What your credit score really means

DCFC79

aljean wrote: »

Hi just new to this site so i dont know if this is the right forum to post on. My Son in law is trying to get his credit rating up, he pays his bills on time we have been a guarantee for a loan which he paid in full, no payments missed. He went to buy a car and got acceted on the finance, which he did not think he would get. On consideration he realised this was the wrong way to go as the interest rate was too high, so under the cool off period he cancelled it 3 days later. Now his credit rating has dropped, and he couldent even get a catalogue agreement. the man at the garage said thats because you cancelled the credit agreement, your ranking goes down.. Is this right? Is this not the point of a cool down period, he did not actually take the finance, yet his credit rating has gone down. He is 22 years old. Dont know how young people can get there credit rating up when this happens.. Any advice would be appreciated.
Thanks

First of all i think you should the third post on page 1 of the thread.

[Deleted User]

aljean wrote: »

Hi just new to this site so i dont know if this is the right forum to post on. My Son in law is trying to get his credit rating up, he pays his bills on time we have been a guarantee for a loan which he paid in full, no payments missed. He went to buy a car and got acceted on the finance, which he did not think he would get. On consideration he realised this was the wrong way to go as the interest rate was too high, so under the cool off period he cancelled it 3 days later. Now his credit rating has dropped, and he couldent even get a catalogue agreement. the man at the garage said thats because you cancelled the credit agreement, your ranking goes down.. Is this right? Is this not the point of a cool down period, he did not actually take the finance, yet his credit rating has gone down. He is 22 years old. Dont know how young people can get there credit rating up when this happens.. Any advice would be appreciated.
Thanks

Simply ignore any number that a CRA gives you. They're not lending you any money and no lender cares about their opinion.

aljean

ok... as i said i am new to this site and this is where it open on to reply! Thank you for you kindly explanation.

jasdev

I joined the Credit Club about three months ago, very handy tool!
Chiefly I use it to monitor my credit score as I pay down debt.

I was curious as it started off at the very low end of the Fair range, then jumped way up almost to the top end of the same range in the following month. Now this month it's back down again.

In that period I've been paying down credit card debt (minimum payment on one, full balance on the other) and watching what I spend each week, so I was a bit shocked to see it head back down!
I ordered my statutory credit report just to see if there were any utilities on there that should have been cancelled; all looks fine.
What other things can make one's credit score swing about like this?

sourcrates

Ok Credit scores,

there has been controversy of late, as to whether potential lenders/creditors, actually see the scores that are generated by the CRA`s, on your individual credit report.

Some people are very vocal and say no, they only use the score they generate themselves, and yet, when i dealt with some payday loan complaints a few years ago, the lenders, in there final response to my complaints, quoted to me my "Experian score" as being such and such, i think from memory it was 648.

They didn't say "we scored you at", they specifically quoted my Experian score.

That suggests to me they see exactly what i see when i log on to my report.

I cannot seem to obtain a straight answer from any of the CRA`s, maybe some one can clear this up ?

[Deleted User]

They definitely don't see the score that customers do.

The best way I can explain it is that lenders have different criteria so can only rely on data. If company A lends to students, they will not be concerned at lack of ER registration. Company B may be prepared to lend to someone with a few missed payments, but would want address stability instead. If Experian rate someone at 600, whose criteria do they fit? Is it because they missed 3 payments, aren't on the ER or have one default?

Many lenders do, somewhat lazily, refer to 'Experian scores', but they mean the scores they generate from Experian data (or scores Experian generate for them).

jamesd

sourcrates wrote: »

Some people are very vocal and say no, they only use the score they generate themselves, and yet, when i dealt with some payday loan complaints a few years ago, the lenders, in there final response to my complaints, quoted to me my "Experian score" as being such and such, i think from memory it was 648.

Credit reference agencies offer scoring products to businesses and it is not uncommon for firms new to the lending business or just not wanting to do the work to choose to use a score from one of the credit reference agencies until they have their own scoring system set up. Unlike the consumer score products like this from CRAs are not restricted to only credit information but can include things like income and work that aren't part of credit reports and consumer credit scores.

So yes, it could have been an Experian credit score but that score wouldn't necessarily be the one that you would see, since it depends on which one they are using and how much, if at all, they have customised it.

Alternatively it could just have been a score generated internally based on data from Experian and other information you provided that was clumsily and misleadingly described as an Experian score.

Andrea_Rose

Avoid the obvious question of if its worth paying for

ibisky

Hi
I lived in uk for a period of two years 1997 to 1999 as a student . Due to my fathers death I have to discontinue my education. But I had two credit cards in these two years period and I havent paid the dues yet

Now I got an opportunity to come to UK on tier 2 visa (work permit) so I would like to know will i be able to open a bank account ? my previous credit rating which is almost 19 years old now will it be visible and can dig by the credit reference agencies in UK
your assistance is highly appreciated..

Regards,
Ibis

[Deleted User]

Answers on your duplicate post.

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.php?p=71855743#post71855743