How often does the credit file update?

917700

I settled my Car PCP on 20 Aug. Checked my car finance account today, the outstanding balance is £0 now. 
I am just wondering when will the credit file update? The car finance company said they will send the information to credit agency straight away. But how frequent does the credit agency actually update? 

dr_adidas01

917700 said:

I settled my Car PCP on 20 Aug. Checked my car finance account today, the outstanding balance is £0 now. 
I am just wondering when will the credit file update? The car finance company said they will send the information to credit agency straight away. But how frequent does the credit agency actually update? 

It can take anywhere from 6 to 8 weeks for an account to be updated. It depends on when the credit provider sends the information to the CRA’s and for them to update your file. 

cymruchris

And the file a lender sees will be visible sooner than the one you see if you use things like MSE credit club and credit karma etc. Many of the 'free' reports update once a month - so if it updated on your phone on the 1st of the month - and your lender happened to submit the data on the 2nd of the month - you'd not see it until the 1st of the next month, but lenders would see it as soon as the data was applied.

SpreadableToast

Credit files are updated in real-time so IF the lender sent an update "straight away" anyone checking your file would see the updated balance.  As cymruchris says, however, the free ones tend to update monthly and in reality, I doubt the lender will actually update it immediately, it'll probably be updated in a monthly batch that the send over to the CRAs so at least a couple of months (if you're checking via the freebie credit services) is more realistic.