Knowing your credit score will help you find the right mortgage...

matttye

James Jones has said on here in the past that Experian does generate credit scores for some lenders.

If that is true - and I doubt he would lie as blatantly as that - then their credit scoring service could possibly assist with obtaining credit from any company that Experian provides scores for.

I don't think any complaint will get you anywhere, Experian will find a way of justifying it.

For anyone reading, I too think credit scores are rubbish and should be ignored, and companies shouldn't be allowed to sell the privilege of seeing a crappy randomly generated number. Just saying that they're bound to be able to justify it in some way.

The_Boss

^ yeah, I agree re. the refund. But providing "scores" thing I don't buy at all, because if I remember correctly it wasn't for any serious financial products or companies, and still the companies involved used other data in the application process. The Experian advert is misrepresenting the facts, right from "Your credit score is yours" which is telling people that they have a credit score, which they don't.

Thrugelmir

matttye wrote: »

James Jones has said on here in the past that Experian does generate credit scores for some lenders.

The lenders will set the parameters as to how the scores are calculated still. Smaller lenders won't have the internal systems to process the datasets that Experian can provide.

matttye

Thrugelmir wrote: »

The lenders will set the parameters as to how the scores are calculated still. Smaller lenders won't have the internal systems to process the datasets that Experian can provide.

Right...so Experian would have access to that data, meaning they could use it to match people to products. Or am I misunderstanding you?

The_Boss

Thrugelmir wrote: »

The lenders will set the parameters as to how the scores are calculated still. Smaller lenders won't have the internal systems to process the datasets that Experian can provide.

So in other words these scores still bear no resemblance to the ones that Experian sell.

rizla_king

matttye wrote: »

James Jones has said on here in the past that Experian does generate credit scores for some lenders.

Think this is what you mean?

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showpost.php?p=62098653&postcount=36

Experian_company_representative wrote: »

Only just seen this. I had plenty to say on the Martin Lewis Money Show but most was a casualty of the edit as it's Martin's show not mine!!

I do spend a lot of time on here explaining and discussing the Experian Credit Score. Our website also makes it clear what this score represents.

Contrary to misleading comments by some posters, lenders DO obtain scores from the CRAs. We have been the leading provider of scoring solutions to UK lenders for over 25 years and, I believe, pioneered credit scoring in the UK in the early 80s.

The scoring logic we use in the Experian Credit Score reflects the scorecards we help many major lenders build. BUT, and as I've said on here many times before, lenders' scores usually assess a wider selection of data and will be customised to their own policies. It’s for these reasons that none of us has a ‘credit rating’.

On a simplistic level, and in terms of credit risk, this is typically what's assessed:

Lender's scoring system
-your own credit report
-your financial associates' credit reports
-your application form data (job, salary, marital status etc)
-lender's own records on existing or past customers
-aggregated geo-demographic data (type of neighbourhood you live in and so on)

Experian Credit Score (ECS)
-your own credit report

So the ECS is only part of the picture, but it is an important part and if we can help people gauge how their credit history shapes up in terms of a typical lender's scorecard then I think that's a very useful guide.

What I think is a challenge is that there are usually two main elements to a lender's credit report risk assessment 1) the overall score assessing multiple characteristics not individually predictive of risk and 2) individual policy rules that highlight specific things that are individually predictive, such as a CCJ/court judgment.

Examples of the latter can be isolated from the general score and used in the decision logic to move to a specific outcome (accept, refer, decline) irrespective of the general score. The ECS does I think do this for certain entries, which probably explains the occasional apparent anomaly ie someone with serious adverse entry getting a decent score. So we have been working to make this clearer on the website. Most people don't have serious adverse entries on their reports though and can therefore be helpfully guided by the ECS alone in terms of how their report is likely to affect a typical decision to lend.

I hope that helps.

James

matttye

rizla_king wrote: »

Think this is what you mean?

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showpost.php?p=62098653&postcount=36

That's it thanks. I couldn't remember exactly what he said but knew he said Experian did provide scores to lenders.

So even when the scores are provided to the lenders by Experian it looks like the lender still takes more info into account.

So the Experian Credit Score really is, completely and utterly, useless to the consumer. And the advert is completely misleading.

The_Boss

Yep. I challenged James Jones regarding the meaningless score on so many occasions last year and he never replied once. Nor did he to the others that challenged him. Now he doesn't seem to come on here as much to peddle their fraudulant lies.

tinkerbell28

The_Boss wrote: »

Yep. I challenged James Jones regarding the meaningless score on so many occasions last year and he never replied once. Nor did he to the others that challenged him. Now he doesn't seem to come on here as much to peddle their fraudulant lies.

Well I've just replied to a thread where an ex bankrupt has a genuinely high score and is miffed as to why he's been declined.

So according to experian he should waltz a mortgage. We all know what's not happening with BR on your file! It's going to be very hard...so how they are allowed to get away with it is beyond me!

The_Boss

tinkerbell28 wrote: »

Well I've just replied to a thread where an ex bankrupt has a genuinely high score and is miffed as to why he's been declined.

So according to experian he should waltz a mortgage. We all know what's not happening with BR on your file! It's going to be very hard...so how they are allowed to get away with it is beyond me!

Yeah - I've just seen that. Unbelievable. Or not unbelievable really given we know their scores are a useless waste of time.