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

D3xt3r5L4b

timemeans123 said:

Thanks but how do I go about getting it removed?

You don’t. 

 No one sees the notifications apart from you. 

timemeans123

Sorry i possibly wasn’t clear. It appears this missed payment hasn’t brought my credit rating from good down to poor! So it’s definitely having an impact and I need to understand how to get it removed 

[Deleted User]

But there is no missed payment.

Your score has dropped because the CRA sent the notification.  But no one cares about the score.

timemeans123

So what’s the purpose of a credit rating?

[Deleted User]

At best, a very, very rough guide to how you're doing, but more generally to monetise the CRA sites.  But the accuracy is so low, with extremely good and extremely poor customers being rated the same as long as they don't change their behaviour, it's best to just ignore it and look at the data, which is what lenders see.

The CRA score number - especially in the case of Experian - reacts to change, regardless of the nature of the change and in this instance, a change that didn't actually happen, if you can't see it on your report.

In short, if everything is as it should be on your report, you're fine.

D3xt3r5L4b

timemeans123 said:

So what’s the purpose of a credit rating?

Entertainment? To up-sell you products to see why it's dropped (for no reason)?
Etc.

timemeans123

Then why does this thread exist?! Seriously. I thought people were supposed to be helpful here. 

[Deleted User]

They do their best.  But the site has always flipped between believing and not believing in credit scores, depending on their relationship with Experian at the time.

Remember that NSE is also a commercially driven site.

eskbanker

timemeans123 said:

Then why does this thread exist?!

The thread would have been created automatically when MSE published an article, intending to concentrate discussion on that piece in one place.  However, the link back to the article from post #1 is now broken, perhaps unsurprisingly after 12 years!

The current published one is at https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/loans/credit-rating-credit-score/ and does indeed reiterate the above guidance that "lenders don't see this score at all - it's just for you", while also 'busting [other] myths', to use the MSE vernacular.  It also makes the same point about the cynical motives of the ratings agencies:

But the world of credit ratings is rife with misinformation and misunderstanding. Much of it's because lenders don't want it understood, and credit reference agencies want you to think it works a certain way so they can sell you extra products based on your fear.

DCFC79

timemeans123 said:

Then why does this thread exist?! Seriously. I thought people were supposed to be helpful here. 

I thought the posters were being helpful.
The score is only seen by you, lenders see your history.
The score can be seen as a guide (not really a definite one) as to how good your credit file is.