Natwest bank account not showing up on my credit reference report?!

SpanishAngel

Hi all,

I recently did a credit rating check with Experian, as advised by this website

They gave me a score of 860 points - which is classed as 'fair'. This is confusing to me, as i never pay anything late. I have a full cash ISA and another savings account and no overdraft. Have basically spent the past 4 years paying off graduate loan, student loan and overdraft and now saving up for my first house deposit :T

So, why is my credit score only 'fair'? i have no outstanding debts (apart from £5000 on my student loan from the SLC) and now finallly have savings. The only thing which showed up is my Orange phone account (which i have since closed, as i now do pay as you go). Past car insurance, etc, hasn't showed up - and neither has my Natwest bank account? which i have had for approx 12yrs?!

I went into Natwest today and asked them to share their info about me with Experian (as their customer services advisor asked me to do this) and they said they couldn't do anything?? not sure what to do....

I have never had a credit card and now thinking of getting one, jsut to improve my credit rating? is this a good idea? Why else would my rating be low? it seems ironic for someone who always pays things off!!

Any advice would be appreciated please!!

Thank you.

P.S. I am on the electroal role at my current address

blacksta

Same here - Natwest dont share records with any of the three CRA unless you default. Which can work to your advantage as other lender dont know about your other liabilities.

KingElvis

blacksta wrote: »

Same here - Natwest dont share records with any of the three CRA unless you default. Which can work to your advantage as other lender dont know about your other liabilities.

Funny that, both my Natwest accounts report to all three reference agencies

They are Current Account Plus or whatever they were before the went all new and fangled.

blacksta

KingElvis wrote: »

Funny that, both my Natwest accounts report to all three reference agencies

They are Current Account Plus or whatever they were before the went all new and fangled.

Strange - I have been with natwest for 15 years have two accounts and visa credit card with them but nothing on the CRA

KingElvis

I have 2 x Natpest Current accounts and 1 x Natpest Platinum CC....all report to the CRAs

Isn't there something about older accounts not having the right permission to report to CRAs or something?

izools

Older accounts don't share as the T&C of the account don't grant permission for Natwest to share data.

OP - your credit rating is likely to be viewed poorly by lenders as you have no credit history. If you want to be able to get a mortgage in a couple of years time you need to start building a credit history now.

Take out a sub prime credit card from Capital One, Vanquis, or Aqua.

Also take out a mobile phone contract. If you don't want to have to pay for one, get one of these:

http://threestore.three.co.uk/dealsummary.aspx?offercode=1SO0D001

After a couple of years holding an active credit card and mobile phone account creditors will be more likely to trust you as you'll have proven credit history.

If you want a bank account that appears on your credit file you'll need to close this one and open a new one that includes permission for the bank to share data with the credit reference agencies.

Although there's little point. YOu'll be better off getting a sub prime credit card and three sim zero.

Also, don't bother with those scores. Creditors use their own scoring system and don't see the experian "SCORE" they only see the actual data in your credit file on which they base their own opinions; often taking into account far more information than Experian do when generating their "score".

SpanishAngel

thank you so much for your advice! i have submitted an application for a Capital One card and so far it's gone through, i sohuld hear in the post within 7 days if i have a card or not :-)

I'm also looking into the phone contract too.

Much appreciated!
x

Experian_company_representative

The NatWest issue is common to most banks and relates to accounts opened before consent was regularly obtained (through the T&Cs) to share full data as opposed to just defaults, which was once the norm. Now I know that some banks will allow you to provide consent now re old accounts which enables them to start sharing data on your accounts. Just doublecheck with NatWest that they can't do this. There's a chance that whoever you spoke to wasn't particularly clued up on this issue so perhaps you could ask to speak with someone more senior.

James Jones