Does opening a load of bank accounts affect your credit score?

laughletdie

I know it causes you trouble if you open a load of credit cards, but does it matter with bank accounts? I'd like to open a load and move cash around to get the freebies, seeing as how my savings account is literally 0.01% interest! But will it affect my credit score? I naively opened a load of credit cards when I was about 20 to get rewards, and then couldn't get a mortgage!

D3xt3r5L4b

Having loads of credit cards doesn’t “cause trouble”.
Running up balances in them and not paying them back does. 

And no you don’t have a credit score to be affected. 

colsten

Most banks will do a hard credit search when you apply for a current account, even if you don't apply for an overdraft.
These hard searches stay on your credit reference files for 12 months.

Unless you have a need to apply for a major loan in that period, there's nothing to worry about. 

laughletdie

D3xt3r5L4b said:

Having loads of credit cards doesn’t “cause trouble”.
Running up balances in them and not paying them back does. 

And no you don’t have a credit score to be affected. 

I got a bad credit score based on getting about 4 credit cards in a week, so yes it does!

DCFC79

laughletdie said:

D3xt3r5L4b said:

Having loads of credit cards doesn’t “cause trouble”.
Running up balances in them and not paying them back does. 

And no you don’t have a credit score to be affected. 

I got a bad credit score based on getting about 4 credit cards in a week, so yes it does!

Yes it affected the score but only you can see the score, lenders, banks etc see your history.

TheStoozeFather

DCFC79 said:

laughletdie said:

D3xt3r5L4b said:

Having loads of credit cards doesn’t “cause trouble”.
Running up balances in them and not paying them back does. 

And no you don’t have a credit score to be affected. 

I got a bad credit score based on getting about 4 credit cards in a week, so yes it does!

Yes it affected the score but only you can see the score, lenders, banks etc see your history.

Interesting point about lenders not seeing your score. Not so long ago I worked in credit risk and the CRA did provide a general score indicating credit rating alongside 100s of other history-related variables. That score did appear to be on the same scale as the consumer score, but can't confirm if it was the same one.

[Deleted User]

It wasn't.

D3xt3r5L4b

TheStoozeFather said:

DCFC79 said:

laughletdie said:

D3xt3r5L4b said:

Having loads of credit cards doesn’t “cause trouble”.
Running up balances in them and not paying them back does. 

And no you don’t have a credit score to be affected. 

I got a bad credit score based on getting about 4 credit cards in a week, so yes it does!

Yes it affected the score but only you can see the score, lenders, banks etc see your history.

Interesting point about lenders not seeing your score. Not so long ago I worked in credit risk and the CRA did provide a general score indicating credit rating alongside 100s of other history-related variables. That score did appear to be on the same scale as the consumer score, but can't confirm if it was the same one.

It won’t have been

D3xt3r5L4b

laughletdie said:

D3xt3r5L4b said:

Having loads of credit cards doesn’t “cause trouble”.
Running up balances in them and not paying them back does. 

And no you don’t have a credit score to be affected. 

I got a bad credit score based on getting about 4 credit cards in a week, so yes it does!

That doesn’t matter. No one sees or cares about the score. 

Eco_Miser

Deleted_User said:

It wasn't.

D3xt3r5L4b said:

Interesting point about lenders not seeing your score. Not so long ago I worked in credit risk and the CRA did provide a general score indicating credit rating alongside 100s of other history-related variables. That score did appear to be on the same scale as the consumer score, but can't confirm if it was the same one.

It won’t have been

How do you know that?

It seems reasonable that if a CRA is providing a score to its clients, it will be the same as the one it shows to the subjects.

bradders1983

Eco_Miser said:

Deleted_User said:

It wasn't.

D3xt3r5L4b said:

Interesting point about lenders not seeing your score. Not so long ago I worked in credit risk and the CRA did provide a general score indicating credit rating alongside 100s of other history-related variables. That score did appear to be on the same scale as the consumer score, but can't confirm if it was the same one.

It won’t have been

How do you know that?

It seems reasonable that if a CRA is providing a score to its clients, it will be the same as the one it shows to the subjects.

Someone who works in IT for a bank posted a very long post the other day explaining how it all works and their system does NOT see the made up 3 digit score Equifax et al conjure up.

No reason to disbelieve him.