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value of score

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i have read all the threads re score and i know  its not the be all and end all  - but im sitting in the fair bracket on Experian  because i have a cc upto the limit and a a loan which is now paid off - no adverse credit, late payments etc... but we are going through  mortgage application and so worried they will look at my score and reject - will the  underwriters at least look to see my file, and look at the additional proof i have that my loan is paid off - we are moving house with leek utd and have been with them for 10 years and are only LTV of 51 % but im literally having palpitations with worry and waiting .. btw they know about cc and its not a condition that's its paid off but it will be at the end of march 

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  • DullGreyGuy
    DullGreyGuy Posts: 18,392 Forumite
    10,000 Posts Second Anniversary Name Dropper
    Jo1923 said:
    i have read all the threads re score and i know  its not the be all and end all  - but im sitting in the fair bracket on Experian  because i have a cc upto the limit and a a loan which is now paid off - no adverse credit, late payments etc... but we are going through  mortgage application and so worried they will look at my score and reject - will the  underwriters at least look to see my file, and look at the additional proof i have that my loan is paid off - we are moving house with leek utd and have been with them for 10 years and are only LTV of 51 % but im literally having palpitations with worry and waiting .. btw they know about cc and its not a condition that's its paid off but it will be at the end of march 
    They won't see the score at all, no lender does, it's a fabrication of the marketing department. I've only ever heard of a single company that did by the score but it was nothing to do with lending and was for a proof of concept project. 

    CRAs provide the credit history to the lenders, they use their own decision making process on who they lend to or not. Your history is only one component of who they decide to lend to and what's an acceptable level of lending. 
  • Jo1923
    Jo1923 Posts: 45 Forumite
    Fourth Anniversary 10 Posts
    so are you saying that the building society will not see my number... ? 
  • TheSpectator
    TheSpectator Posts: 862 Forumite
    500 Posts Name Dropper
    Jo1923 said:
    so are you saying that the building society will not see my number... ? 
    Correct, which should have been apparent from the threads you said you read?
  • CliveOfIndia
    CliveOfIndia Posts: 2,491 Forumite
    1,000 Posts Second Anniversary Name Dropper
    Jo1923 said:
    so are you saying that the building society will not see my number... ? 
    Correct - no lender * sees the score dished out by the CRAs.  They will take the raw data contained in your file, run it through their algorithms and generate their own internal score.  Each lender's criteria are unique, confidential and commercially sensitive, so you'll never know what internal score they give you.

    * Actually, a handful of lenders (often the smaller ones) will use a score from the CRAs.  But even then, it's a unique score tailor-made to take account of their particular lending criteria.  No lender will see the generic score that you see on your report.

  • DullGreyGuy
    DullGreyGuy Posts: 18,392 Forumite
    10,000 Posts Second Anniversary Name Dropper
    Jo1923 said:
    so are you saying that the building society will not see my number... ? 
    They may or may not generate their own number, certainly some do use a "score" approach but it won't be the number you see on the CRAs.

    In the US it's very different, the CRA scores are your official scores that lenders do use. Here banks do their own scoring and the CRAs just realised they could make money by coming up with their own score and selling it to punters. A couple of years ago one of the CRAs offered to increase your score by 100pts for answering a questionnaire, no matter what the answers were, just shows you how made up and irrelevant it is. 
  • Jo1923
    Jo1923 Posts: 45 Forumite
    Fourth Anniversary 10 Posts
    thanks for this - so the " raw data " will that be that payments on time etc... i have never defaulted on anything, but have always used credit and have been ashamed of low level debt in the past, which i have cleared now but have been made to feel bad for running up a cc in the past and its left me some anxiety over credit scores, applications, etc .. i just hope i pass their criteria ( leek utd ) 
  • CliveOfIndia
    CliveOfIndia Posts: 2,491 Forumite
    1,000 Posts Second Anniversary Name Dropper
    Jo1923 said:
    thanks for this - so the " raw data " will that be that payments on time etc...
    That's certainly one important element - a track record of using credit responsibly, always repaying on time, demonstrating that you're not borrowing beyond your means, that kind of thing.
    Jo1923 said:
    have been ashamed of low level debt in the past, which i have cleared now
    That's nothing to be ashamed of.  Low levels of debt, in relation to your income, are nothing to be worried about, so long as you're always repaying what you're supposed to when you should.
    Any current outstanding debt that you're carrying will be factored into a lender's affordability calculations.  But as long as they're satisfied that your new level of debt (i.e. the new mortgage on top of your existing debt) will be manageable for you, it's not usually a problem in itself.
    Obviously, reducing any outstanding debt you have can only be a positive thing, and will go some way to increasing your chances of being accepted for a mortgage - or being accepted at a more preferential rate.  But carrying a small, manageable level of debt is not necessarily the end of the world.

  • DullGreyGuy
    DullGreyGuy Posts: 18,392 Forumite
    10,000 Posts Second Anniversary Name Dropper
    Jo1923 said:
    thanks for this - so the " raw data " will that be that payments on time etc... i have never defaulted on anything, but have always used credit and have been ashamed of low level debt in the past, which i have cleared now but have been made to feel bad for running up a cc in the past and its left me some anxiety over credit scores, applications, etc .. i just hope i pass their criteria ( leek utd ) 
    that, credit limits, payment amounts, spend amounts etc etc

    Each lender has their own preference thats why they dont use the CRA scores. I did soft searches almost exactly a year ago for a new CC, one lender (forget who) declined, NW said they'd offer £1,500 limit, MBNA offered £35,000 limit. In principle they all had access to the same data, barring minor differences in their own questions, but came out with very different results. 

    Dont try and over think it because you tie yourself in knots, there are many things that are both positive and negative like the fact that lenders like to see that other lenders trust you but at the same time having over £100k of available credit may make them scared ill go out and max out all the cards. 

    Mortgages are secured lending, you're looking at a reasonable LTV, whilst it may be a scary big number compared to a loan or credit card limit there is more security for the lender than a £30k credit card. 
  • njlj1992
    njlj1992 Posts: 18 Forumite
    10 Posts
    Many lenders do actually use a score to aid their decisioning, these might be internal scores or “off the shelf scores” from the CRA’s, however this won’t be the same ‘consumer facing’ score you’d be able to see when accessing through Experian, Clearscore etc. The scores that you, I and other consumers can view are provided as a guide to help you understand how you MIGHT be perceived by lenders based on how you have previously kept up with repayments with other lenders.

    As others have noted, it’s much more complex than just a credit score, and lots of other factors are considered when deciding whether or not to grant credit (outside of just credit risk). You might hit a certain criteria that isn’t acceptable to one lender but is acceptable to another. The majority will also look at other measures such as affordability (will you be able to afford it based on what you’re earning and what you’re spending), indebtedness and any fraud risks for example. 

    Also - your reference to always using credit isn’t actually bad (so long as you on the whole have good repayment history). Perversely, if you don’t ever use credit, you can run into problems, as the lender doesn’t have any ‘history’ to prove that if you borrow you’ll repay. 
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