How recent is the information that lenders can see?

FindMyWayBack

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/80026194#Comment_80026194

Thanks for the info. Yes I am happy with the MSE one from Experian. I just wonder who decides who gets the access within the lending establishment. Is it people above a certain mamnagement level, certain quals etc, or any randomer employed by a lender sort of thing…..

FindMyWayBack

Thank you.

CliveOfIndia

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/80028467#Comment_80028467

In the vast majority of credit applications, the answer is "none of the above" - it's all automatic. You make a credit application, the lender's computer pulls your data from the CRA, that gets fed into their scoring algorithm, and the computer spits out a result.

(Note that when I refer to "scoring algorithm" I mean the lender's internal scoring system, which bears no resemlance whatsoever to the meaningless score you'll see on your CRA report).

This is how it usually works for "simple" credit application like a credit card. Very occasionally your application will be reviewed by a human being. In this case, access to your data is restricted to a very small number of authorised employees - for instance, a fairly senior person within the risk management team. Banks and financial institutions are very heavily regulated, and they will have robust procedures in place to ensure that only authorised employees have access to sensitive customer data. The penalties they face if they breach regulations are severe.

FindMyWayBack

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/80028834#Comment_80028834

Yes I know the computers do the easy credit checks and it's done to their requirements etc. I also know the scores we see are largely marketing tools and meaningless on the whole.

Now I have my answer re who can do manual checks, thanks for that.

Monstrous

MalMonroe said:

You might just need to tidy up your finances first before applying again. Things do get better, I'm now debt-free and run a nice car. BUT for a few years I had to get used to public transport and lower my living standards a lot. It won't take you 'a few years' like it did me because you're not in as bad a situation as I was but do take care. And do take note of what lenders are trying to tell you. They are helping you, albeit in a roundabout way.

My advice would be to wait about six months, during which time try to clear your credit card balances, before applying for credit again. It's important to have a good credit history. 

This is my own opinion and my own experiences but I know that reputable lenders won't lend if they don't think you will be able to repay them.

My car has always been my one vice. I'm using a backup runabout just now to tide me over the few months whilst I can wipe out all my debts. Above this I have an old loan to the tune of ~£15k on my file just now. It became extinguished two months ago, so next February the default will drop, and I'll have a clean streak of no missed payments for the full 6 year history visible on the report. I know this point will be an enormous swing - I'll go from being declined retail finance to "Sir would you like a mortgage" practically overnight. I just can't wait that long for the car.


Thanks everyone for all the replies, as I suspected my current situation is just a bit of a waiting game. Nice to get a bit more insight into the smoke-and-mirrors of it all.

FindMyWayBack

Monstrous said:

MalMonroe said:

You might just need to tidy up your finances first before applying again. Things do get better, I'm now debt-free and run a nice car. BUT for a few years I had to get used to public transport and lower my living standards a lot. It won't take you 'a few years' like it did me because you're not in as bad a situation as I was but do take care. And do take note of what lenders are trying to tell you. They are helping you, albeit in a roundabout way.

My advice would be to wait about six months, during which time try to clear your credit card balances, before applying for credit again. It's important to have a good credit history. 

This is my own opinion and my own experiences but I know that reputable lenders won't lend if they don't think you will be able to repay them.

My car has always been my one vice. I'm using a backup runabout just now to tide me over the few months whilst I can wipe out all my debts. Above this I have an old loan to the tune of ~£15k on my file just now. It became extinguished two months ago, so next February the default will drop, and I'll have a clean streak of no missed payments for the full 6 year history visible on the report. I know this point will be an enormous swing - I'll go from being declined retail finance to "Sir would you like a mortgage" practically overnight. I just can't wait that long for the car.


Thanks everyone for all the replies, as I suspected my current situation is just a bit of a waiting game. Nice to get a bit more insight into the smoke-and-mirrors of it all.

Sorry I hijacked your post a bit and yes we learned a bit there didn't we. Good luck

TeaBee72

You say that you got your credit cards down to 22%/42%/39% from about 77-80% each.

And although you're doing well, that is still debt. You still have three cards that are not clear. If you had the finances, you would clear them and lenders know that, obviously.

Not all lenders are the same but if a lender doesn't think you have the ability to repay a loan, then they will refuse to lend. It's their prerogative.

Over time I, who have been in great financial trouble in the past, have come to realise that although it seems really awful when lenders don't want to know you, they are actually doing you a big favour by analysing your credit reports and reaching conclusions about your spending habits which lead to their decisions.

So, even though they may or may not have up to date information on your finances, they also have the information about your past financial records and usage.

The fact that they have up to the minute information doesn't mean that they will ignore the past. 

Reputable lenders, quite rightly, won't agree to lend to anyone who doesn't appear able to keep up with repayments or clear credit cards. And, having had to go through a DRO process myself a few years ago, I would never advise anyone to keep on trying to get a loan when the odds are against them.  

