experian credit scores

worried_jim

I can tell you then when I am deciding to grant credit or extend a credit facility I pay no attention to the credit score, I believe they are only there to keep consumers paying their monthly subscriptions and have been told as much by an experian rep.

questionabout

worried_jim wrote: »

I can tell you then when I am deciding to grant credit or extend a credit facility I pay no attention to the credit score, I believe they are only there to keep consumers paying their monthly subscriptions and have been told as much by an experian rep.

I agree - the Experian Score is a waste of money.

But it is successful because people want to know what there score is. Understanding one's credit status is too complicated and has too much guess work involved at the moment. I'm not saying my system above would work but there is a reason why Experian have sold so many Credit Reports. The country needs and wants a score based system.

cooltt

I'll give you another example of crap their score is.

I've just applied for and got 2 credit cards with a combined limit of 12K.. HOWEVER my credit score says i'm a bum with no money and has done for a while. I mean god if the score could go below zero i'm sure it would have!

Why?
I have no effin idea! The only thing that's changed in my life recently is my address. So i've gone from having stuff thrown at me 2 months ago to now not even being trusted with a cup of coffee on credit!

The whole system is a load of B**locks! but a very clever one because yes people are subscribing and paying their dosh to have a look at a few numbers.

YorkshireBoy

cooltt wrote: »

The only thing that's changed in my life recently is my address.

Welcome to the world of ACORN classification...

http://www.caci.co.uk/acorn-classification.aspx

JohalaReewi

Why restrict it to experian? Same applies to other CRA scores (equifax for example).

What is wrong is that CRAs advertise these numbers as CREDIT scores when in fact, the CRAs do not offer credit so they are just scores. They should be done under trade descriptions. I feel a facebook group coming on....

cooltt

YorkshireBoy wrote: »

Welcome to the world of ACORN classification...

http://www.caci.co.uk/acorn-classification.aspx

Yep according to ACORN i live in a sewer!

Its-A-New-Age-Thing

JohalaReewi wrote: »

Why restrict it to experian? Same applies to other CRA scores (equifax for example).

What is wrong is that CRAs advertise these numbers as CREDIT scores when in fact, the CRAs do not offer credit so they are just scores. They should be done under trade descriptions. I feel a facebook group coming on....

true enough were not really restricting that viewpoint to experian, hes the only CRA rep who comes on here, GUARANTEED hes already read this thread anyway lol,

one day he might try and justify a £7 charge for somethin thats worthless but he never does...................lol

same as there new search i forget its name the one that scans your profile and tells u who will give u what thats a piece of !!!!!! aswell it told me id be able to get one credit card when i actually got four, told me i couldnt get any current accounts with 3 banks that gave me current accounts lol

honestly like bet theres peop[le in there groups gettin promotions for that kinda USELESS !!!!!!

:rotfl:

Experian_company_representative

worried_jim wrote: »

I can tell you then when I am deciding to grant credit or extend a credit facility I pay no attention to the credit score, I believe they are only there to keep consumers paying their monthly subscriptions and have been told as much by an experian rep.

That's simply not true. You can order an Experian Credit Score without a monthly subscription.

The score was developed and launched following customer feedback. It had also proved very popular in the US. Some of the criticism is fair in that's it's only a credit report guide, but that's all it ever can be because, as others have said, in the UK lenders score customers in different ways and base their scores on a wider selection of data (your application form, info they have about you already, info about your financial associates etc).

James

izools

questionabout wrote: »

I think it could work if they used Score and Earnings:

• AMEX say we require a Credit Score of 950 AND £35k Salary (plus 5 Flights)
  
• Flybe could say we require a Credit Score of 700 AND £15K Salary
  
• While Vanquis could say we require a Credit Score of 280 AND £6K Salary

The CC companies would of course need to "reveal" their business scores but so would everyone else (UK based). They could still target their "ideal" customers, perhaps even better because Joe Bloggs with his score of 126 wouldn't bother applying and wasting their resources (or wasting his Credit search). Its only a dream, but its mine haha

You've absolutely 100% missed the point.

Whilst MBNA's scoring system may provide you a score of say, 600/1000, AMEX's scoring system may provide you a score of say, 500/1000 based on exactly the same data.

The whole point is that a "Score" is the result of a complext calculatio - it gives a predetermined amount of points to pieces of information the creditor considers good and subtracts a predetermined amount of points from pieces of information the creditor considers bad.

Then you have to consider weightings.

Whilst one creditor may consider being in a certain profession very important, another may consider how long you've been with your employer more important than what you do for a living.

Ergo Creditor 1 has a pass mark of 750/1000, and creditor 2 has a pass mark of 800/1000 but the applicant is declined for creditor 1's product and approved for creditor 2's product, because the applicant fits creditor 2's scoring system better because creditor 2 values a given piece of information much more than creditor 1 values that piece of information.

There quite simply is no such thing as one score fits all!!

More advanced credit scoring systems use a "neural net" computer system wherein it is constantly fed monthly updates of customer account peformance and usage habbits. The score this system gives the banks customers will change on a month to month basis based on how customers with similiar spending and account usage trends have performed with their credit based products in the recent past.

Systems like this have no human element whatsoever and no one can advise what the system will mark you up or down for because it's criteria is constantly changing in line with existing customers account trends and handling of their respective credit products. Even the developers of the system can't say because it's autonomous.

Experian_company_representative wrote: »

it's only a credit report guide

Then advertise it as something like a "Credit file health score" or something that accurately represents what the product is.

It is not a credit score. Suggesting it is, misleads people and misrepresents the product.

Curt.

Experian_company_representative wrote: »

The score was developed and launched following customer feedback. It had also proved very popular in the US.

Yeah but for us its different - FICO scoring is actually binding and lenders do use the same criteria accross the board. Nobody could give a rats asss about your scores or Equifax's and no lender in the UK has access to them anyway.

In the states its different which is why it works successfully. Lenders use the FICO material and it is also tied in with SS #'s where as in the UK its not tied into National Insurance #'s which is why anyone could even technically have several reports/information editted etc. The use of FICO is anti-Fraud device too, and which is why the anti-trust exhemption is in place too as lenders must abide by some of the regulations which bind it to use certain FICO information.

All that being said, this is a brilliant way for y'all to make money and like noted above, you didn't become a FTSE 100 listed company for nothing.

For all the critisism of your score (which most people accept is useless) if we were all in the same position to make money for a useless service we'd all do it too, to line our own back pockets. (Now you can go ahead and give me the company line about how its not "useles"..)