Increasing score & few questions

dsme94

Hi,

I have finally got registered onto Experian to manage my credit. 20 years old and just finished Uni.

You have no successfully settled credit account

You have revolving credit that has been open for less than 10 months.

The age of your accounts indicates lenders are likely to view you as higher risk

Above are the three negative factors that I don't understand and was wondering if anyone had any explanation to these?

I understand the I have no successfully settled credit because I've never had credit, although I've just been accepted for a mobile contract with Vodafone - I applied for this to improve my score as I would have otherwise just stuck to PAYG.

I have revolving credit that has been open for 10 months? What does this mean?

The age of my account indicates that I am a risk? I have been with my bank god knows how long, must be at least 9 years. Is this what this is referring to? I have just recently had the account type changed...

Experian rates my score at 786, 740 now since I applied for the contract at Vodafone. Is this what typically happens when you apply for credit?

What's the next steps?
Do people rate experian or should I use another reference agency?
Will finding credit cards that match my scoring using Experian affect my credit score?
Lastly, when will Vodafone start appearing on the credit report?

Cheers

Nasqueron

Step 1:
Immediately cancel any subscription you have taken out - the money is 100% total waste, Experian do not lend you money so what they "score" you is a waste of your time. Use Noddle (Call Credit front end) for free to check basic data is correct - not all finance companies report to all 3. The only information lenders look at is the actual data on the account - that lack of data is why they "score" you as they do
Step 2:
You are a "virgin" to credit agencies in that you are an unknown entity - get a credit card from your bank (as they know you), spend what you can afford to e.g. putting weekly shopping and petrol on the CC, pay it off in full.
Step 3:
Leave it for a few months of well managed credit card and then worry about your rating - if you don't need a mortgage, loan or major credit then just repeat step 2 for a couple of years and then when you need some finance you'll be set
Step 4:
Make sure you are on the electoral roll whether at parents or in your current house - big reason for declines if you are not registered

In the future if you need any credit reports e.g. before a mortgage use the £2 report they provide and check all 3 - Equifax is the other

Experian_company_representative

Hi dsme94,

You are correct in relation to the score factor ‘You have no successfully settled credit accounts’ .

Also congratulations for being accepted for a mobile contract with Vodafone, the older this account becomes and being well maintained you may start to see your credit report improve.

dsme94 wrote: »

I have revolving credit that has been open for 10 months? What does this mean?

Revolving credit balance information is used to calculate balance trends to see if you’re using more or less of this type of credit than you were a year ago.

The average balance from the last 3 months is compared to the average balance from 10-12 months ago. If you have revolving credit accounts that are less than ten months old, this information would not be available meaning lenders have less information about how well you are managing your credit.

Alternatively, the account may have been classified as dormant by the lender or the lender has supplied ‘unknown’ balance values. These situations are likely to be viewed negatively by most lenders. As the accounts become older, assuming payments are being met satisfactorily, this factor is likely to improve.

dsme94 wrote: »

The age of my account indicates that I am a risk? I have been with my bank god knows how long, must be at least 9 years. Is this what this is referring to? I have just recently had the account type changed...

If you have recently opened a new account (Such as your account you have mentioned with Vodafone) this is why the score factor has appeared on your Credit Report, the older the account becomes you will start to see an improve to your Credit Report and the score factor will then disappear.

dsme94 wrote: »

Experian rates my score at 786, 740 now since I applied for the contract at Vodafone. Is this what typically happens when you apply for credit?

That’s correct, when application for credit is made and a footprint/search is left on your Credit Report this will have an impact to your credit score. As you have also opened a new account they both have had an impact to your credit score, as mentioned above the older the search becomes the less of a negative impact this will have.

dsme94 wrote: »

What's the next steps?
Do people rate Experian or should I use another reference agency?

Not all lenders share details about their customers with all three Credit Reference Agencies (CRA), this information can differ between the CRAs. So you might find it useful to obtain a copy of your credit report with each of the CRAs, their contact details are listed below.

- Experian
Customer Support Centre
Experian Ltd
PO Box 8000
Nottingham
NG80 7WF

- Equifax
Equifax Credit File Advice Centre
P.O. Box 1140
Bradford
BD1 5US

- Callcredit
Consumer Services
Callcredit Limited
PO Box 491
Leeds
LS3 1WZ

dsme94 wrote: »

Will finding credit cards that match my scoring using Experian affect my credit score?

When using the exclusive CreditMatcher service this will not affect your credit score while you consider the options, further details can be found here

dsme94 wrote: »

Lastly, when will Vodafone start appearing on the credit report?

We receive updates from the lender on a monthly basis, if you notice anything incorrect or the account does not appear on your credit report please get in contact with us here

I hope this helps

Kind Regards
James Jarvis