You might just need to tidy up your finances first before applying again. Things do get better, I'm now debt-free and run a nice car. BUT for a few years I had to get used to public transport and lower my living standards a lot. It won't take you 'a few years' like it did me because you're not in as bad a situation as I was but do take care. And do take note of what lenders are trying to tell you. They are helping you, albeit in a roundabout way.

My advice would be to wait about six months, during which time try to clear your credit card balances, before applying for credit again. It's important to have a good credit history. 

This is my own opinion and my own experiences but I know that reputable lenders won't lend if they don't think you will be able to repay them.

See it’s interesting I am no expert but having a little confusion this week I did some reading. And the guidance on Transunion that I read is that lenders like credit usage between 1-50% AND make payments on time.

So I found an anomaly on this which resulted in my credit score dipping.

I have one credit card and use for daily spending. Pay it off every month on time. Like most credit cards payments take a day or two to process and we’re shown as pending. So last month for example I had a £500 balance to pay and £100 pending. So made a £600 payment to take it to zero..

However bad luck for me is that the credit card company took that time to send to transuion for their monthly report. So my credit usage was actually at that point -£100 owed ( in credit ! ).  Turns out credit agencies cant compute that and my credit usage was shown as -2% or similar..

what that meant is that my credit usage showed less than 0% and therefore their computers resulted in thinking I had NO credit !

thua a drop in my credit score.

 What I’m trying to get that is that it sounds like you’ve done really well to keep it in that hot spot of 1-50%, and assuming your paying on time you should be in a better position. 

If you’re able, maybe give it a calendar month to make sure your file is updated

MattMattMattUK

TeaBee72 said:

You say that you got your credit cards down to 22%/42%/39% from about 77-80% each.

And although you're doing well, that is still debt. You still have three cards that are not clear. If you had the finances, you would clear them and lenders know that, obviously.

Not all lenders are the same but if a lender doesn't think you have the ability to repay a loan, then they will refuse to lend. It's their prerogative.

Over time I, who have been in great financial trouble in the past, have come to realise that although it seems really awful when lenders don't want to know you, they are actually doing you a big favour by analysing your credit reports and reaching conclusions about your spending habits which lead to their decisions.

So, even though they may or may not have up to date information on your finances, they also have the information about your past financial records and usage.

The fact that they have up to the minute information doesn't mean that they will ignore the past. 

Reputable lenders, quite rightly, won't agree to lend to anyone who doesn't appear able to keep up with repayments or clear credit cards. And, having had to go through a DRO process myself a few years ago, I would never advise anyone to keep on trying to get a loan when the odds are against them.  

You might just need to tidy up your finances first before applying again. Things do get better, I'm now debt-free and run a nice car. BUT for a few years I had to get used to public transport and lower my living standards a lot. It won't take you 'a few years' like it did me because you're not in as bad a situation as I was but do take care. And do take note of what lenders are trying to tell you. They are helping you, albeit in a roundabout way.

My advice would be to wait about six months, during which time try to clear your credit card balances, before applying for credit again. It's important to have a good credit history. 

This is my own opinion and my own experiences but I know that reputable lenders won't lend if they don't think you will be able to repay them.

See it’s interesting I am no expert but having a little confusion this week I did some reading. And the guidance on Transunion that I read is that lenders like credit usage between 1-50% AND make payments on time.

Lenders generally prefer utilisation to be zero, but with all payments made on time. Someone carrying unsecured debt and looking to borrow more is almost universally a bad idea.

TeaBee72 said:

So I found an anomaly on this which resulted in my credit score dipping.

Your score dips when they want to sell you something, they then offer you a solution, that you switch bank account or take out a credit card or loan via them, for which they are paid commission.

TeaBee72 said:

I have one credit card and use for daily spending. Pay it off every month on time. Like most credit cards payments take a day or two to process and we’re shown as pending. So last month for example I had a £500 balance to pay and £100 pending. So made a £600 payment to take it to zero..

However bad luck for me is that the credit card company took that time to send to transuion for their monthly report. So my credit usage was actually at that point -£100 owed ( in credit ! ).  Turns out credit agencies cant compute that and my credit usage was shown as -2% or similar..

Balances are not sent on the statement date, they are updated at the point the sent and that can be at any point in the month when they process the data.

TeaBee72 said:

what that meant is that my credit usage showed less than 0% and therefore their computers resulted in thinking I had NO credit !

That does not seem to make any sense, they would think you had no debt, but they would also still be reporting the available credit amount.

TeaBee72 said:

thua a drop in my credit score.

As above, the dropped your credit score because they want to sell you something, nothing more.

TeaBee72 said:

What I’m trying to get that is that it sounds like you’ve done really well to keep it in that hot spot of 1-50%, and assuming your paying on time you should be in a better position. 

If you’re able, maybe give it a calendar month to make sure your file is updated

Ignore the "hot spot", ignore the score, pay everything on time, have as little debt as possible whilst using a credit card regularly and you will have no problems with borrowing in the real world. Ignore the games the CRAs play to try and get you to open products which mean that they get paid commission.