Everyone always says on here your credit score means nothing, no one uses it or sees it etc...

TurningANewLeaf

...but I'm not sure if that is strictly true.


Because a few years ago when I was applying for a flat (to rent) I was sitting in the letting agents while we were doing the paperwork, and the agent tells me "okay, just gonna do a credit check on you now".


I was bricking it at this point, because although I'd never looked at my credit report I thought I could fail at this point as I suspected it was very likely there could be things on there that could be cause for alarm. I haven't always historically been the best at keeping on top of things, a lot of mitigating circumstances which I won't bore you with, although I'm much better now.



But anyway, he said "yep, it's fine, you've passed the credit check", so naturally I was relieved, then I asked what actually happens when you do a credit report, and he said we just get a score from the credit agency, then he literally turned his screen around and showed me my score (I think it was about 400 or something at the time). It didn't give any other information of interest other than my score. So I asked "is that a good score?" and he didn't answer . Then I asked "what would have happened if I'd failed?" and again he avoided the answer. As it happens, I guess their bar must be set pretty low to accept me with a score like that.



But anyway, I've rambled on a bit here, but the point here is some companies do actually use the credit score the credit referencing agencies give them.



And this was one of those independent letting agent too, so it's not like they are gonna have a system in place where they independently score you with their own in-house algorithm. The screen looked very much like the Experian screen, except it didn't say Poor or Very Poor on there.

Jarviscocker

By credit check I think they mean if they can find you?

[Deleted User]

Some companies ask the CRAs to generate scores for them, but none see the pretend score that you see from the CRAs.

It's always possible, given the nature of probability, that the two could on occasion be the same, even though they are derived from different methodologies.
.

So yes, it is true that the number you see is meaningless as far as lenders are concerned.

Willing2Learn

Also, you were being scored for a property rental. This is just a 'soft' check, a search to see your public information, including your address history, whether you are on the Electoral Roll and if you have a CCJ or Insolvency in your name. You would not have been scored using the account conduct data held within your file.

[Deleted User]

You’re ramblings are incorrect I’m afraid.

xlnc99

Very good point, curious to know the answer. No-one has really answered the question the OP has given. He has said it showed a score from the credit report which was presumably experian. So it looks like they did check his score from the site and made their conclusions from there as they would not have their own system in place.

TurningANewLeaf

Willing2Learn wrote: »

Also, you were being scored for a property rental. This is just a 'soft' check, a search to see your public information, including your address history, whether you are on the Electoral Roll and if you have a CCJ or Insolvency in your name. You would not have been scored using the account conduct data held within your file.

I was absolutely 100% shown a score. I vividly remember him turning his screen around to show me the score when he realised I was curious about how it worked, and I absolutely remember asking him if the number on the screen was a good score.

TurningANewLeaf

Deleted_User wrote: »

Some companies ask the CRAs to generate scores for them, but none see the pretend score that you see from the CRAs.

It's always possible, given the nature of probability, that the two could on occasion be the same, even though they are derived from different methodologies.


.

So yes, it is true that the number you see is meaningless as far as lenders are concerned.

Curious, why do you think a CRA would bother to give a different score they generate for a letting agent to the "made up" score they would give me?


I mean what would be the purpose on having two different methodologies?

SnowTiger

TurningANewLeaf wrote: »

...but I'm not sure if that is strictly true.

Because a few years ago when I was applying for a flat (to rent) I was sitting in the letting agents while we were doing the paperwork, and the agent tells me "okay, just gonna do a credit check on you now".

[...]

And this was one of those independent letting agent too, so it's not like they are gonna have a system in place where they independently score you with their own in-house algorithm. The screen looked very much like the Experian screen, except it didn't say Poor or Very Poor on there.

CRAs offer a variety of facilities to companies.

Experian offer these: https://www.experian.co.uk/business/analytics-and-decisioning/decision-analytics/credit-scorecard-analytics/.

I doubt companies base their decisions completely on the information they get from CRAs about what's on your credit report. CRAs don't, for example, know your income, the make up of your family, your employment details or have references from your previous landlords.

Experian or a third party may take this additional information and what's on your credit file and distil it in an easy to understand representation.

A small lettings agent will be looking for a yes or no answer from their computer, not pages and pages of financial insight.

TurningANewLeaf

!!! wrote: »

You’re ramblings are incorrect I’m afraid.

According to you, who I guess has worked at all the major CRA and know every aspect inside out of their business relationships with banks, utility companies, mobile phone operators, estate agents, letting agents and all the rest of it.



Which part are you saying is incorrect anyway, the part where he literally turned his screen around and showed me the score the CRA had given me? Because I can assure you, that happened!

[Deleted User]

He showed you “A SCORE”.

A number generated by their system using whatever algorithms to “rate” a person.

It’s not the same score as the CRA’s give you.

Lenders scores are COMPLETELY different to CRA (marketing gimmick) scores.