Experian rating - 999 - Limited Card Choice

JRich174

Hello,

I signed up for Experian Credit Check this morning to find my score to be 999.

However, when I looked through the cards available to me having ran a search based on my report ans score it gave me just two choices both with high APR's.

The two strange things I could see with y report were that A) I have 90 linked account address's as I have lived in about 6 properties over the past 9 years and also I have 20 searches in the past 12 months due to insurance etc.

Any ideas why this may be? I thought 999 was meant to be high!

Thank you.

Paul_Herring

Experian's score, as sold, has very little bearing on whether you're eligible for 3rd party credit.

TrickyDicky

999 means nothing except that you paid good money to see a number plucked out of the air by experian. Each lender has their own system base on their own lending criteria.

Another question is where did you perform this search? if it was via experian its liable to be just the cards that have paid experian to turn up on the search. Alternativly you have no credit history, so lenders are reluctant to lend you any money, hence the high interest rates. The best thing here is to get a high interest card for a while to build a history, making sure you pay off the full balance every month.

lisyloo

Moving house a lot won't help with your desirability.

Are the searches creidt searches or do they jsut say "identity check".
If the latter then they won't show up to lenders.

My husband has a very good salary and no adverse history but has been rejected.
My salary is above aveage and my credit history is prrety good (nothing advers) and I've been rejected to.

Credit is not a right.
If lenders don't want to lend to you then thats' their choice.
You might have nothing adverse but you might not fit their target profile.

If you continue to be quite mobile with your address then unfortuantely that won't help.

JRich174

Ok thanks to all.

I ran the check via the Experian website, and also did the same for Equifax which gave me 385 as a score which I believe is average.

It must be said that I have only lived in my present address for 4 months too, however am on the electoral roll.

Its not problem, I earn £45k and my partner earns £73k but its nice to have interest free cards as opposed to paying interest when we can have our cash in the bank earning or in investments (hopefully) earning us something.

Well I will just continue doing what I have always done, paying my full balances each month and will try later next year.

Thanks to all that responded.

Moggles_2

I have 90 linked account addresses as I have lived in about 6 properties over the past 9 years

Normally, a link is created when you tell a lender that you have changed address or when you include more than one address on a credit card application.

The presence of a large number of address links has no effect on your credit history whatsoever, but the data held at those addresses may affect you. If there is any adverse information at a linked address, it will be seen by lenders and taken into consideration, even if not mentioned as a previous address on your application.

Did you include the addresses as previous ones in your CreditExpert membership sign-up? If not, it's worth enteringing them, so that you can see what information, if any, is on file. You'll see the information the day after adding the addresses to your membership details.

lisyloo

Those salaries won't stop you getting rejected.
If you pay it off on time every month, then you make the lender some money as they charge retailers but you are not a highly desirable customer.

Moggles_2

I have 20 searches in the past 12 months due to insurance etc.

If some of the searches are duplicated by the same lenders, then I would expect that roughly half are unrecorded enquiries (made to check identity, for instance, or quotation searches) These are not seen by other lenders. It's the number of searches classified as credit checks that matter. Too many checks in a short space of time could certainly have an impact on your credit rating, but even then the footprints drop off your file after 12 months, so the effect is fairly short-lived.

newnhak

Moggles wrote: »

Too many checks in a short space of time could certainly have an impact on your credit rating, but even then the footprints drop off your file after 12 months, so the effect is fairly short-lived.

And it depends on how (if at all) the company you are asking to give you credit takes this info into consideration when scoring you.

bigstevex

insurance 'searches' are unrecorded so i wouldn't count them as credit checks!

Paul_Herring

Moggles wrote: »

The presence of a large number of address links has no effect on your credit history whatsoever, but the data held at those addresses may affect you. If there is any adverse information at a linked address, it will be seen by lenders and taken into consideration, even if not mentioned as a previous address on your application.

Linked references simply because of shared addresses went out ages ago.[1]

What may be contributory factor in a low score with a 3rd party company is the number of addresses in the past few years[1], since "stability" is usually high up on the things that they look for in a debtor. Time spent at (current/previous) address along with time at job are the main indicators towards this.

[1] Well technically they should have. Your credit record should not suffer, simply because someone else in your house can't deal with credit.
[2] OP cites 6 in 9 years, (leading to some 90 separate addresses?!? Something isn't ringing true there)