Experian Credit Score: What score do you need for "Excellent"?

Rupert_Bear

BugsyBrowne wrote: »

No missed payment for nearly 10 years 1 credit card with 5k+ limit with small balance a Barclays account 18 years with a small loan and now opened up lloyds gold account which not sure if that's scored differently. With a very lousy £100 OD

Dont get disheartened. As another contributor has already said give it a few months and your internal score should be higher. They probably just want to see how you run the account and if it is well as the Barclays then all the offers will start flowing through.

Good luck!

One other thing you will get some idea what your standing is when you register online and they update their systems each month. You can get a quote for a loan and if the apr is their typical rate then you are on your way. Also if the systems gives you the option to upgrade to the top account then you will find the internal score must be very good.

BugsyBrowne

Rupert_Bear wrote: »

Dont get disheartened. As another contributor has already said give it a few months and your internal score should be higher. They probably just want to see how you run the account and if it is well as the Barclays then all the offers will start flowing through.

Good luck!

Cheers Rupert.

meer53

BugsyBrowne wrote: »

No missed payment for nearly 10 years 1 credit card with 5k+ limit with small balance a Barclays account 18 years with a small loan and now opened up lloyds gold account which not sure if that's scored differently. With a very lousy £100 OD

Surely you'll know the answer to that question ? Seeing as you've been a manager at Lloyds

redpete

jon142 wrote: »

My point is WHY is this information private? what can you do if you know the INTERNAL score with the bank?

WHY WHY WHY do they hide it??

One reason I can think of is that people would artificially adjust the information they give on their application forms to maximise the chance of getting accepted.

Another might be to keep information from competitors that they would find useful, e.g. what type of customers they are trying to recruit.

J.Brooks

Due to being made Bankrupt in 2009 and being discharged in 2010 I haven't really given much thought to my credit rating. I applied for a Barclaycard at the beginning 0f 2012 and surprisingly was accepted paying the balance off as soon as it showed on the statement as the card was to show I was not a bad risk and that I could manage. Since then i have never paid late and was offered a credit increase which I had to ring up and decline. 3 weeks ago i signed up for the free month trial with experian and I am glad i did on my record I saw a credit card with an outstanding balance of £188 that has been in default since the date of the bankruptcy and was meant to have been included in the bankruptcy order. I have contacted Experian twice regarding this the first time the company marked it as partially satisfied but still in default and I have just received an email from Experian telling me that this record will be removed in the next 10 days and my score should change as a result of this. If I hadn't have checked my credit score I would not have known that this card was still active let alone in default. I only wish I had checked as soon as i was discharged as other than that (...and the Bankruptcy which comes off in 2015 :wall: ) there is nothing else wrong with my report.

My bankruptcy was not due to a mismanagement of credit. I was driving a company vehicle in January 2006 and was involved in a collision where the other car T-Boned me. As there were no witnesses other than the occupants of the car that hit me the fact that they were speeding and managed to spin the Landrover Defender i was driving 180 degrees didn't matter as they all said I was speeding and pulled across their path unexpectedly. The next day when I contacted my employer I was told that their was no policy of insurance on the vehicle he had forgotten to renew it and it had expired a week prior to the accident. The vehicle was mine to use in and out of work so I had no policy of insurance on any other vehicle. And was taken to court Lost my Licence for driving without due care and attention and Driving without Insurance 6 month ban for totting up of points no fine but court costs and the cost of their claim.

I add this long explanation because I hate the stigma of being bankrupt it is a dirty horrible feeling that even though I managed my credit well ...always bought things outright if i didn't have the balance in my account then I didn't need it. But through the actions of another all that work was for nothing annnyyyywayyys......

20aday

I'll be honest before I was fully aware of Moneysavingexpert I'd blindly log into Experian and be disheartened when my score fluctuated.

Reading these forums I've come to realise that people are right... The banks will contact these companies to see previous searches etc but they do NOT use a computer generated score from an external company to allow me access to credit.

