Credit score drop

HaydenB

I have explained my situation on here previously. Things have changed however. I am now looking to sell my house, release the equity to settle my debts in full. I printed off my credit score from Experian which was 996 out of 999 and classed as excellent. This even though I have been in a Debt Management Plan for 6 years. With my hypothetical situation of selling my house and clearing my debts in full my mortgage broker has spoken to lenders and said I am in a strong position and would have no problem getting a mortgage for the value I need.

Anyway, I then received a letter from Barclays saying that they had cancelled my debt agreement because the payments from Payplan was late. I emailed Payplan and they said they have passed on payments on time but because I hadnt done my annual review - which I have only been asked to do since - the agreement was cancelled. So I have had an email this morning from Experian saying there has been a change to my credit score - I have checked it and its fallen and is now only classed as fair which I assume will affect my chances of getting a new mortgage.

Obviously I am gutted and pretty miffed. Any advice appreciated.

sourcrates

Credit scores are utterly meaningless drivel !!

They have only one purpose, and that is to persuade you, the punter, to buy "credit score improvement products" from the CRA's.

Each lender has there own credit scoring system, and it's nothing to do with the number given to you by the credit reference agency.

Please do not be suckered in by there propaganda.

HaydenB

I appreciate that, but if something has had a detriment affect on my credit score wont it have a knock on affect to the lenders own credit scoring system?

LJB290

I thought that credit scores were the be-all and end-all of applying for credit cards, mortgages and loans etc ......
Lenders always use one of the top 3 credit agencies to check ...... don't they?

sourcrates

Pay your bills ontime, don't get defaults, be on the electoral role, don't apply for too much credit.
That's all you need to worry about.

The number you see is only an indication as to wether your accepted or not, there are many other factors in play.

nicp60

LJB290 wrote: »

I thought that credit scores were the be-all and end-all of applying for credit cards, mortgages and loans etc ......
Lenders always use one of the top 3 credit agencies to check ...... don't they?

Yes, but they don't see the fictitious number that the credit agencies sell you. Lenders see the information that is held by the CRAs, and each lender will have slightly different things which they are looking for.

Vermillion

I can't work this out either. My Experian one is 989, yet my Equifax and Callcredit ones are smashed to jiggery!

There is stuff reported on one, but not on others and then visa versa.

It's unbeliveable that financial institutions use these as a decision making process! Some of the information is poles apart!

sourcrates

Vermillion wrote: »

I can't work this out either. My Experian one is 989, yet my Equifax and Callcredit ones are smashed to jiggery!

There is stuff reported on one, but not on others and then visa versa.

It's unbeliveable that financial institutions use these as a decision making process! Some of the information is poles apart!

Exactly, because different lenders report to different CRA's, your credit score could vary widely, between each one.
The whole system is far from perfect, but it's what we're stuck with.

You could be accepted by one lender, who uses a particular CRA, but declined by another, that's uses a different CRA, makes no sense at all, and proves your so called 'credit score' means nothing.

HaydenB

Im starting to get the gist now

Puddylove

Hi
My credit 'score' is pants, despite having credit cards for more than 20years, loans, bank accounts, with no defaults, and being on the electoral roll.
I suspect this is because I have £7k plus owed on a credit card, but credit 'scores' don't take into account other factors like income.

P x

Movingon5464

I think you need to look into your report more and see what has changed and resulted in the score dropping. While the score in itself is irrelevant I think you are correct to wonder if whatever caused the drop in your Experian score would also have a negative impact on a lenders decision. It could be Barclay's adding a default or late payment marker etc or something else entirely. You need to look into your report and see what has changed. Maybe then you can challenge it.