Accepted Debit Card... Negative On Experian

[Deleted User]

Hey!

I thought I'd look in to my Credit Score with Experian because I've just moved current accounts from Co-op to First Direct.

Firstly, I have two negatives on my account:
You have no settled non-mail order credit accounts.
The average age of your credit accounts is 23 months.

I have two credit cards (one with Barclays to pay my work expenses then a later one with Co-op with a better rate) with nil balances. Should I close one and let one mature or just keep both for now? I have a car loan too which will 'settle' in due course.

Anywho.. I digress. The issue I have is further down on my credit report. Under the section, "How many credit applications have you made in the last 6 months?", I have a First Direct search showing as "negative", although I wasn't declined their Current Account or Cash ISA (application was on the 19th Feb). HSBC did an ID check earlier on that day and that was fine but First Direct's "Current Account" application is showing negative.

Any advice or reasoning why? Can this be revoked?

Cheers!

PaulW922

It is not 'negative' as such. What it means is this; you have applied for a credit product (which a current account is) and a search has been made. When potential lenders look at your credit report one thing they may take into account is how many recent searches you have for credit on your file. A high number of searches in a short period of time often has the effect of knocking your score down a bit as it suggests you are applying for a lot of new credit. The data is not itself negative and it is not reported to other lenders as such. Whether or not your were accepted for the account has no bearing - all that is reported is that the search took place. No future lender will know whether or not you were accepted or indeed, who it was who did the search - just the date of it and the product (current account)

The score that Experian gives you, whilst not as meaningless as some other posters here may suggest is only a guide. It is Experian's assessment based on the data it can see. Apart from you, nobody else can see that score and it is not sold on or provided to anyone else. All lenders have their own scoring process and make their own decisions.

So the record of the search is correct and cannot be removed. It is only a 'negative' because the more searches you have the more it will temporarily reduce the Experian generated score. The older searches are the less impact they have and after 12 months it will drop off anyway.

First Direct is a picky current account provider so the fact you have been able to open an account means they must regard your credit profile as a positive one.

As for the other things - don't worry about them. A history of successfully utilised and settled credit is positive but so equally is an ongoing credit facility properly managed. A nil balance is not necessary a positive - future lenders may prefer to see credit being used and sensibly managed. What you have on your file seems good to me, although a little sparse but as time goes son it will build up and continue to paint a positive picture of you. What you really need to be concerned about is any indictors that you cannot manage your credit properly which is clearly not the case.

[Deleted User]

Paul,

Thanks a million for your informative reply. It does make sense, in all honesty, otherwise this 'negative' - as a result of a search - would perhaps have been added to the other two negatives? The sheer fact it isn't counted as a third did ameliorate my concern.

I'll leave the cards as they are too (or, at most, barter for better APR). Historically, I use the higher APR one for work expenses and the Co-op one for payments such as car insurance. I pay for this annually though I pay it off over a month or two.

Again, thanks!

PaulW922

None of the 'negatives' referred to by Experian are bad marks in the way your are thinking. It is just the term Experian uses to give you an idea as to what impact an individual factor is likely to have. The best thing you can do is to use your credit cards and pay the balance back on time. That is what really matters. It will show you can manage your credit.