Advice Needed - Getting a Loan via Experian

jezatron

Hi, I'm a bit of a newb on this site so I hope this is the right place for this query.

I'm trying to get a loan and have a high score on Experian (949) after working really hard to recover my status from a bit of a hole a few years ago.

I recently applied for a loan through Alliance & Leicester / Santander that was offered up on the loans section on Experian, tailored to my status. I have been rejected due to information supplied by Equifax. Having been someone who used to bury his head in the sand a bit with money, I had never even heard of Equifax until I got the letter, and assumed (in my ignorance) that working on my status with one credit data agency would create universally applied results. Checking Equifax just now, my report is very different on there to Experian (partly due to bogus entries on accounts which I have since had settled on Experian).

What I want to ask is...

a - Can I be sure of lenders who just use Experian?
b - If so, should I apply again, using one of these?
c - I saw somewhere someone talking about getting your available credit down to 50% before applying for a loan... If I could do this I wouldn't need a loan! haha. Is this actually necessary or will my score be what makes the decision?

Advice would be much appreciated, as I have been working really hard for about 4 years now to gradually build my score back up, live within my means etc etc but the interest on my credit card is so high that I just need to consolidate. I'm also spending a lots of money commuting via train and want to use the excess in my loan to get driving to cut costs.

Thanks

Rossy.

The score given by Experian is worthless and is not something you should guage when applying for a loan.

Each lender has their own criteria and will only assess your credit report, The score given by the CRA's is not used at all - This is how experian make money by saying you have a great score when in fact it's worthless.

There is a thread somewhere on here that will tell you which CRA each lender uses, How accurate it is though is anyones guess.

Why you was rejected could of been for several reasons so check with the lender to see if they can give you some information, They may not tell you - again every lender is different

jezatron

Woah is that really the case with Experian? I thought it was a score that Lenders used to check you were credit worthy?

So... is Equifax as worthless as Experian? I'm confused.

Wutang_2

The scores on all of them mean nowt

jezatron

ps thanks for your reply

Rossy.

The CRA's them selves are not useless as you can obviously see the condition of your credit history, the scores they give out mean nothing to any lender i can assure you.

It's a marketing hype that entraps the consumer to believe they have a superb credit rating when in fact they can't get didaly squat on credit

jezatron

so when they say they rejected an application based on info supplied by experian or equifax... they are referring to what? the general info but not the 'score'?

fozmcfc

jezatron wrote: »

so when they say they rejected an application based on info supplied by experian or equifax... they are referring to what? the general info but not the 'score'?

Yes and that info isn't just maybe any defaults or bad marks such as missed/late payments.

It could simply be you have a lot of accounts and credit available to you and companies think you are stretching your finances too far. This could also be inferred if for instance you only made minimum repayment to any cards etc..

But on top of that every lender has different criteria and different lenders sometimes only use one of the main credit reference agencies to see if you are credit worthy.