Simply conducting less searches, spacing searches out, living within my means, paying my bills on time and generally being careful has allowed me from going paying a Debt Management Company £250/month and trashing my credit file further to a credit card with Tesco Bank and a proper bank account with check book and debit card.

izools

jon142 wrote: »

I'm sure it's one of 2 things;

1) The person is full of it making up a lie because they have nothing else to do (certainly got no credit) We all know anyone with bankruptcy won't be touched for many years to come, or for some reason the Experian system isn't picking up the Bankrupt order, hence everything else is 999 apart from the BO.

2) Experians system isn't perfect. no computer system is. why does HMRC send you a letter at the end of the year saying you own them XXX when didnt they catch it earlier?

Well jon, fraid you're wrong -

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.php?t=4099257

And "we all know anyone with bankruptcy won't be touch for many years to come" is also a load of codswallop.

Straight out of BR I opened a Vanquis credit card and Three mobile contract, six months later capital one classic, six months later Aqua, six months later a full Lloyds TSB bank account, six months later a HSBC bank account.

After that I started being approved for prime credit - Creation cards, Nationide card, and most recently an Amex Platinum.

I'm sure a lot of people will think I'm spinning a yarn, and I'm happy to let anyone think that because I know I'm not talking out of my behind, so you're entitled to think what you want.

But that doesn't change what I write from being fact. It is.

A lot of people think BR is the "end of it" with regards to credit but they make the fatal mistake of not playing the game - building credit history again from the get go. The six monthly cycle of open a sub prime account, pay off in full and don't apply for anything else, six months later open another, continue paying both off in full, six months later open another, and after two years you find yourself with enough credit history to be considered prime by some again.

There are some that won't touch discharged bankrupts with lending products for the six years post BR with a 10 ft bargepole - co-operative bank, first direct, RBS group (this may have changed), MBNA, etc, so you do have to be selective who you apply to save wasting credit search footprints.

matty747

I prefer to order the £2 experian report every so often to check for accuracy of records. I can work out what I think my rough credit score would be with a lender based on how my account conduct is, how my finances look on paper and asking the question if I were someone else would I lend to me based on what is written down only? If there are any missed payments, defaults, judgements etc. then no I wouldn't lend money, so why would a bank? If I had all my accounts maxed out or loads of recent credit searches I wouldn't probably lend to me if I were the bank. I don't need to pay £14.99 a month to know that and my assessment would be way more accurate than an experian score.

matty747

jon142 wrote: »

Lloyds Gold Account is also scored differently to the Silver & Classic accounts. so lloyds must rate you well to give you that straight off.

Jon.

I've found out that Lloyds has a bizarre scoring system, they opened me a premier account straight away with a £1000 overdraft no questions but declined a card, a few months later they are falling over themselves to offer a credit card. Lloyds tend to be quite fussy about opening multiple lines of credit so if you ask for an overdraft don't expect other credit products to be available for a few months. Once you have a good amount of history they become less restrictive. They do seem to go heavily off internal scoring and their monthly feed from experian.

Gordon_Hose

matty747 wrote: »

I've found out that Lloyds has a bizarre scoring system, they opened me a premier account straight away with a £1000 overdraft no questions but declined a card, a few months later they are falling over themselves to offer a credit card. Lloyds tend to be quite fussy about opening multiple lines of credit so if you ask for an overdraft don't expect other credit products to be available for a few months. Once you have a good amount of history they become less restrictive. They do seem to go heavily off internal scoring and their monthly feed from experian.

they do seem to love their internal scoring.

When I opened a current account at Lloyds last week, and as well as a £500 overdraft, the "system" offered me a credit card with a £600 limit. The Manager was falling over himself to explain that yes, the limit was low, but they use internal scoring and if I run my current account responsibly there was no reason that limit wouldn't increase quickly.