Amex, credit reports, and Jersey!!

ell0070

Hi eyeryone. My first time on here so please go easy!!!

I've just done a month trial with experian and tried to update my credit report as much as possible, as it was pretty bare! Got my address confirmed, added previous ones for the last 6 years, and confirmed that I am registered on the electoral roll in Jersey. The report didn't show any credit cards on it, I have a couple, Natwest and MBNA, and the trial ended before I got round to asking if they need to be shown on there. After that, I applied for the card and got rejected. The letter said "did not match our minimum score" and "we can however assure you no derogatory information was found". So, i was wondering if anyone could answer these questions:

1) Amex use experian and equifax, do the credit reports need to reflect each other before you're approved?
2) Does it look better if any credit cards you have are on your report?
3) Is it just an issue because i'm in Jersey, not the UK?
4) Or is it just because i pay off my balances every month and the only debt i have, apart from the other cards, is my hefty jersey mortgage!!??

:beer:

latecomer

1. ideally all info should be on all normal credit reference agencies
2. Yes. A lot better as they can see a history of credit.
3. Not sure about that but its a possibility.
4. Make sure your mortgage shows up too for same reasons as credit cards above. Paying off cards each month is not a bad thing!

lisyloo

Your credit cards should be on your credit report.

Could there be any confusion with adresses?
Have upi moved house recently.

One company (orange) had not updated the address they send to the agencies whilst they were sending bills to my new address.

If you pay off your credit card each months, it's still credit and should appear.
The fact that you pay them off will appear as "good" history as you are a good payer.

You could try writing to each company (addresses should be on the report) asking them why they are not reporting your account to the credit reference agencies.

You haven't renamed your house or changed your name or anything?

ell0070

Thanks latecomer. I'll get some stuff together to send to equifax!

And how do I go about getting my cards/mortgage shown? Do I write to the lenders themselves, or can the agencies get the info themselves if I notify them who the accounts are with?

lisyloo

You need to write to the lenders concerned.

I was going to say that addresses for the correct depts will be on your credit report, but of course they won't so you mght have to hunt down addresses.

ell0070

lisyloo wrote: »

Your credit cards should be on your credit report.

Could there be any confusion with adresses?
Have upi moved house recently.

One company (orange) had not updated the address they send to the agencies whilst they were sending bills to my new address.

If you pay off your credit card each months, it's still credit and should appear.
The fact that you pay them off will appear as "good" history as you are a good payer.

You could try writing to each company (addresses should be on the report) asking them why they are not reporting your account to the credit reference agencies.

You haven't renamed your house or changed your name or anything?

Hi lisyloo.

The address thing can be an issue, as our Jersey addresses quite often dont fit the standard form, and even on postcode search can be a little bit out, so had to send a couple of bills to experian to confirm the address.

We've been at our current address for about 14 months now. Writing to the credit companies sounds like a good first step.

ell0070

Time to start hunting for addresses and writing some letters!

ell0070

Decided to phone. MBNA is 0800 and used saynoto0870 for a Natwest number. Both the people i spoke to couldn't tell me why they weren't showing on my report, as they both update the info regularly. So i'm being looked into, and will hear back by friday........watch this space!!