Anyone noticed the tightening of credit?

IrishSean

Agreed Willing, I meant keep an eye on score to do just that👍

Takmon

IrishSean said:

Your credit score, in the main, tells you if you've been good or bad with money which, even by the admission of those sceptical of their usefulness, is the very thing that WILL affect your BEST  chances of getting credit in the future. 😀 Like the thermometer: tells you you're ill, not what your disease is. It's a prompt to dig deeper, find out more & stay well.

If you want to compare credit scores with a thermometer then it's like having a handful of different thermometers in your house that all use a different scale but the manufacturer won't tell you how they determined that scale and they simply say "good" or "bad" on them. 

But then in your house you also have 4 folders (credit reports) which will give you exactly details of what's wrong with you if you just look inside.

So your suggesting that people should use the random collection of thermometers each month and only look in the folders if they say there is a problem?. When it only takes a few minutes to look in the folders alway to check for any changes. 

What's the point in telling people to look at credit scores when on the same websites with only a couple more clicks they can actually look at the data that the creditor's will see?. 
Credit Scores are just a marketing tool to make these companies money, that's why when you request your free credit report that your legally entitled too it doesn't contain any "score" it only contains your report which is the important information.

So anyone who recommends people to check their Score are just falling for a marketing campaign.

Grumpy_chap

@Takmon - the thing is I look at the information in the folders and it is not all clear to me what has what effect.  Sometimes, I manage things in a certain way that are logical and 'good' from my point of view, but then the score goes down.  I would like to know more and have a better understanding, but that is all too opaque.  So, the simple thermometer has gone up (good) or down (bad) is the only tool I really have to give a reference point.  It is a shame that it is not possible to use the information in the credit reports to actually encourage good habits.  Maybe the credit industry don't actually want us to know how to manage our finances well as the money is made from managing money poorly.

IrishSean

IrishSean said:

 Like the thermometer: tells you you're ill, not what your disease is. It's a prompt to dig deeper, find out more & stay well.

I never said blindly follow scores alone.

As above; if your score changes significantly its an indication something of note has changed on your credit file, is all.

IrishSean

Excellent point Grumpy☝

CRISPIANNE3

Credit scores are good for educating purposes. This how they are promoted in America by one of the leading agencies. 

Takmon

Grumpy_chap said:

@Takmon - the thing is I look at the information in the folders and it is not all clear to me what has what effect.  Sometimes, I manage things in a certain way that are logical and 'good' from my point of view, but then the score goes down.  I would like to know more and have a better understanding, but that is all too opaque.  So, the simple thermometer has gone up (good) or down (bad) is the only tool I really have to give a reference point.  It is a shame that it is not possible to use the information in the credit reports to actually encourage good habits.  Maybe the credit industry don't actually want us to know how to manage our finances well as the money is made from managing money poorly.

But it is pretty clear when looking at a credit file that obvious things like missed payments are bad and making payments on time is good. It only takes a quick Google search to find out what makes your credit report more attractive to lenders. The main things most people do automatically like they legally have to be on the electoral roll at their current address. They know to make payments on time at the correct amount, they know that going over there credit card limit is bad etc.

It's all actually pretty simple to manage properly and in your case it seems that the score going up and down is what is causing you confusion and making you doubt what your doing. So that's a good example of why credit scores should not be used.

redux

Strange to say, two of the existing card regular balance transfer offers that had disappeared are now back.

Edit: one has altered between last night and this morning. Last night, no fee.3.9% interest for up to 3 years. Now, choice of 12 months at 0%  with 3.5% fee, or no fee 4.9% interest (doesn't say how long; edit 2: on the money transfer tab it says this is for 4 years)