Car Insurance searches showing on Credit Report

Sallyn80

Dear Forum

When it comes to getting new quotes for car insurance I tend to follow the guidance on this website and end up comparing quotes from numerous comparison websites/or from direct company quotes. I noticed these searches have shown up on my credit report. I was recently declined for a mortgage, does anyone know if these searches impact my chances of obtaining credit ?

Thanks
Sally

Hazzinho

No they are soft searches and have no impact.

Sallyn80

Thanks for taking the time to provide feedback, appreciate it.
Sally

a4a

I thought if they are showing on your credit file, then they are not soft searches and therefore are effecting your credit score?

PaulW922

They do not affect your credit score. They show up as either soft searches meaning only you can see them or they show as 'insurance search' which whilst visible do not count as searches for credit products.

a4a

But whenever I have had these searches, my credit score has reduced as a result of more searches (at least I'm pretty sure it has).

fawnsinthegarden

Individual credit scores do not exist, lenders will 'score' your application against their customer wishlist which will vary between lenders, and even that is irrelevant because all lenders have different wishlists. I think your referring to the 'score' that the credit reference agency shows you, that number has absolutely no relation to your credit worthiness or likeliness to be accepted by any lender as said before, the likes of Experian, Equifax and Call Credit (Noddle) are not lenders.

Each lender has their own idea of the perfect applicant, and they will 'score' you against their wishlist. One lender may decide that those with a history of only paying back minimum repayments is their ideal customer, whilst another may reject you because they want customers who repay in full. The only searches that are visable to lenders are credit applications, not soft searches, and only make up a tiny portion of the decision process.

GingerBob_3

The underlying problem here is the opaque world inhabited by lenders and CRAs. For instance, when you apply for credit and a lender does a credit search, what precisely can he see about you? Can he see who your mortgage is with (presumably he sees your outstanding mortgage amount and other details). What would be useful is if someone could post a typical report seen by a lender on conducting a search.

The_Boss

a4a wrote: »

But whenever I have had these searches, my credit score has reduced as a result of more searches (at least I'm pretty sure it has).

Which should tell you a lot about the "credit score" you are referring to.

The soft searches are mainly checking your identity and address.

YorkshireBoy

GingerBob wrote: »

Can he see who your mortgage is with

No.

What would be useful is if someone could post a typical report seen by a lender on conducting a search.

The "report" won't help you. It'll only contain the same data* you can see if you obtain your own report. Yes, it may be presented differently, but in essence it's the same data.


* Some lenders (Experian say it's around 150 UK financial institutions) take a credit score/scorecard from the CRAs, but this is not the score they sell the consumer.

GingerBob_3

YorkshireBoy wrote: »

No.The "report" won't help you. It'll only contain the same data* you can see if you obtain your own report. Yes, it may be presented differently, but in essence it's the same data.

But it isn't. You said it doesn't show who your mortgage is with, so by extension it shows NO sevice provider/lender identity details - right?