Car Lease declined

JaySM84

Hey Guys, just looking for some advice.

I was just recently declined for a car lease which was to my surprise, the finance lender in question I was told used Experian to judge whether to accept me or not so I had a look at my score and it was in the fair catergory with 844. 40 odd shy of good which is what the finance company would have wanted.

Im wondering will having been declined now take my score lower and if there was anyway I could go about boosting my score up quicker as im not far off good. I used experian years ago and so it didnt have my current address or address in between to now for which I am on the electoral and marked it as a negative. Would updating experian with all my details boost my score.

I also have used about £1400 on a credit card with a limit of £2000 which I pay £50 a month of which I thought would be boosting my credit score and never missed or had a late payment with. I also have another credit card for which Ive used nothing on thats still open from a few years ago. Notably Experian doesnt state or show either of these two on its record or score of me. Im curious will paying off the credit card or massively reducing it and closing the unused one boost my Experian score? Im not how much this lender is weighting the experian score as I can't really change my credit history quickly.

Ive had a decent credit history I thought, had a paid of a PCP car finance, had a recently paid off a smallish loan(£6k), had a credit card and currently use an interest free credit card which I always make payments on thinking it shows I use and always pay credit.

In my history Ive never had any late or missed payments. The only negative thing I can think of is that Ive moved around a fair few times over the past 5 years but thats only ever been because of circumstance. A lot on here say is the credit history thats most important and not credit scores but it seems the experian score is whats affected this outcome most.

Any advice on how I could boost my experian score in the next month or so would be great too.

Thanks

Candyapple

There is no such thing as a credit score. The number you see from Experian, no lender will ever see this, only you - it's a marketing ploy to get you to part with your money. Lenders use different criteria to assess whether to lend to you or not.

Your moving address is probably not helping you. You need to be on the electoral roll and wait for it to be updated across all 3 agencies - this can sometimes take months.

Also, don't forget that you need copies of all 3 of your credit reports to get the full picture, not just Experian.

Just because your credit cards don't show on Experian, doesn't mean they might not be showing on Equifax or Call Credit.

Paying off your cards is not going to really help you in the short time but in the long term if you clear your debts this is always a good thing. There is nothing you can do to improve your credit history in the short term except make sure all your payments are on time and not to make too many credit searches in a short space of time.

john1002

Not a lot on the experian score front as it can often take months for changes to take effect and that's only if the company themselves update, I have a paid off credit card in October that still is not showing updated.

Keep doing what you are doing and try one more company. Two searches won't impact you too much.

How are your files with the other two credit reference agencies?

Jihn

DCFC79

What will increase your score is a pack of hob nobs, seriously your score means nothing, only you see it.

I could be wrong but you might be lucky to make any changes to improve your history within a month.

[Deleted User]

JaySM84 wrote: »

A lot on here say is the credit history thats most important and not credit scores but it seems the experian score is whats affected this outcome most.

No. No, it hasn't.

JaySM84

No you're right it hasn't from what I've now read..

I'm just perplexed as to why I was refused. I had just last month finished paying a loan so maybe that hasn't yet been updated on my record plus the £1500 on my credit card I feel have contributed mostly to my decline. Im going to pay off my credit card and try again at the end of next month hoping both have been cleared off my record. Ill check the other 2 agencies and see what they have in record.

fruitisbad

yeah credit card at 75% utilisation is probably not a positive factor to lenders.

JaySM84

Yeah I feel that has made an impact and likely main reason along with maybe the loan not showing as cleared for my decline. Im going to clear it tonight and try again right at the beginning of March and hope both show cleared on my record.

m4rc

If I read it correctly you are basically saying Experian doesn't list your current address. If that's the case then that is probably a big reason for the decline, you gave an address to the lender, they checked with Expwrian who said 'these are the addresses we have' and none of them are where you live, and showing you are on the electoral roll.

One of the most important things a lender wants is to make sure they know where you live so they can get their money back. With a car it's sometimes easier to get credit than for a loan or credit card as they can take the car back, it's not so easy to take your holiday back or some nice meals out. I would think, if your first post is saying what I read, that this is what is putting a lender off. Add your current address and wait for them to recieve the updated electoral roll - although this can take a long time, I moved in August and I'm still apparantly not on the electoral roll at this new address.