Credit score help please

JenjenCoops

Hi,

Looking for some advice!
I checked my credit score for the first time, so a little unsure if there’s anything I can do here.......
I have 1 red point which is that I have ‘opened a new credit account in the last 6 months’. Looking at the list on it, it is referring to my AA car insurance renewal from 2 months ago. I didn’t know this would be counted on there as credit, but as it’s a renewal should it not be from when I first went with them? I’m just concerned as this might affect my mortgage options, but I also need to have car insurance!

Any advice welcome! Thank you

Jen

DCFC79

JenjenCoops wrote: »

Hi,

Looking for some advice!
I checked my credit score for the first time, so a little unsure if there’s anything I can do here.......
I have 1 red point which is that I have ‘opened a new credit account in the last 6 months’. Looking at the list on it, it is referring to my AA car insurance renewal from 2 months ago. I didn’t know this would be counted on there as credit, but as it’s a renewal should it not be from when I first went with them? I’m just concerned as this might affect my mortgage options, but I also need to have car insurance!

Any advice welcome! Thank you

Jen

You checked your credit history.

Your score is only seen by yourself only.

Was the insurance something you pay monthly ?

JenjenCoops

Yeah I pay it monthly

I assumed when applying for a mortgage, they would be able to see my credit rating and any reasons why it’s not higher!

Thank you

[Deleted User]

JenjenCoops wrote: »

I assumed when applying for a mortgage, they would be able to see my credit rating and any reasons why it’s not higher!

No. No one sees it apart from you.

Car insurance is nothing to worry about, although it would be smarter to pay it in a single instalment.

Dobbibill

JenjenCoops wrote: »

Yeah I pay it monthly

I assumed when applying for a mortgage, they would be able to see my credit rating and any reasons why it’s not higher!

Thank you

When you apply for your mortgage they will score you in line with their lending criteria and affordability.

They will look at your history held on whichever CRA they use. (there are 3 main ones) They do not search your score, they search your history.

JenjenCoops

Thank you for all the replies! Apologies, I don’t know how to quote and reply individually!

- So when they search my history, they will just see that everything gets paid? Sounds good!

- i did used to pay off the car insurance in one if I had the money available and only stopped due to not having enough for one lump sum.....didn’t realise it would affect this, so may change- thank you!

ariarnia

JenjenCoops wrote: »

- So when they search my history, they will just see that everything gets paid? Sounds good!

They can also see if you've applied for lots of things in the last little while (but not if you've been accepted or rejected) and if you're making minimum payments (rather than paying the full balance on accounts) each month.

Neither are things to worry about that much until you're actually in the run up to buying a house but in the last 6 months you might want to be more careful about things like that because they can make a difference to how strong an application is.

PRAISETHESUN

Ignore any reference to your credit rating/score - the numbers are basically meaningless as no-one else will see it but you, and it doesn't correlate to any ability to gain credit. Every lender will generate their own scored based on the contents of your credit file and any information provided during the application so what matters most is your credit history.

As has been mentioned, paying insurance monthly is reported as credit as they treat it as if you are paying off a 12 month loan - you are usually credit checked before taking out a policy if you elect to pay monthly, and missed payments can be reported to your credit file. Annual policies are usually cheaper overall anyway, so perhaps if are able to set aside some cash every month that might be the best approach moving forward (just put aside the money you are paying monthly now or something?).