Is the size of your monthly CC repayment recorded on your Credit Record?

icebergx

Hi all,
Just wanted to know if, when you apply for a Credit Card, the provider is able to tell the size of your monthly repayments for previous cards?
From their point of view, does the credit record say 'Yes' (payment made) or 'No' (payment missed) each month and therefore, they don't know if you're paying off the whole balance each month or just making the minimum repayment.

Thanks.

savvy

As far as I know, they don't know the amount. It's either paid or not I think!

o_t_e

Hi - been a few years since I worked in the finance industry but at that time an experian file would only show the amount paid if you only made the minimum payment; otherwise it would simply show 6 months of history to indicate if payments were made on time or if they were paid late, and if so by how many months. It would also show the most recently recorded card balance.
I recall talk of credit card companies wishing to supply more detailed information but I haven't followed the industry closely enough to see if that has been acted upon. It might be worthwhile getting your experian file to see what information is currently recorded.

icebergx

If this is still the case o_t_e, would a way round this be to pay a little over the min monthly payment (maybe £1 over). It's just that I heard that if you only make the min payment every month, it can go against you when you try to get another card (appears as if you can only make the min payment each month).
Anyone got a definate answer?
Thanks.

The_Boss

Credit files only show if you made the minimum payment on time.

However, lenders will be able to see how much you have paid if they are part of the same group (for example if you already had an MBNA/RBOS/HSBC backed card) by looking at their computer record if you apply for another of their cards or if you held an account with them before.

I guess the way it can go against you is that it makes it appear that you have a fair amount of debt as you are not paying much off. Then again, I used to pay off thousands of pounds of work expenses in full each month, but it wouldnt have looked like I had repaid much as I would spend a similar amount the next month. If you looked at my credit file each month, it made it look like my debt was never decreasing.

Merlin139

Just had a look at the copy of my credit file that I took when I applied for it and for all of the credit cards that I had at the time it showed the Credit Limit and the balance Outstanding. It also shows if payments have been made but not how much.

The two that I had at 0% interest showed a balance outstanding very close to the limit but the others all showed a nil balance bar one that was in credit of £35.77.

So I reckon all they could see from that is how credit available.

o_t_e

Hi icebergx - I always pay a fiver over the minimum for the reasons you suggest. Whether you successfully apply for a credit card is down to the individual companies credit criteria but it helps if the information you supply matches the last credit application you made so that the application can (hopefully) be approved by the companies automated credit scoring - changes to telephone numbers, banking info etc will see the application referred to an underwriter who may well scutinize your credit fille more than you'd like.

The_Boss

o_t_e wrote:

Hi icebergx - I always pay a fiver over the minimum for the reasons you suggest. Whether you successfully apply for a credit card is down to the individual companies credit criteria but it helps if the information you supply matches the last credit application you made so that the application can (hopefully) be approved by the companies automated credit scoring - changes to telephone numbers, banking info etc will see the application referred to an underwriter who may well scutinize your credit fille more than you'd like.

Thats true only if you are applying to the same company/backers who you previously had an account with.

The_Boss

Thinking about it again, when a lender does the credit search, they COULD work out how much your minimum payments per month total. They could take your outstanding balance on each card (provided in the credit search) by working out what 2% of the total and add it together. This would obviously vary as some cards require a 3% minimum payment too.

Whether they would do this maths in the application process is another matter.

o_t_e

Hi Boss - as I said previously things may have changed since I worked as an underwriter, but back then it was a normal part of my job to check applications where a telephone number or banking info differed from what had been recorded on a previous application - that information was available via experian, not in-house accounts, and used to prevent fraud - to give you an example, I can recall an application which was for store credit where the home number differed from a previous credit application recorded on experian - I got the home number from BT, rang it, and the guy who was supposedly in the store applying for credit was actually at home.

On the calculating the totality of minimum payments front - I used to do that informally but it wasn't part of the credit criteria of the company I worked for so even if I thought an individual was over extended, as long as they were making their payments I couldn't decline the application on that basis.

The_Boss

I guess maybe an underwriter could notice - but a lot of the online applications can give you an answer without it having to be referred to an underwriter, so that wouldnt be noticed as sharing info isnt prevalent unless its a card from within the same group.