Can we have a sticky about why the Experian/Equifax scores dont guarantee acceptance?

ReadingTim

djmobi wrote: »

I have cancelled both my Equifax and Experian accounts that have cost me £32 a month for the last 3 years. The money I have spent on these services would pay off my largest credit card in full

Nice one! I'd make that my signature if I were you....!

You may want to sign up to Noddle though (it's free) - while a numerical credit score of the type peddled by the paid for services don't mean a thing to lenders, it is a good idea to keep an eye in what info credit reference agencies do have on their files in respect of you, and certain things you can do to make yourself more attractive to lenders - or be seen as less of a risk.

Have a read here, although it would be useful if they had a section explicitly titled "why your actual score is useless"...

djmobi

I notice that a lot of people are saying that the score itself is rubbish because the person does actually have missed payments, bankruptcy and other such black marks against them.

What is annoying me is that I have none of these and I still cant get a bloody loan. I have read many articles and documents and forums (Including a less that enjoyable experience on this site) and apart from the reason I want the loan, I still haven't heard anything that makes me think I am being refused correctly.

I want my loan to consolidate a few debts.....apparently this is frowned upon and they dont take this into consideration and simply assume you will have this debt as well as your existing debt.

This begs the question why bother asking. The whole system is broken

tinkerbell28

djmobi wrote: »

I notice that a lot of people are saying that the score itself is rubbish because the person does actually have missed payments, bankruptcy and other such black marks against them.

What is annoying me is that I have none of these and I still cant get a bloody loan. I have read many articles and documents and forums (Including a less that enjoyable experience on this site) and apart from the reason I want the loan, I still haven't heard anything that makes me think I am being refused correctly.

I want my loan to consolidate a few debts.....apparently this is frowned upon and they dont take this into consideration and simply assume you will have this debt as well as your existing debt.

This begs the question why bother asking. The whole system is broken

Right and you'd be spot on. The thing is though. Lenders. All lenders score differently. For example. I needed a clarity card for abroad spends. Pre eligibility gave me 80%. But for the post office 20%. As pre eligibility sometimes in a way takes in lenders criteria.

Plus I truly believe this. Some lenders have "target markets". Which I think the soft searches take semi into account. Some may look for incomes of x. Debt to income ratio of x. No consolidation loans. No people in x profession. Age group x.

As according to Experian I'm a fair risk....recent searches, age of accounts.

Oh I tend to move every 2-3 years. So don't tick a lot of the boxes you hear here about what makes a good "file".

I don't have any adverse though, or a high utilisation. I use, pay off.

Yet, I've got 3 prime credit cards, allegedly 2 of which are a "tough gig", never been turned down for anything. Just applied for a clarity for holiday. Instant accept at headline rates. With a huge limit. Yet you've got people here, loads of threads on it. No adverse. An "excellent" score and they've got to jump through hoops and still can't get accepted.

So according to experian, I'm a bigger risk than these people, yet get the card they are so after and can't get. I get instantly. That shows what a load of crap it is.

The_Boss

*bump*

These threads come up every single day and we end up saying the same thing time and again so surely a sticky thread is justified.

Either that or rename this the Groundhog Day credit score forum.

BBColin

Oh, how I wish I'd read this just this morning.

I was turned down for something a few months back and got my statutory reports. No problems except that I had a HUGE amount of instant credit available (over £50k!) from previous 0% switches.
That's now almost all gone.
So when I asked Halifax for a (small) increase in my Clarity credit limit and they said no it came as a surprise.
And when the woman on the phone said "it's down to an external decision from our credit reference agency" I was even more surprised. I pushed her on it - hard. Because I didn't believe it would be a credit reference agency decision and not Halifax's. She INSISTED it was.
So off I go and spend £45 combined on Experian ("Excellent" score) and Call Credit/Noddle ("Fair" score). Only to find, when I speak to someone from Noddle, that their score has no bearing at all. Just as you say here.
What a SCAM.

So, who to be more cross with and complain to?
I think Halifax - for flat out lying.

Feel free to tell me different!

But the lingering worry is that I'm applying for a mortgage soon.
Does being declined for a credit limit increase imply some lurking problem I'm not spotting?
Noddle's best effort was electoral roll (lived here 1.5 years) and a card near it's limit (which isn't really true - I have a 0% card at about 65% of its limit).
Experian flagged no problems at all.

Advice appreciated. Sorry you have to go through this so often!

matttye

BBColin wrote: »

Oh, how I wish I'd read this just this morning.

