Your Credit Rating: How it works and How to improve it Discussion Area

malarky

Hi,

Ive finally got round to doing my credit rating rating online and found that I had a respectable score of 970/1000.

Now as some have pointed out this score does not mean anything to some companies. But ive been stuck with a high interest Barclaycard for 5 years now and everytime I try to switch to a 0% card I have been denied.

Could anyone shed any light on this for me as Im desparate to get out of my current card interest charges but cant figure out why I keep getting denied?

exel1966

A slight correction to your post. The score means nothing fullstop !

Have you seen your credit report ? That's where you need to start. Noboby here can tell you why you're getting denied, we can all only assume. You have to look at all the reasons mentioned in the above posts.

danthemoneysavingman

A swift note to point out the score ISN'T "out of 1000", the score tops out around 1200.
970 is a good score and will underpin most lenders decision, ergo it isn't the case the score means nothing.
however, if you have recently missed payments, aren't registered on the electoral roll at your current address, or have just applied for credit a number of times in the last 6mths, then these may explain your declines.
flame on people...

Bismarck

Hi,

thanks for that....I've got a 999 and thought that was the top score....really didn't think it went over 1000 so it's good to know....however, as we've seen elsewhere, a score isn't something you can attach to an application and say "you should accept me" when the provider is after making money with little risk.......they'll pick and choose unfortunately...

exel1966

danthemoneysavingman wrote: »

A swift note to point out the score ISN'T "out of 1000", the score tops out around 1200.
970 is a good score and will underpin most lenders decision, ergo it isn't the case the score means nothing.
however, if you have recently missed payments, aren't registered on the electoral roll at your current address, or have just applied for credit a number of times in the last 6mths, then these may explain your declines.
flame on people...

It doesn't matter what the score is out of as it's totally irrelevant, hence an application with what is classed as an excellent 'score' beiing refused. Creditors DO NOT see these figures, they assess based on their own criteria.

MSE covers it :-

Clearing up two big myths

• Credit ratings and credit blacklists don't exist. There is no universal credit rating; no one-off judgment of your creditworthiness, nor is there a blacklist. It mightn't feel like that though as, while each lender scores differently, the information is similar, so a bad risk for one lender is often a bad risk for others too.

lisyloo

970 is a good score and will underpin most lenders decision

Most is quite right.
Lots of people with good and excellent scores got turned down by GE money.
We could speculate that they target customer who might contribute more in interest.

So there are no gurantees.
Credit is not a right.

[Deleted User]

I have what the credit agencys clasp as a excellent credit rating and got turned down by capital one for a balance transfer card recently despite meeting their published criteria. Halifax now seems to only be giving a fraction the credit they used to give as well.

Full story + situation -
http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=669443

:beer:

cariad84

I recently looked at my credit report with Experian (as recommended by Martin - thanks!) and spotted two mistakes concerning defaulted payments. I wrote to Experian to notify them of the mistakes and they've added a 'notice of correction' whilst the two things are investigated for a possible correction to take place.

So, I've got a couple of questions: I did two recent credit searches which were declined, which is why I checked my credit score. Martin's article says a lot of searches can damage your ability to get accepted for credit - do you think two counts as 'a lot' and if so how long should I wait before I try again (assuming the mistakes are corrected)? Secondly, if the mistakes are corrected do I need to notify other agencies or do the corrections apply across the board?

Thanks for your help!

danthemoneysavingman

cariad84 wrote: »

... spotted two mistakes concerning defaulted payments. ... Experian ... added a 'notice of correction' whilst the two things are investigated for a possible correction to take place.

So, I've got a couple of questions: I did two recent credit searches which were declined, which is why I checked my credit score. Martin's article says a lot of searches can damage your ability to get accepted for credit - do you think two counts as 'a lot' and if so how long should I wait before I try again (assuming the mistakes are corrected)? Secondly, if the mistakes are corrected do I need to notify other agencies or do the corrections apply across the board?

Thanks for your help!

Assuming these were actual mistakes, you may be best served by contacting those who turned you down to explain this and see if they overturn their decision. They may want to do another credit check, but the only difference it would yield would be your NoC (which means no lender can automatically turn down your credit app without reviewing this text manually) - assuming you app was within the last 4-6 weeks. I suppose you wanted one of these particular cards, which is why you applied there, so I would try this first.

I dont think 2 is a lot of searches, but you may be saved adding to this number thru the phone call I just suggested.

Try this first, then perhaps post here what happened.

good luck
DtMSM

cariad84

Thanks for the advice! I went into the bank today to ask advice about my first application being declined. It turns out the details my bank had for me were wrong (e.g. had me down as a student and on an income of £1000 instead of my proper salary!!), allowing time for the changes made to my account today to take effect, I'm booked in to see someone and try the application again next week so fingers crossed!

I'm always really nervous about talking to someone but today proves it's better to just pick up the phone etc and get the probelm sorted!