Credit expert - got my report and have a few questions.

beadgirl87

Hello,
Not sure where to post this, I figured here was better than the credit card area but please tell me to move if it should be there instead

I signed up to credit expert to have a look at my credit file yesterday, 9th July.
On reading the report I have a few questions and am a bit confused.
* I have 2 accounts with lloyds and according to the credit file the balances are:
account 1 £0. account 2 £1353 these are dated 05/06/11.

However accourding to my statements:
account 1 £499. account 2 -£1490. On the 05/06/11.

* Also I have a credit card with them, have had 2 payments since that date so my figure is very wrong now. Was £800 on 05/06/11 as of 05/07/11 it is £300.
Why is the info so out of date?

*I have a career development loan with barclays bank of £7000 and that isn't even on the report? Surely that should be on there?

*Also when buying car insurance 6 months ago I have 3 credit searches done, which I didn't realise.

* Lastly I have 36! linked addresses. Is this bad, I'm thinking that it is, but there isn't much I can do about it. I have been at uni so had 4 addresses in the last 5 years and my parents address for over 15 years. My current house I have been in for 2 years.

* I applied for a credit card (current card has very high interest) and think I've been rejected, I don't earn much so wasn't expecting to get it, however looking at my report makes me think could it be due to the addresses and out of date info from the bank?

My score is 755 if its relevant.

Any help appreciated, I'm very new to all this.

redapril

hi there,

sorry - i cant give you much advice about the info on your repost but didnt want to just read and run. it may be however that it takes a little while for the reports to be updated. also, there isnt just one credit reference agency and it may be that your barclay loan is recorded with another? you should just get the statutory £2.00 reoport from each of the 3 agencies being equifax, experian and call credit. i think there is a link to them all on this site somewhere!

the searches for your car insurance should only stay on your file for 12 months and im sure they are not seen by creditors when they look at your credit file?

hopefully someone may be able to give you some more advice!

stclair

* When a lender sees your linked addresses they only see the one address once not multiple times.

* If your account information is out of date ie balances contact experian and ask them to contact the lender to update their information.

* The car insurance searches will not be visable to lenders and will not impact your credit score

* Barclays loan that may report to another CRA such as Equifax or Call Credit (my Barclays current account dont report to experian but does to equifax)

lvm

The first accounts you talk about - I take it these are bank accounts? If so, credit reference agencies don't count any sort of savings, just actual credit so in the case of the first account, you have £0 debt and the second account you have is £1353 debt (seems like you may have made a purchase after this was updated though or interest applied).

With the linked addresses - I have tonnes too and it's very annoying! Any credit account I have with a slightly different address is included (I live in Edinburgh so 1 address just has Edinburgh on it, another has Midlothian, Edinburgh, another may have Edinburgh, Scotland and they are all counted!)

You should probably be grateful the loan is not on the report - you have other credit accounts to prove your credit worthiness so I wouldn't be too bothered about this.

Are you on the electoral register as this would definitely bring your score down (although the score isn't important - every lender has their own criteria).

beadgirl87

Thank you for the prompt replies.
lvm, that makes so much sense. The report is only looking at the debts in my accounts not the credit. Hence the account showing at £0, its £0 debt, it doesn't matter if there is £50 or £5000 in there, yeah?
And the other one, is showing my debt, ie the overdraft I owe. I see.
And thats why my mobile contract also shows at £0, because I owe them nothing.
Yes I'm on the register, didn't think I was, but when I signed up to pay council tax looks like I got put on it then.

Reading all your answers and comparing to the report makes alot of sense now.

Now I have to decide if I should stay signed up for the future to keep an eye on it, or unsubscribe once the trial is up. Not sure I can spend £15 on this even though it seems useful.

MoneyWasting_Expert

I ll try to explain how I am currently readin my credit information on file. I use Equifax as do Barclays. Its more than likely that your Barclays Loan is showing up on Equifax (though if you manage it correctly I think its a shame that its not on Experian as well) my Barclays Current Account is also showing on Equifax.

The balance that is showing for my credit cards is the statement balance from the last statement before the credit file is updated. So if my statment balance is 400 and 2 weeks later my balance is 600 and Barclaycard update the agencies it will show the last statement balance off 400. This is really all that matters because the age ncies are giving insight as to how much your paying off your actual bill.