How To Interpret My Credit Reports?

TCA

kingstreet wrote: »

Obtain your statutory files from the CRAs concerned, rather than relying on Check My File (CMF).

FWIW CMF gets no account data from Experian (see T&C) so it may be visible on your Experian statutory file but CMF won't report it as they don't have access to it.

OK, thanks. Easy enough to try Equifax and Callcredit directly. My other (subscription/free trial) report is direct from Experian and according to this below, actually shows more than the statutory report:

http://www.experian.co.uk/consumer/statutory-report.html

I'm not bothered over £2 but it takes up to 7 working days and would this report really show anything different?

Malmo

TCA wrote: »

OK, thanks. Easy enough to try Equifax and Callcredit directly. My other (subscription/free trial) report is direct from Experian and according to this below, actually shows more than the statutory report:

http://www.experian.co.uk/consumer/statutory-report.html

I'm not bothered over £2 but it takes up to 7 working days and would this report really show anything different?

I think you've rather missed the point. The statutory report contains the same data as the subscription report, which is all that matters as far as a lender is concerned. You've linked to a page that Experian uses to market their additional services, none of which are needed or relevant to your circumstances. Make sure you cancel the free trial in good time and do not pay for any ongoing subscription services.

Westminster

My RBS credit card appears on Equifax and Experian - so something is amiss there with your CRA files I would say.

TCA

Malmo wrote: »

I think you've rather missed the point. The statutory report contains the same data as the subscription report, which is all that matters as far as a lender is concerned.

That was the point I was trying to make, ignore the link. kingstreet suggests I get a statutory report from Experian. I already have Experian's Credit Expert report, scores etc as mentioned in my opening post. Am I still missing the point here?

kingstreet

If the account is old enough, it may not be "disclosable" to the CRAs unless it falls into arrears.

kingstreet

TCA wrote: »

That was the point I was trying to make, ignore the link. kingstreet suggests I get a statutory report from Experian. I already have Experian's Credit Expert report, scores etc as mentioned in my opening post. Am I still missing the point here?

Sorry, I got them the wrong way round, I thought you were using CMF for Experian.

TCA

Westminster wrote: »

My RBS credit card appears on Equifax and Experian - so something is amiss there with your CRA files I would say.

Thanks, that's useful to know. Sounds like I need to contact the CRA's to remedy this.

TCA

kingstreet wrote: »

Sorry, I got them the wrong way round, I thought you were using CMF for Experian.

Nope, as you said, Experian isn't covered. I'm clear now then, thanks.

kingstreet wrote: »

If the account is old enough, it may not be "disclosable" to the CRAs unless it falls into arrears.

That could be it, i'm not aware of ever being in arrears. The credit card is probably almost as old as my first current account, which is about 25 years and counting.

kingstreet

The card agreements going back a few years only allowed them to report to CRAs in the event of payment problems.

If you do want it reported on your credit files, you may be able to ask them to do it for you.

TCA

kingstreet wrote: »

If you do want it reported on your credit files, you may be able to ask them to do it for you.

Thanks. Anybody care to give an opinion as to whether I'd be better getting it included (for mortgage purposes) or not? I'm self employed with just two years of SA302s and prior to that was overseas for 6 years, so not much else to work with in terms of (recent) credit history.

The credit card goes back to 1990 or thereabouts and never any arrears that I can recall as it was almost always cleared every month. Plenty recent activity in the last two years though, but still cleared every month. Other than that, all I've had was a mortgage spanning several years in the 90's, which was also cleared when the property was sold. Probably too old to be of any relevance as not showing in any of these credit reports either.