Starting to rent for the first time, credit search fees etc.

byb3

Hi,

Although i've rented as a student for the past 5 years I'm about to start renting through an estate agent. I've been looking at a place in Warrington as I will start work there in November. A few of the agencies I have contacted have quoted fairly significant 'credit check' fees before I can sign a deal with them, they range from £65 to £145 depending on the estate agent.

Anyway I decided to check my credit reports to make sure. I've just signed up to Experian and Equifax. Unfortunately I can't access the Experian account until I receive a confirmation PIN in the post, however I've been able to access my Equifax immediately and now have access to report.

In all honesty I was expecting the report to sum me up with a number (maybe Experian do this) but in fact it just lists a lot of payment histories. From what I read going through it seems they are all fine and there are no problems on the account. I'm assuming its fine but I can't know for sure.

Anyway would just like other peoples stories on the admin fees, credit fees etc. when renting a place and maybe somebody could explain how to know if your equifax report is good or bad.

Thanks in advance,

Adam

milliebear00001

Hi there

All sounds normal to me. Contrary to many people's beliefs, there is no such thing as your 'credit score'. All there is is a 'credit record' - basically the list you saw, which is kept by three main agencies. When you make an application for credit, a check is run with one of these agencies by the company you are applying with. They will look at your file to see if you have adverse credit/CCJs etc (more commonly it's a computer that gives you a 'score' on the basis of your report). Yours sounds fine so you should be OK. Bear in mind though that different companies score you in different ways - e.g. they may not be willing to take you on if you cannot show a history of paying for your credit, so conversely, never having held credit can actually mean it's harder to get credit in future etc.