Credit agencies and addresses

0611045

I recently signed up with Experian to check my credit record. I have historically been rejected for (generally cashback) credit cards and was not sure why. I am:

• 27
• Full-time employment with very good salary
• Only loan is student loan
• Have always payed off existing credit card in full every month

However, when I first signed up my credit rating was largely empty. The reason was because Experian didn't know most of my addresses for the previous 6 years and so I had a middle-of-the-road credit score. I added previous addresses, and the score increased.

My question is this: if I had to fill in my previous addresses to view my own credit rating, how can Experian give an accurate picture of my credit worthiness to potential creditors? Would my credit score have been impacted by the lack of addresses or is my view of my own credit rating completely separate?

If the latter, this seems to be a dirty trick to force people to enter more details and subscribe for longer to see the impact that has on their credit score.

Would appreciate any insight!

DCFC79

First thing throw the idea of your score being useful or important out the window as its useless, lenders don't even see it, what matters is your credit history.

cakeforbrains

This happened to me, and was compounded by the fact that my married name hadn't been updated either. I had to notify all three agencies directly and, to be fair, it only then took about 24 hours for my proper data to come through.

I worked on the assumption that the incomplete file was what the lenders would see and that, effectively, there is only one file (per company) so if it's out of date that looks bad/confusing to a lender.

I think for most people addresses will get updated automatically (ie when you register on the electoral role) but for others (like you and me) confusing histories cause the whole thing to blip. That said, I think you can call each company and update without actually having to be subscribed to their product; they'll still have a file on you even though you're not paying to see it.

Experian_company_representative

Hi 0611045

0611045 wrote: »

I recently signed up with Experian to check my credit record. I have historically been rejected for (generally cashback) credit cards and was not sure why. I am:

• 27
• Full-time employment with very good salary
• Only loan is student loan
• Have always payed off existing credit card in full every month

However, when I first signed up my credit rating was largely empty. The reason was because Experian didn't know most of my addresses for the previous 6 years and so I had a middle-of-the-road credit score. I added previous addresses, and the score increased.

My question is this: if I had to fill in my previous addresses to view my own credit rating, how can Experian give an accurate picture of my credit worthiness to potential creditors? Would my credit score have been impacted by the lack of addresses or is my view of my own credit rating completely separate?

If the latter, this seems to be a dirty trick to force people to enter more details and subscribe for longer to see the impact that has on their credit score.

Would appreciate any insight!

To make sure you're viewing a full and accurate copy of your credit report you may want to add your previous address history, your Experian Credit Report will show you six years of account history.

If you need any assistance adding your previous address history to your Experian Credit Report, please let us know as we would be able to assist.

Regards
James Jarvis