-500 I'll be well below the 75% usage threshold that Experian say I need to be to improve my credit score. Also I'll still be able to repay the balance in full each month without paying interest etc.

Now I know how to play the game I hope my credit score will start to go up!

PS Just signed up with Noodle - 1/5! Seems my score can only go up from here!

black_taxi_2

took me 8 months to sort out electoral roll,equifax--they said I wasn't on,been in same property since 95.it was catch 22,council call my flat 1f2,electoral roll 12/5.