Credit File - why is so much missing?

littleangel

Following some lovely person's advice on this site (thank you!), I took Experian up on their kind offer of a credit report 30 day free trial, and found to my surprise, that very little information was actually recorded there. I've currently got 3 credit cards - only 1 was noted. And of the 3 that I've had in the past and settled, again, only 1 was listed. Nothing about a previous store card, 2 previous card applications, a mortgage and a couple of loans...

Why is so much information missing? How can banks etc make a decision on partial information? Is the fact that so much is missing a good thing or a bad thing?

I'm confused!

johnllew

The details might be registered with another credit agency - probably the other main one: Equifax.

littleangel

Aha! That could well explain it I guess...

Does that mean that when you apply for a new card or whatever, the bank checks both institutions' records?

johnllew

Some do; some check only one. Some may not check at all if you've been with them for a long time and have a good record but I imagine that's rare.