A search decreased my 'credit score' just now, from good to fair

Cheers

on Experian, by Santander...does this mean they have ruined my chances of getting accepted for credit by anyone else? by rejecting me and also lowering my score from good to fair while doing so by searching me to make their decision

Eonel

As you will see posted repeatedly on this forum, credit scores and good/fair ratings should be ignored and certainly never paid for. The scores are never seen or used by lenders and are calculated without asking your salary ( which is obviously important & is used by real lenders )

Having too many searches on your credit file in a short amount of time will have a short term negative effect on your creditworthiness. Applying for several loans over a few days could indicate you are desperate to get credit.

But the negative effect is limited. If you then don't apply for any loans for a couple of months & no new loans are actually taken - this could indicate you were just shopping around for the best rate.

A single search of your credit record would have very little ( if any ) negative effect on your creditworthiness.

PaulW922

Additionally, you must have recently applied for a credit product with Santander? When you do that, you agree to a search taking place. Give it a month and your score will probably go up again, if nothing else changes.

solentsusie

I really hope you are not paying Experian for this service.

Just get your £2 statutory report before making any major credit applications. You will then be able to see if there is anything on your report that you should be concerned about.

As PaulW922 says, next month your score will probably increase again. Not that it means anything.

The most important factor is to make sure all of your accounts are paid on time.

Good luck.

Cheers

I googled financial ombudsman experian, wondering if the invention of a credit score was fraud and this site says lenders do use the score made up by the agency to decide

http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/cardsloans/article-2185099/Applicants-pay-price-complaints-credit-reference-agencies-soar.html

matttye

Cheers wrote: »

I googled financial ombudsman experian, wondering if the invention of a credit score was fraud and this site says lenders do use the score made up by the agency to decide

http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/cardsloans/article-2185099/Applicants-pay-price-complaints-credit-reference-agencies-soar.html

Some lenders buy 'a' score from fhe CRAs but nobody knows if it's 'the' score that we see or not.

Not every lender does buy such a score; I would guess it's only the smaller outfits that would need to.

YorkshireBoy

Cheers wrote: »

I googled financial ombudsman experian, wondering if the invention of a credit score was fraud and this site says lenders do use the score made up by the agency to decide

http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/cardsloans/article-2185099/Applicants-pay-price-complaints-credit-reference-agencies-soar.html

It's not the same 'score' they sell consumers.


matttye is correct above when he says some financial institutions take a 'scorecard' from the CRAs. Indeed, according to Experian around 150 UK financial institutions do. But how many "financial institutions" do you think there are in the UK?


There's lots of information on the Experian website - in the business, not consumer, section - including CII, Delphi, etc if you want to take a look.

Cheers

I read in that thisismomey.co.uk article, near the top
' The agencies simply score you, and give this rating to lenders who then use this as part of their own decisions about whether you are a good or bad risk to lend money to'

matttye

Cheers wrote: »

I read in that thisismomey.co.uk article, near the top
' The agencies simply score you, and give this rating to lenders who then use this as part of their own decisions about whether you are a good or bad risk to lend money to'

Article is correct insofar as they do sell scores to some lenders, but the vast majority of lenders use their own system and only take into account the information contained in your credit reports - not the scores.