ClearScore Credit - 490. Please help!

Jase_

I've just taken my ClearScore Credit check and it came in at 490 with the following things listed as things I'm doing good and bad -

Things you're doing well

• You don't have any court judgements, bankruptcies or Individual Voluntary Arrangements
• You have no accounts in default or repossession
• You've been on the electoral roll at your current address for a long time
• You've made very few applications for credit in the past year
• You have held at least one of your accounts for several years
• Very few/none of your accounts have overdue payments

Things to improve

• Consider taking out a credit card to build your credit history

Is this score/the list of things good or bad? Google's telling me a score of 490 is really bad which is worrying me/really stressing me out as I'm finally looking to start renting in around a years time.

Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks!

DCFC79

Jase_ wrote: »

I've just taken my ClearScore Credit check and it came in at 490 with the following things listed as things I'm doing good and bad -

Things you're doing well

• You don't have any court judgements, bankruptcies or Individual Voluntary Arrangements
• You have no accounts in default or repossession
• You've been on the electoral roll at your current address for a long time
• You've made very few applications for credit in the past year
• You have held at least one of your accounts for several years
• Very few/none of your accounts have overdue payments

Things to improve

• Consider taking out a credit card to build your credit history

Is this score/the list of things good or bad? Google's telling me a score of 490 is really bad which is worrying me/really stressing me out as I'm finally looking to start renting in around a years time.

Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks!

Since Google is telling you 490 is bad don't go to them for financial advice. Your score means nothing, no 1 except you can see it.


Just get a credit card.

[Deleted User]

A score of 490 is equal to a score of 84759297474920027484.

In other words it’s made up.

Ignore it

Willing2Learn

DCFC79 wrote: »

Just get a credit card...

...and pay it off in full, each month, after your statement is received. The easiest way to do this, is to set up a Direct Debit to pay the full balance, as it can't be forgotten.

Edit: To add to the comments about your credit score.
Lenders don't see your score and don't use your score. They score you themselves against their independent criteria and policies, using the data held in your credit file, added to the data you submit in an application.

welly_59

A score of 490 on clear score is actually classed as an excellent score

[Deleted User]

welly_59 wrote: »

A score of 490 on clear score is actually classed as an excellent score

Just not in the real world, where it's classed as pointless.

welly_59

i hear this all the time on MSE, and i really dont understand all this "pointless", "madeup" comments.

Yes a score is subjective, not all lender use the same criteria etc, but when we the consumer cannot see the internal lending criteria it is a metric that you can compare yourself to

binaryuniverse

welly_59 wrote: »

i hear this all the time on MSE, and i really dont understand all this "pointless", "madeup" comments.

Yes a score is subjective, not all lender use the same criteria etc, but when we the consumer cannot see the internal lending criteria it is a metric that you can compare yourself to

Only if Clearscore was a lender, and offered you credit based on that score. Which they aren't and don't. You can't compare with it to anything as nobody lends on the basis of it.

Mine's at 426. I've opened loads of accounts, with top offers, in the last 18 months (with the score being 309, at its lowest), and keep on getting them. Can't recall being declined for anything in that period.

Just handle your affairs well, and ignore the score.

Jase_

If I applied for a credit card and was approved...but I didn't use the card at all, would my score still go up?

binaryuniverse

It doesn't matter what it does.

However, if you don't use it you're getting absolutely no history, on your report, for a lender to see. So you're an unknown quantity.

boo_star

Deleted_User wrote: »

Just not in the real world, where it's classed as pointless.

But the point is that the thread is even more pointless because they don't have a bad "score" anyway.