Moneysavingexpert.com/ Your Credit Rating discussion area

The_Boss

Gringo22 wrote:

Just tried the credit profile on moneysuparmarket.com. First time I said I had no overdraft and got a "Fair" rating, second time I said I did have one (I have a student overdraft that will get paid back) and my rating went up to "good". I'm very confused!

I'd assume its because with the overdraft it shows you have a bit of credit history. Without one, you would likely have little credit history (being a student). I may have got this totally wrong though. Do you have any credit cards or past (non student) loans?

Bear in mind that any figures about credit ratings at moneysupermarket.com are only rough guidelines though.

kazzagrezza

Thanks TheBoss but as it was over 8 years ago and I have received no communication within this time from the cc company I thought that the debt would have been written off. So I dont understand why a recovery agency is sending me letters now - somebody told me that there is a certain amount of time that companies have in reclaiming debts or maybe I'm wrong. By the way the letters are all photocopies which seems a bit fishy to me but have my details on it I'm reluctant to call the recovery agency as I dont want to confirm my details to them - any further advice would be greatly appreciated.
many thanks.

jacnal

Hi all, I'm fairly new to the site, and have been abit slack with finances as I find them quite confusing etc. I joined equifax to get an insight of my credit scoring as I've been denied a loan even though I joined the electoral register in Dec 2005, and have had an overdraft for years (since I was a student), and a barclaycard credit card. I'm in it for the 30day free trial then i'll quit. Should I go ahead and pay the 12.95pounds for my credit report, or is there a way of getting it for free, seeing as I've actually registered??

Gringo22

The_Boss wrote:

I'd assume its because with the overdraft it shows you have a bit of credit history. Without one, you would likely have little credit history (being a student). I may have got this totally wrong though. Do you have any credit cards or past (non student) loans?

Bear in mind that any figures about credit ratings at moneysupermarket.com are only rough guidelines though.

I do have 2 credit cards but no other non-student loans. I was checking out my credit rating as I have just recently been rejected for a personal loan (the idea being to pay back said credit cards) and was trying to assess my situation. I work in a job that involves me moving about every 12 months and this appears to be having a knock-on effect on my credit rating.

Experian_company_representative

Previous occupants don't affect your creditworthiness because these days you can only be linked to other people that you share financial arrangements with (like a joint loan or banks account).

Moving home (and jobs and banks) frequently will probably not help your credit score as many lenders find stability and credit risk are closely linked.

NB. Credit scores you can buy from the CRAs are only guides - useful but not gospel! Lenders use their own scoring systems that factor in information aside form your credit report.

In the consumer advice section of the Experian site (https://www.experian.co.uk) there are several free downloadable guides, including one that neatly explains how credit reference agencies work, how the data is loaded etc. Might be useful.

bexxie90

Hi I am new here but what a fantastic site am addicted.
The question i have is,I just applied for the 30 day trial with Experain and they said that my file is too large to be submitted online...now this sounds worrying?

Any of you guy's be able to help with this or maybe experienced the same thin.? Cheers Bex

Leenkheng

richiethekid wrote:

Back in June I had a copy of my credit file from Equifax, showing me on the electoral register at my current address. Last week I ordered a copy of my Experian file, but they wrote to me to ask for proof of address. Thinking this was a bit strange, I tried to get a free online report from Equifax, but the site said they couldn't verify my identity. I contacted the local council to make sure I'm still on the electoral register, and they say that I am, and credit reference agencies may not have the most up to date register. Seems very strange to me, and hopefully Experian should be able to shed some light on the matter. Anyone else had a similar experience?

Yeah, same thing happening to me - they have no record on me on the electoral role depite the council insisting that I am on it - sort of stuck really and bombarding them with letters.

mossy

Oh dear...I have often wondered what my history looked like. I've had a few issues in the past (juggling cc...what a headache that was) but did eventually pay everything off. I have tried hard to keep my credit history clean although DH upset Barclays last year by going over his overdraft on his personal account which meant they had to come to an arrangement to pay it off (which I made sure he did in half the time). As I've sat and read the ten pages I've thought of other disputes etc that we've had with companies and wonder what on earth our records actually look like.

I'm going to get free copies of my report and get DH to get free ones as well.......wish me luck

mossy

Well I'm not sure I understand it all. There seem to be lots of companies on there that I haven't dealt with for years...

If I close the accounts I presume that means they will be registered as inactive/closed???

It wasn't as bad as I thought it would be, we had a big ta doo with NTL and had solicitor letters etc but in the end they backed down and wrote to me to confirm that our balance was £0 so I guess they didn't put any mark on our records. I guess I ought to get DH's records with his approval of course.

I noticed whilst reading all your comments that some people knew what their actual number was i.e 869 0r 451....should I be able to see this information via the free 30 day trials I've signed up to or do I need to pay/do something else to see my magic number??

If anyone knows the answers and could help I would really appreciate it. Thanks

*** EDIT ***

Okay I think I've answered some of my questions by reading a bit more...

Closing all unnecessary accounts can only be a good thing....does anyone know how long they take to go/show up as closed (thus not taking up any credit limit)???

You can get your number from the zopa loan loap hole but I don't fancy any unnecessary searches on my records especially as I'm trying to tidy them up..
If I buy the £2 report in a month or two does that show the credit number??

Thank you in advance

Experian_company_representative

Mossy, you can buy a 'guide' credit score from any of the credit reference agencies for about a fiver, but these are only guides and are just based on your credit report information with that agency. Lenders use their own scoring systems which also take account of the information on your credit application form. So you don't have a single credit score (or magic number!).

Once you close a credit account, the agencies' files should reflect this in 4-6 weeks. Settled accounts are kept on your report for 6 years from the settlement date.

James