Credit rating anomalies

Afx

I'm currently in the process of trying to get my finances in order, I'm not doing too badly but things can always be better.

The root cause of me doing this is back in '08 i had a run in with a company called 1st credit, working for quickquid, trying to nail me for a debt i knew knowing of, Sent off a letter saying as much and heard nothing again for a year or so, then lo and behold i discovered i had a default on my credit file with callcredit from quickquid. After posting on here i had a person from quickquid get in touch with me, and to their credit they did actually sort it all out for me and confirmed that it was fraudulent and as of a month or so back i have had the default removed.

However when i recently did a credit check on checkmyfile with the 3 main agencies i'm seeing a huge discrepency in the credit score im getting:
Callcredit: 914
Equifax: 847
Experian: 631

Now i know those scores arent exact but i've got literally no missed payments and i've now just been turned down for a loan....i assume this was due to the experian credit score.
I know different institutions and companys use the different agencys, so i do have different things on the equifax and callcredit reports, but i seem to have literally nothing at all against my name on Experian. Simply seeing N/A against everything.

Can anyone shed some light on this? As im a bit confused tbh, Not sure if its worth contacting experian regarding this or what?

Hope someone can help, Thank you.

Moneysavingginge

The only thing I can suggest is checking the reports over and making sure they are correct. Also, credit files stay on your report for a minimum of 6 years and make sure your on the electoral roll.

Btw, them credit scores mean nothing to creditors as they use their own credit scoring. There just an indication of what state your credit file is in. But, when you do use that facility, below the score, it usually tells you what might be affecting your credit score, be worth looking at that.

Tixy

Hi

Just to check are you on the electoral roll? have you moved house recently?

Who turned you down for a loan? did you ask which credit agency they used?

The score really is pretty meaningless in truth, whats important is what is on your credit file.

Can you say a bit more about your finances? one of the most common reasons for being turned down for a loan is already having too much debt compared to your income or too much credit compared to your income. Could this apply to you?
If you add up your total credit and the additional amount you asked to borrow does that come to more than 50% of your income? If so it could well be based on affordability you were turned down. (might not be this in your case but it is a common reason on these boards).

Afx

You might be right on the amount of credit i have available, might try and reduce some of the credit card limits, seem to keep going up. So that probably is >50% of my income. Thing is i wanted the loan to pay off those credit cards, Guess i'll see about doing a few more balance transfers(assuming i can get a card to transfer to).

And i know the credit scores are pretty much meaningless, i'm just a bit confused that Experian, who i think are pretty much the main credit agency, seem to have so little on my credit file, in comparison to the other two. From what i can see, this is the reason thats given for the low(er) score.

Afx

Tixy wrote: »

Hi

Just to check are you on the electoral roll? have you moved house recently?

Who turned you down for a loan? did you ask which credit agency they used?
.

Just to answer these, i am on the electoral roll, and it was sainsburys bank. I'll have to ask them which agency they used.

Thanks for the replies anyway, gave me a bit to think about!

RAS

Ok
if you have a lot of credit already and some is unused, then reduce the limits on the most expensive cards.

They see if you can spend on the cheaper cards and use the "spare" cash that frees up to pay off the mcards with the highest APR. That reduces the amount of interest you pay and helps pay off you debt quicker.

Tixy

Specifically with experian - does it say you are on the electoral roll? Seen a few cases recently where one of the CRAs did not have the electoral roll info correct from the council.

Afx

Tixy wrote: »

Specifically with experian - does it say you are on the electoral roll? Seen a few cases recently where one of the CRAs did not have the electoral roll info correct from the council.

Yeah im showing as on the electoral roll on all 3, The only thing showing on there thats listed as bad is the following:

Search Activity

You have no searches (relating to credit applications) recorded against you
In the last 12 months, you have had no searches on your report.
Only searches relating to credit applications have an effect on your credit score and rating.


That and the fact that if i check credit accounts on the experian report, it is completely empty.
I guess i've simply got no credit/bills that report to experian, seems a bit odd but i imagine that would explain things.

Tixy

Yes guess so - must just be unlucky coincidence in terms of your specific creditors.

property.advert

RAS wrote: »

Ok
if you have a lot of credit already and some is unused, then reduce the limits on the most expensive cards.

They see if you can spend on the cheaper cards and use the "spare" cash that frees up to pay off the mcards with the highest APR. That reduces the amount of interest you pay and helps pay off you debt quicker.

Please can you provide me with some evidence that reducing limits on credit cards improves credit limits other than mere speculation. Failing that, perhaps some mathematical theorem ?

In this particular instance, where the person in question actually has debt on cards, reducing the free available credit will merely raise her utilisation percentage and quite probably reduce her credit rating.

Honestly, people here believe this rubbish and pass it on without any knowledge or thought and other vulnerable people believe them and might even act on this misinformation.

If someone with 10,000 thanks said the world was flat, in only a week or two, half this forum would actually believe it was !