Which credit reference agency is more reliable? Noddle/Experian/Equifax etc..?

Jlawson118

The first website I ever used properly was Noddle, after opening an Aqua account and they used Noddle. This was around this time last year and my score was rated 3/5 and poor. Now I know the score doesn't matter as such, but over this past year, my score never really moved. It's gone up and down a matter of a few numbers but that's about it. Although I remember seeing some threads a few weeks ago, one in which somebody was so excited to have their Noddle score at maximum and everybody was saying that the Noddle one is very hard to get up!

Whereas a few months later, I joined Clearscore. My score on there was classed as Good, although towards the end of year, this dropped to Average due to credit searches. However, Equifax was the same, and I get access to my Experian score with Barclaycard every two months, and these were on the same sort of ratings.

Although today, for the first time in a year, I have gone onto the green section for good, with Noddle! A score that never seems to go up, went up! I won't get to see my Clearscore one until towards the end of the month. Although I do also see my Experian check from MSE credit club, that'll be next week.

Anyway, which one is more reliable? I know these don't represent exactly what the banks see or want, but I'm curious

DCFC79

Reliable for what ?

Lenders either use just 1 of the 3, 2 out 3 or all 3.

The scores matter zero, zilch.

[Deleted User]

You need to add the scores together and divide by 3.

If you get more than 400, you win a small stuffed toy.

phillw

Jlawson118 wrote: »

Anyway, which one is more reliable? I know these don't represent exactly what the banks see or want, but I'm curious

Reliable for what? Each lender has their own wildly different algorithms and the credit agency then tries to make a score based on their own algorithm that tries to take the majority of the lenders decisions into account.

Lenders may change their criteria based on the debt profile of their existing customers, so they may take a punt on someone who misses payments occasionally as they make more money out of the!fees than if you always paid on time. You probably won't find any of the best buys doing that.

You know what you need to do to improve your chances of being lent to, pay off your debts and in 5 years you'll be fine. Credit scores are more about triggering an emotional response in you to help you on your way.

datlex

Credit scores are a strange thing. They can give you some indication of issues. However they are not clever enough to see moved finance as different from new finance. They also importantly do not consider your income or full expenses.