Call Credit Score

NickX

lisyloo wrote: »

Personally I would prefer to be proactive and sort out problems up front, rather than find out by rejection, when it might be highly inconvenient and also then leaves and extra credit search.

I understand your point, but I think it needs to be kept in mind that each lender has a different way of working (sometimes very mysterious ways). Just because you think your credit file looks spotless, does not mean that another lender thinks the same.

Lender A may see too much available credit as a problem whereas Lender B does not.

Lender C may see too many searches a problem whereas Lender D does not.

The point is that the analysis of the Credit Report is subjective and each lender has its own criteria.

If you have a problem with a specific lender, your first port of call should be that lender, not a CRA.

Agreed that if you suspect fraud, identity theft, old defaults, CCJs or electoral role problems then you should look at your credit reports to ensure that they are correct.

lisyloo

I agree about the analysis Nick.
But I'd also want to check my report before problems occur e.g. checking that closed cards have actually been closed (I had one not done by Barclaycard).
I also had an Orange account at an old address on my report.
It was good history that I might have lost.

So I would still check before problems occur and I believe that's been advice around for ages, not as and when they occur by which time you might have paid mortgage fees and be in the middle of a chain that's about to fall apart.

Surely it makes sense to keep on top of it rather than have it fall apart at a crucial moment and lose a house (for exmaple).

I guess it's everyone's choice, but I know that being proactive and paying a very small amount has worked well for me.

jas-callan

iereboy wrote: »

Call Credit is a CRA

I get it for free. I don't pay for it!

Just wondering if anyone knows how they marked so low?

Where is the best place to get it for free? I have seen various sites that are free for a month, are there ones that continue to be free after that?

lisyloo

If you sign up to call credit's service you get scores for FREE.
I don't know if that's what he meant.

I have been getting my report for free from
http://www.annualcreditreport.co.uk/
There is now a £2.50 one off fee but you get a free report every year.
I signed up before the fee so I think it's still completely free for me.

Rob71

izools wrote: »

If anyone is genuinely interested in what might be causing their score to be low I would recommend Equifax.

Now whilst I agree that the score itself is meaningless, especially from Call Credit and Experian, the Equifax score gives a break down of the various aspect of your credit report explaining what is good, what is meh, and what is bad, and what you need to do to correct it.

Don't rely on where the score puts you, the scoring system is different for every creditor, but the advice provided with the score on Equifax is very good IMHO

I've used Experian and the ever-so-helpful advice is:

You have several credit agreements (excluding mortgages), and the outstanding balance is high

Which is b/s since the outstanding balance is 1500 on a single credit card (as per the Experian report) - which is a fraction of the 20.5K available credit over three cards.

And besides they've given me the maximum score, so there is nothing affecting it (if that makes sense!)... :rolleyes:

I'll give Equifax a quick look - thx for the tip...

izools

No worries. Experian told me they consider anything about £1,000 owed (across ALL credit accounts) to be a "High" balance, which as you say is b/s.

Experian shouldn't be making a judgement on whether or not we have a high balance as they don't know our income. It might work if the score sheet looked at how much you repay to your credit card balances each month, but it doesn't. And even if it did, this wouldn't work properly as few CC companies actually report how much you've paid.

Equifax is much better IMHO. Doesn't cast judgement on things it shouldn't.

iereboy

Wow so much angry people, over mere curiousity!

I get it free as part of a package of something else.

I just thought it was rather low considering I have never missed a payment in all my life, on the electoral role, etc.

[Deleted User]

Jemma-T wrote: »

Call Credit? Who are they? Sounds like a scam.

You've never heard of Callcredit? Oh dear.

Jemma-T

NickX wrote: »

I think the point that Jemma-T is making is that the Credit Credit Reference Agencies are private profit making organisations and their primary aim is to extract funds from both the Lenders and the Borrowers.

Some of the talk on here suggests that they have "super powers" and are some sort of overriding body. They are not, they are simply private companies in the same way that Asda & Tesco are.

There really is no reason to pay them any money, and really you only need to deal with them if there are inaccuracies with the data that they are holding about you.

Thank you, yes, but that's far too cogent and intelligent for the people who give these scumbag companies some sort of legal authority status.

It's been happening for months so I have to post bizarre replies to keep myself sane in the hope people maybe catch the drift.

iereboy

Yeah but judging from the way she comes across she's clearly got problems with them