Two different credit ratings?

kilby_007

Apologies for posting this twice (posted in wrong section!)

Hi guys, I have signed up to both experian and equifax to check my credit score and got two very different results:

Equifax: Score of 404. Credit rating "fair"

- shows 4 missed payments
- only recent checks are those made by myself

Experian: Score of 981 - Credit rating "excellent"

- shows 0 missed payments
- 5 recent checks from Halifax, Bank of Scotland, Lloyds Banking Group all relating to mortgage enquiries.

My question is - why are the two reports so different? And do mortgage companies check credit in the same way? If the mortgage enquiries are only showing up on Experian does that mean that they made the searches with Experian only?

Also, why would they need to do so many credit checks with one company? They have done 5 in the last 3 days! This may just be FTB over-panicking but I've got that feeling of dread that my mortgage might get rejected :-(

Tixy

A mortgage company is likely to check all 3 of the credit reference agencies at some point in the house buying process (the other being callcredit aka noddle).

A mortgage company will not see the score that a credit reference agency will sell to you. They look at the data on your statutory credit file.

The data will differ as not all potential lenders search all agencies, and not all lenders report credit account information to all agencies.

Also, why would they need to do so many credit checks with one company? They have done 5 in the last 3 days!

Who has done 5 searches? The various different mortgage companies? how many applications have you made? Are they all showing as credit application searches? or as identity searches or quotation searches or what?

kilby_007

Tixy wrote: »

A mortgage company is likely to check all 3 of the credit reference agencies at some point in the house buying process (the other being callcredit aka noddle).

A mortgage company will not see the score that a credit reference agency will sell to you. They look at the data on your statutory credit file.

The data will differ as not all potential lenders search all agencies, and not all lenders report credit account information to all agencies.



Who has done 5 searches? The various different mortgage companies? how many applications have you made? Are they all showing as credit application searches? or as identity searches or quotation searches or what?

I have only made one mortgage application. All of the searches are presumably in relation to this as I have not made any other credit related applications for a long time. The most recent two are by Bank Of Scotland and say "first mortgage". Then there's one from Halifax: "unrecorded enquiry". Then there's Lloyds Banking Group: "Generic Check" and Bank Of Scotland: "Mortgage Quotation". Presumably all 5 of these are Halifax acting under their various umbrellas?

The_Boss

kilby_007 wrote: »

Apologies for posting this twice (posted in wrong section!)

Hi guys, I have signed up to both experian and equifax to check my credit score and got two very different results:

Equifax: Score of 404. Credit rating "fair"

- shows 4 missed payments
- only recent checks are those made by myself

Experian: Score of 981 - Credit rating "excellent"

- shows 0 missed payments
- 5 recent checks from Halifax, Bank of Scotland, Lloyds Banking Group all relating to mortgage enquiries.

My question is - why are the two reports so different? And do mortgage companies check credit in the same way? If the mortgage enquiries are only showing up on Experian does that mean that they made the searches with Experian only?

Also, why would they need to do so many credit checks with one company? They have done 5 in the last 3 days! This may just be FTB over-panicking but I've got that feeling of dread that my mortgage might get rejected :-(

1) credit scores are utterly worthless and just lead to confusion
2) The 4 missed payments recorded on Equifax - are these on the same account? If so, is this account not appearing on Experian? Could just be that it is not feeding through to your Experian report?

kilby_007

The_Boss wrote: »

1) credit scores are utterly worthless and just lead to confusion
2) The 4 missed payments recorded on Equifax - are these on the same account? If so, is this account not appearing on Experian? Could just be that it is not feeding through to your Experian report?

The 4 missed payments are on the same acount yes. They are with a mail order company and I have had a lot of problems with them. I paid one of the invoices but I must have just missed the cutoff date and it rolled over. Then the next month I didn't receive an invoice so I was unaware that I had a missed payment and it rolled over again into the next month when I received another invoice and paid in full. The exact same thing happened in 2012. I've closed that account now anyway but to make matters worse Equifax still shows an unsettled payment despite me having paid in full in April.

The_Boss

kilby_007 wrote: »

The 4 missed payments are on the same acount yes. They are with a mail order company and I have had a lot of problems with them. I paid one of the invoices but I must have just missed the cutoff date and it rolled over. Then the next month I didn't receive an invoice so I was unaware that I had a missed payment and it rolled over again into the next month when I received another invoice and paid in full. The exact same thing happened in 2012. I've closed that account now anyway but to make matters worse Equifax still shows an unsettled payment despite me having paid in full in April.

Does this account not appear on your Experian file?
Also, to settle the account you need to call and close if it is not a loan account - accounts don't settle when paid off (with a few exceptions) unless they are a loan.

kilby_007

The_Boss wrote: »

Does this account not appear on your Experian file?
Also, to settle the account you need to call and close if it is not a loan account - accounts don't settle when paid off (with a few exceptions) unless they are a loan.

No it doesn't appear on Experian. I have called the mail order company and closed the account. The issue is that I paid it off in April and it shows as a missed payment for May! So it still shows under current debt.

The_Boss

Ok, so that explains the difference between the fantasy scores.

Who are the mail company? Not Next Directory is it? I'd email them regarding this and require that they respond likewise.

kilby_007

The_Boss wrote: »

Ok, so that explains the difference between the fantasy scores.

Who are the mail company? Not Next Directory is it? I'd email them regarding this and require that they respond likewise.

It was H&M - I've emailed them and their response was to say that I could have viewed my statement online so they wouldn't be taking any action.

The_Boss

kilby_007 wrote: »

It was H&M - I've emailed them and their response was to say that I could have viewed my statement online so they wouldn't be taking any action.

If you paid up and closed in April then what did they say about the late payment marker for May? Or was it just recorded in May? What is the date of settlement on the account?

They still need to remove inaccurate data if it is settled.

kilby_007

The_Boss wrote: »

If you paid up and closed in April then what did they say about the late payment marker for May? Or was it just recorded in May? What is the date of settlement on the account?

They still need to remove inaccurate data if it is settled.

The settlement date was 16th April. I now have a response from Equifax as it is their fault so they're going to correct it for me.

Anyway, turns out I needn't have worried. I just rang for an update on the mortgage and they said they have everything they need and should be making me an offer towards the end of next week.