Impact of searches on credit rating

izools

Just thought I'd share an experience - mother wanted a new 0% card so got her one, Saga Platinum in the end (as she wants to do a small bal. transfer and make some purchases - new kitchen and bathroom prior to selling up), but noticed:

Last friday - 0 searches in last 6 months and 2 in last 12.

Checked Barclaycard Eligibility and stated 70-80% for Platinum, 80-90% for Gold, and 90+% for Initial

Applied for Saga Platinum, 1 credit search left on Equifax.

Checked Barclaycard Eligibility again (no data changed on her Equifax report and only 1 search in the last six months now, from Allied Irish Bank)

This time, no mention of platinum, 70-80% for Gold, 80-90% for Initial.

So. This leads me to believe that just one credit search in a six month period can and does affect your credit rating.

At least that's what this suggests...

KingElvis

It will do, that "search" may have turned into an account hence they person will potentially have access to that and your credit rating goes down.

More than a couple in the same week is a killer.

Atom

And my brother had 23 credit searches in 6 months - still got a virgin card and a loyds tsb loan

horngkai

I got 3 credit cards and 1 loan in 4 months time. 1 credit card and 1 loan was 2 days apart.

izools

It just goes to show then how much this varies from lender to lender.

In the case of Barclaycard it could make the difference between platinum and gold just having one single search in a six month period, wheras you could still get a virgin card after a dozen applications...

But we already know there's no "one rule fits all" for credit scoring Just that "As long as you've made less than two apps in a six month you'll be fine" rule isn't so accurate... Apparently...

KingElvis wrote: »

It will do, that "search" may have turned into an account

Well yeah, it did

KingElvis

izools wrote: »

It just goes to show then how much this varies from lender to lender.

In the case of Barclaycard it could make the difference between platinum and gold just having one single search in a six month period, wheras you could still get a virgin card after a dozen applications...

But we already know there's no "one rule fits all" for credit scoring Just that "As long as you've made less than two apps in a six month you'll be fine" rule isn't so accurate... Apparently...



Well yeah, it did

Doesn't seem to be any rules about searching anywhere, the Natwest said we won't search you Elvis, they then proceeded to do a few anyway...shysters

I've always thought the search thing is a bit tight myself.

rtho782

Agreed.

I'm of the opinion that the system needs a little bit of a reform, any searches older than say, 6 weeks, will either be accounts by now or didn't result in an account.

Therefore, any search older than this should have no basis/bearing on your creditworthyness. I don't see how "he applied for an overdraft 11 months ago" should have any bearing on if you are able/willing to repay a mortgage today.

I would like to think that eventually this will be changed, in the same way that 20 years ago, credit referencing was done mostly on postcode demographics and income level, and 10 years ago everyone at your address showed on your file, data protection be damned.

izools

Thing is you can't make assumptions like that - the account applied for might be credit scored but not credit reported, or it might be scored but only reported to one or two of the three reference agencies, or the company may take upto three months to report the account (HSBC did with me).

Credit scoring absolutely can't and doesn't make assumptions - only analises based on factual, quantifiable, definite data.

And besides, the fact remains that more searches are a sign of debt stress and therefore represent a higher risk applicant.