I was turned down for something a few months back and got my statutory reports. No problems except that I had a HUGE amount of instant credit available (over £50k!) from previous 0% switches.
That's now almost all gone.
So when I asked Halifax for a (small) increase in my Clarity credit limit and they said no it came as a surprise.
And when the woman on the phone said "it's down to an external decision from our credit reference agency" I was even more surprised. I pushed her on it - hard. Because I didn't believe it would be a credit reference agency decision and not Halifax's. She INSISTED it was.
So off I go and spend £45 combined on Experian ("Excellent" score) and Call Credit/Noddle ("Fair" score). Only to find, when I speak to someone from Noddle, that their score has no bearing at all. Just as you say here.
What a SCAM.

So, who to be more cross with and complain to?
I think Halifax - for flat out lying.

Feel free to tell me different!

But the lingering worry is that I'm applying for a mortgage soon.
Does being declined for a credit limit increase imply some lurking problem I'm not spotting?
Noddle's best effort was electoral roll (lived here 1.5 years) and a card near it's limit (which isn't really true - I have a 0% card at about 65% of its limit).
Experian flagged no problems at all.

Advice appreciated. Sorry you have to go through this so often!

Have you checked your Equifax report? You only mention Experian and Noddle, you need to check all three. Check them in plenty of time before applying for a mortgage too. You only need to spend £4 on your statutory reports from Experian and Equifax, you don't need to spend £45 :eek:

James Jones from Experian is always posting about how Experian does actually sell credit scores to some lenders. Maybe Halifax is one of them? No idea..

BBColin

matttye wrote: »

Have you checked your Equifax report? You only mention Experian and Noddle, you need to check all three. Check them in plenty of time before applying for a mortgage too. You only need to spend £4 on your statutory reports from Experian and Equifax, you don't need to spend £45 :eek:

James Jones from Experian is always posting about how Experian does actually sell credit scores to some lenders. Maybe Halifax is one of them? No idea..

Halifax told me it was Call Credit and Experian they used - so I figured any problem MUST be with one of them and I'd failed to interpret my statutory report well enough.
I will get an Equifax statutory pre mortage application. Just in case.

I never actually thought I needed to spend more that £2 each until today when the silly person from Halifax lied to me and said (and I think I quote) "one of our credit reference agencies has turned you down".

And if it HAD been Experian I would have been offered the keys to the kingdom. Experian think (pretty accurately!) that I have no credit problems at all.

matttye

BBColin wrote: »

Halifax told me it was Call Credit and Experian they used - so I figured any problem MUST be with one of them and I'd failed to interpret my statutory report well enough.
I will get an Equifax statutory pre mortage application. Just in case.

I never actually thought I needed to spend more that £2 each until today when the silly person from Halifax lied to me and said (and I think I quote) "one of our credit reference agencies has turned you down".

And if it HAD been Experian I would have been offered the keys to the kingdom. Experian think (pretty accurately!) that I have no credit problems at all.

I strongly suspect the woman either doesn't know what she's talking about, or is trying to over-simplify the process but in fact getting her explanation wrong.

She obviously means Halifax has declined you based on the information in your credit reports.

You said a lot of your available credit has now gone - so how much do you have remaining and what % is this to your salary? What is your used credit to available credit percentage?

BBColin

matttye wrote: »

I strongly suspect the woman either doesn't know what she's talking about, or is trying to over-simplify the process but in fact getting her explanation wrong.

She obviously means Halifax has declined you based on the information in your credit reports.

You said a lot of your available credit has now gone - so how much do you have remaining and what % is this to your salary? What is your used credit to available credit percentage?

I suspect I agree! Why she couldn't just put me through to someone who would say, "we won't make money out of you" or "we're a really cautious lender" or whatever is beyond me.

To answer your questions:
I have £5800 outstanding on personal loans.
Plus £14100 available to me on cards (which now I write it down still looks a lot).
The card limits are about a third of my gross salary.
The last credit report showed I had balances totalling £6048 on my cards (£1161 of which is on cards I pay in full every month)

No payments missed. On anything. Ever.

GingerFurball_2

BBColin wrote: »

Halifax told me it was Call Credit and Experian they used - so I figured any problem MUST be with one of them and I'd failed to interpret my statutory report well enough.
I will get an Equifax statutory pre mortage application. Just in case.

I never actually thought I needed to spend more that £2 each until today when the silly person from Halifax lied to me and said (and I think I quote) "one of our credit reference agencies has turned you down".

And if it HAD been Experian I would have been offered the keys to the kingdom. Experian think (pretty accurately!) that I have no credit problems at all.

'Credit Bureau Data' is a decline reason. It means that there's some sort of information on one or more of your credit files which means that Halifax won't lend to you.