Sorry if this is the wrong area....

nathanjrb

...but I was just wondering. If I check my credit score regularly - will it affect it? It's just gone a little lower recently and I thought it might be because I was checking it too much?

Cheers

Trajal

Nope if you check your score it has no effect.

Credit scores are not quantum! :-D They do not change state under observation!

nathanjrb

Fantastic, thank you. I've been scared to check it!

[Deleted User]

Though there is a thought that if your credit rating changes and there is no one there to see it, has it really changed?

Trajal

Deleted_User wrote: »

Though there is a thought that if your credit rating changes and there is no one there to see it, has it really changed?

And if a default falls in a wood....

No that doesn't work at all !

ILW

You are just paying for a useless piece of information, complete waste of money.

nathanjrb

Also... I'm looking at my previous address information, and two of them are listed twice? How come? Is this a mistake?

Trajal

ILW wrote: »

You are just paying for a useless piece of information, complete waste of money.

Well, I think it's accepted wisdom that the scores themselves are useless because of course each company that performs credit scoring and refers to the CRA's will have their own scorecards which are of course kept confidential.

However, in terms of viewing one's credit file in general, which is always the main priority in these things, I don't think that's a waste of money in the slightest.

Personally I found several items of interest on my file which had been adversely affecting me, one was a clear error and another was borderline fraudulent. I was able to have those revoked in their entirety, along with a few other elements where I successfully argued about procedure not being followed.

Also some address details were very out of date, and I was still financially linked to my ex-wife (having separated from her 9 years ago I was a tad annoyed that!).

So checking your credit file very much does have its uses, just don't place too much reliance on the 'score' that they give you - it's pretty much a guestimate and whilst not a bad rough guide or indication of how you're improving/degrading your credit file, it is meaningless in terms of how the banks etc score you.

ILW

Trajal wrote: »

Well, I think it's accepted wisdom that the scores themselves are useless because of course each company that performs credit scoring and refers to the CRA's will have their own scorecards which are of course kept confidential.

However, in terms of viewing one's credit file in general, which is always the main priority in these things, I don't think that's a waste of money in the slightest.

Personally I found several items of interest on my file which had been adversely affecting me, one was a clear error and another was borderline fraudulent. I was able to have those revoked in their entirety, along with a few other elements where I successfully argued about procedure not being followed.

Also some address details were very out of date, and I was still financially linked to my ex-wife (having separated from her 9 years ago I was a tad annoyed that!).

So checking your credit file very much does have its uses, just don't place too much reliance on the 'score' that they give you - it's pretty much a guestimate and whilst not a bad rough guide or indication of how you're improving/degrading your credit file, it is meaningless in terms of how the banks etc score you.

Full totally agree.

Checking the file is very useful, but paying extra for the score is a waste of money.