Credit Agencies Logic

The_Big_Bad_R

Sorry but this is my first time on a forum like this
Can anyone tell me the logic that is applied by the two main organisations as far as the score out of 700 and 999.
For the past 6 months my score with Clearscore has been 417. Last month I decided to reduce the amount of credit that was available to me, so informed my two credit card providers who duly reduced my limit. Each month i pay off the balance IN FULL on one of the credit cards. The other card has a zero balance on as the card is only used for holiday car hire and then paid off IN FULL when the statement arrives.
This month my clearscore/Equifax balance has FELL by 18 points. My Experian score has RISEN by 199 points. Surely the logical actions I have taken are sensible and the credit agencies who receive the information would use the same logic

Willing2Learn

In the real world, your CRA-derived credit scores are useless. Lenders don't use it. Lenders don't see it. Lenders only see the data held in your credit file, plus the data you submit in an application for credit.

Just ignore your score. Instead, focus on successfully managing all your credit accounts and make sure you are on the Electoral Register.

Edit: And welcome to the forum

[Deleted User]

Don't worry about it too much. The CRA scores are meaningless - they don't make lending decisions and don't apply lending criteria.

Any change - good or bad - will drop your score.

However - don't drop your limits too much unless you really need to. It could be interpreted by other lenders that your providers don't trust you. However, if your limits are still very healthy, crack on.

mwarby

The logic is something along lines of - how can we show as change that prompts you to do something to earn us money (sell new credit card, loan etc) or make sure they come back next month to check score (so we can sell you something)

PRAISETHESUN

As is highlighted above, ignore any reference to your credit "rating" or "score" as in the real world these numbers are basically meaningless - no-one except you will see them and they are not used by lenders in any descisions to grant credit. Instead you want to focus on building and maintaining positive credir history. Paying off your cards in full and on time will demonstrate that you can manage credit responsibly, so keep doing this. The reduction in limit could be seen as a negative by some lenders though since they only see the limit reduction, and not that you requested it. Either way, just keep doing what you're doing and you'll be fine.