How to read a credit report???

Walletwatch

Posted on behalf of a colleague (but am sure I will personally benefit from the responses, as will many others)

This guy, on my suggestion, got his statutory credit reports from Experian, Equifax and Callcredit for £2 each. Following were his findings.

Equifax:

Electoral info - records name spelt incorrectly, and says "OPT OUT REGISTER"

Search info - Three searches of search type "Credit Enquiry", one for his current address and two for his previous address - no remarks or details whatsoever.

Insight info - One for Carphone Warehouse and with monthly status as 0000000000..U (???)

Callcredit:

Address confirmation - Matched to Royal Mail Postcode Address file

Name appears as Opted Out Annual Electoral Roll

Previous address matched as well from the Royal Mail Postcode Address file.

No BAIs, no CCJs, CIFAS filings.

No SHARE data associated with this individual (???)

No credit searches associated with this individual (is this good or bad??)

No notice of correction.

No address links, declared associates, undeclared associates or alias links (??????????)

Experian:

Electoral information -

Present Address - None available

Other Addresses - Local authority, name and address confirmed.

Financial associations - Two with his wife for a joint acct he holds with her as the primary account holder.

Previous searches - four against his current address, two of them for a failed storecard application (but no mention of the failed application as such)

Financial associate searches - three of them for card and account applications by his wife, but then, the report says that this section are not accessible to lenders.

Linked addresses - Two occurences of searches against his previous address.

With all of this, he's been turned down for quite some credit card applications and a couple of current accounts as well (though surprisingly, none of these seem to show on the report) Have already asked him to get into the edited register (which he's opted out of), since Experian told him that only if he's on the edited register will they show him on the electoral roll.

Have tried to be as discreet as possible w.r.t. his details, and not sure if this info is good enough for anyone to decipher anything at all. Am putting this to you guys, so he can get as much help as possible. Have asked him to get the latest copy of the report anyway - the Callcredit one is dated July 2004, but the others are February 2005.

How else can I help him assess his credit score? Should he go in for the detailed one (never went for one myself, but then, I never needed one somehow) Also, he has had a credit card from the guys he banks with since July 2004, but it doesn't figure in any of the credit reports? He claims he's been making the repayments regularly, and not missed any on it either.

Reaper

Too much there to go through. He should have got information with all his credit reports explaining them terms. For example...

* "0000000000..U (???)" means bills paid on time plus one where "the lender has not been able to give a statement for the month" (eg new account being set up)

* "OPT OUT REGISTER" means he ticked the box on the electoral roll return saying he didn't want companies to make use of the information. The CRAs can still use it but other companies are unable to use it to verify his identity or use it for marketing.

* "No credit searches associated with this individual (is this good or bad??)". Good, obviously.

* "he has had a credit card from the guys he banks with since July 2004, but it doesn't figure in any of the credit reports?" Some don't unless he misses a payment (eg LLoyds, HSBC)

The Experian one doesn't look good. The lack of a current address is serious, the 6 searches not good if they are all in the last few months, and he has no existing lending recorded. These things will make it very hard to get credit from any company which does Experian searches (lots of them).

He should stop applying for cards as he is damaging his rating further. Either go for a guarenteed acceptance card (Capital One do one) or try to get a catalogue company account (eg Grattan) so he can build up a credit history. I'm afarid it will be a while before he can get useful credit though.

Read Martin's article about credit scoring too.

stuwilky

I disagree with one point there reaper, and that is the credit searches, I believe the reason he is being rejected could well be to do with the lack of address details. That is the issue. Once that is resolved within a month or two he could we get a card.

Get a letter of confirmation from the Local Council that he is on the electoral roll and send it to Experian and ask them to amend the credit file accordingly.

Callcredit had some database issues which resulted in a number of effectively blank reports, although I dont knwo when they resolved them, might be worth checking again with them

Reaper

I don't think you are disagreeing with me. I said "The lack of a current address is serious".

Yes it needs to get fixed. I also think the lack of any credit history is a problem due to his card being one that doesn't get reported.

The searches are the least of his problems compared to those issues.

Walletwatch

Thanks Reaper, Stuwilky. Will tell him to:

(a) Get on the edited register (have already told him, and I believe he's already initiated it)

(b) Build a credit history with some card like Cap1, on which, i guess, he should not be expecting a very high credit limit. Now presumably, he should also restrict his applications only to those guys who do not use Experian for their searches. Is there a repository of this info that he can use (who uses which CRA and reports to which CRA)?

Thanx again, guys.
WW

Reaper

While a bit old you might find this thread useful.