Credit Ladder To Charge For Reporting To Both Experian & Equifax

leodis23

Just had a T&C update email from Credit Ladder (a service that adds rental payments to your credit file) that they'll be changing what you can get for free.

Current users will continue to have CL report their rent payments to both Experian and Equifax, but any new customers (and existing ones who change tenancies) from today will have to chose one CRA or the other. If you want both, it'll cost you £8 a month or £60 for the year.

Also nestled away is this line, " We now reserve the right to end rent reporting where a valid bank connection is not maintained by you.", so sounds like if you don't reconnect your Open Banking connection in time you'll lose out on the free reporting to both agencies.

Edit: On the last note, noticed that my bank needed re-authorising despite doing it less than 90 days ago, so worth checking your status if you're already a member.

Takmon

Out of interest does anyone with internal knowledge of mortgage application processes know if services such as these make any difference to how likely a person is to be accepted for a mortgage?. I realise that it is shown on the credit report as a payment being made on time each month but considering most people don't have this on their reports it would be interesting to know if they actually take it into account.

jbrassy

To be honest, I'm not sure how much of a difference reporting rent payments to a credit reference agency would make when it comes to applying for a mortgage. I personally wouldn't if I had to pay £8 a month for the privilege. 

There are easier and cheaper ways to improve your credit score. Firstly, making sure you're on the electoral roll will massively improve your chances of being accepted for credit. Another other easy way is having a mobile phone contract instead of PAYG. Also making sure you pay your utility bills on time (e.g. electricity, gas, water, broadband). Also, I think getting a credit card and paying off in full every month will go a long way to showing lenders that you are responsible with credit. If you're on the electoral roll and have never missed a bill payment, there's no reason why you shouldn't be accepted for a Capital One or Aqua credit card. This page may be helpful:
https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/credit-cards/bad-credit-credit-cards/ 

I would advise using an eligibility checker before applying for a credit card just to make sure you've got a decent chance of getting the card.