Decided to look at my Equifax credit report and credit rating

glenpud

So I decided that now would be as good a time as ever to check my £2 report and the £15 credit rating on Equifax. I am 25.

All seems fine and I got a rating of 506. This is in the "excellent" rating and it seems the one thing that isnt in the nice "excellent" green colour is the Electoral Roll which is "fair". I am apparently well above the averae for UK Borrowers.

Now i understand that 506 is at the lower end of the best place to be, but still I am pretty happy that I am in it nevertheless.

I have moved house a fair bit, just not staying at any place for longer than a year for about 5 years now. So I know that once I can stay in one place for a bit longer I may be able to boost that 506.

I currently have 6 active accounts...this is basically 2 cards I have...both fully paid off (now). One loan, which will be paid off in November and then just the other stuff like phone and a store account for very so I could get a computer game for my bro on the cheap.

Anyway, my question being...has anybody else done this report and what sort of scores have they got (sorry for being nosey)???

I am saving for a house deposit, and hoping that in about a year or so time I will have enough. I can't see that my credit rating could get worse in that time. I use one of the credit cards for petrol and pay it off at the end of each month so that it helps my score etc.

Would it be better to cancel one of the cards that I dont really need? They have recently advised me that they will be increasing my limit on it as of the end of July. I didnt ask for it, and dont really need it. I only foresee the next credit that I will need to be the Mortgage.

Thanks for your time.
GP

rdchick

Heya

Sorry to be the barer of bad news but the credit scores they give out really don't mean much at all, they are pretty much a marketing tool to spend the extra £5er on that feature. Creditors have their own scoring system in which they use to decide whether they will grant you credit or not. I would keep one card going and make sure everything else is as green as possible, don't miss payments etc and you should be ok.

xxx

DarnIt_3

My score is awful..................422! (Experian goes up to 999)
I have never missed a payment, defaulted or got any CCJ's!
I am not on the electoral yet!
Due to a stupid error of sending my details to a broker who sent it to everyone else...I have 23 searches.

Because I have never had credit up until March when I got a next account. Then a stupidly high APR loan in June and a credit card with a £200 limit I have no credit trail. The only way is up

Gordon_Hose

Lenders don't use the credit scores given out on the credit reference agency website, and they are a waste of money.

glenpud

I was thinking that I probably wasted the £15...but whats done is done.
I have always been one of those people that pays back on time, never missed a payment etc. Have had my demons in the past, but combatting them.
One other question...the Barclaycard is the one I am looking to close down. Do you reckon that may cause a problem because i bank with barclays? I would like to keep them happy...maybe just buy one load of fuel on it a month to keep up good relations with them maybe?

rdchick

well credit is a funny thing... if you have too much that's bad but if you spend too much that's bad... so you have to make sure that you don't have loads of credit available so perhaps get the Barclaycard reduced a bit? However the mortgage people look at the bad stuff like CCJ's and Defaults I believe.. xxx

glenpud

Ok cool thanks. Well I havent got any bad stuff
And even the total available credit to me would only be 2 credit cards at £4k and the Very account at £1k.
I am sure this has been said before somewhere...but i think its a joke that Littlewoods and Very had the exact same magazine come through the post...every item was the same...apart from the price. Very was cheaper by around £10 on a £40 item.
We literally had the two magazines come through the post on the same day- and its crazy the price differences.

Anyway...thanks for replying

pleasedelete

glenpud wrote: »

Ok cool thanks. Well I havent got any bad stuff
And even the total available credit to me would only be 2 credit cards at £4k and the Very account at £1k.
I am sure this has been said before somewhere...but i think its a joke that Littlewoods and Very had the exact same magazine come through the post...every item was the same...apart from the price. Very was cheaper by around £10 on a £40 item.
We literally had the two magazines come through the post on the same day- and its crazy the price differences.

Anyway...thanks for replying

The credit apr and payment methods vary. They don't make their money by selling clothes- they make it from the credit. Some of shop direct companies let you pay by card but others only on credit- usually cheaper if a credit option at the time of purchase but more expensive long term.

Experian_company_representative

Gordon_Hose wrote: »

Lenders don't use the credit scores given out on the credit reference agency website, and they are a waste of money.

Most lenders do use scores from the credit reference agencies, but these are often combined with other data sources such as the information you give on your application form and also the credit report information for anyone you're financially connnected to.

What you can get from the CRAs is a score based on your personal credit report data. So while not definitive as far as credit decisions are concerned, these scores do give you a good indication of how your personal credit report is likely to affect your chances of getting credit. They most certainly are not meaningless!!

James Jones

ihatedebtcollectors

To quote Gordon, he said "they are a waste of money". I would agree.

My score is 999 (experian) yet I get refused credit all the time.

Why? Bad debt on OTHER AGENCY files (not belonging to me).

So - it IS meaningless for me.

In order to evaluate your credit effectively, you would need to get scores from all 3 agencies - so it's a cost/benefit analysis.

You can easily find out the lender criteria and work it out for yourself.

Gordon_Hose

Experian_company_representative wrote: »

Most lenders do use scores from the credit reference agencies, but these are often combined with other data sources such as the information you give on your application form and also the credit report information for anyone you're financially connnected to.

What you can get from the CRAs is a score based on your personal credit report data. So while not definitive as far as credit decisions are concerned, these scores do give you a good indication of how your personal credit report is likely to affect your chances of getting credit. They most certainly are not meaningless!!

James Jones

Certainly not worth the £6.99 your rip off company charges to see them!!

You said yourself most lenders use that and other information, so unless Experian take into account ALL the same info as lenders into account when generating your magic number, they are worthless.

IMO the CRA's are no better then DCA's. There's isn't enough sugar in the world to provide a coating for your services. £14.99 A MONTH for a credit report...!!!!?? You lot must be on drugs! The £2 report is toilet paper too.