21 Nov 2024
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Personal Credit Report
Credit check Guide
A late payment, clerical error or fraud can easily damage your credit
status and lead to lenders declining you credit.
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• opportunity to buy your credit score instantly*
Does my credit report contain all the information held by credit reference agencies?
The information included on the credit report provided by Credit Expert contains all the credit report information held about you by Experian. However, to ensure that you are aware of the information held by other credit reference agencies you may wish to apply for your credit report from them. You will need to send a £2 statutory fee together with details of your full name, date of birth, and the addresses you have lived at over the past six years, to the following addresses: Equifax: PO Box 1140, Bradford, BD1 5US. Call Credit: Consumer Services Team, PO Box 491, Leeds, LS3 1WZ
Why does my report include electoral roll details?
Electoral roll information helps companies to quickly confirm your name and address. It means that they can check that people live at the address given on their application form and helps to prevent fraud and money laundering.
Credit Score
What is credit scoring?
Credit scoring is an automated technique used by lenders to help them decide whether or not to lend. The information included on your credit report, together with the information you provide on an application form to a shop or lender, can be used to calculate a credit score. This helps the company identify the risk in offering you credit and helps them to lend responsibly. Credit scores do not take account of gender, religion or race.
Can I find out my credit score?
No. You do not have a single credit score. Different companies take different information into consideration in credit scoring and may have different scores for different products. Lenders do not have to tell you exactly how credit scores are calculated, but should give you a basic explanation of how scoring works
Declined Credit
Can shopping around for the best deal have a negative effect on future credit applications?
It shouldn't. Shopping around for the best credit deal should not generate an abnormal number of credit searches because a search should only be conducted in response to an actual application for credit. When shopping around, people usually obtain basic details of offers from a range of lenders and usually make an application in response to that which they consider to be the best deal. The lender should always inform you, orally or in writing, if a credit reference check is being carried out. You should also be notified if credit account information will be stored with a credit reference agency if and when an account is opened
What is on a credit report?
Electoral roll
Lenders use the electoral roll to check the identity of the people applying for credit and to make sure the addresses provided on application forms are correct. The electoral roll is published each December using electoral roll data supplied by local authorities. Experian updates its records every year, if you move home in the course of the year, your local authority will tell Experian about your change of registration.
If you have not registered to vote, you may want to contact your local authority about filling in an electoral registration form as this can improve your credit rating.
County Court judgments
County court judgments ( CCJ's) are held on your credit report for six years from the date of the judgment. Experian receives the information from Registry Trust, an independent organisation set up by the Lord Chancellor's Department. Judgments that are paid within one month of being issued are removed from your records as long as a Certificate of Satisfaction has been requested from the court. Judgments paid after one month are kept on file but marked as "satisfied" once you pay the court for a Certificate of satisfaction.
If you have been declared bankrupt, credit reference agencies will obtain this information from the official gazettes. It is kept on your file for six years after the date of the bankruptcy order.
If you believe a county court judgment, or CCJ, has been recorded incorrectly, you should contact the county court, quoting the case number included on your file. If the judgment was recorded incorrectly, the county court will alter their records. Credit reference agencies are told about any such changes within four weeks, but if you give them original court documents, in the form of a Certificate of Satisfaction or Cancellation, they may be able to make the changes sooner if necessary.
Information from lenders
Experian also holds information about credit accounts provided by lenders over the last six years.
Most lenders provide information throughout the life of every credit account; however some lenders provide information only on customers who have failed to keep to the terms of their credit agreements. Lenders will use the information to identify bad payers as well as good payers who already have several credit accounts.
Credit accounts can be classed as settled, active, defaulted, or delinquent. A settled account is one where you have repaid your credit. Credit agencies keep a record of settled accounts for six years from the date you paid off all amounts owed to that account. The payment history shown on your file will relate to the period before you repaid your credit.
An active account is one which you are still using. Agencies keep a record of these accounts until they are settled and then for six years afterwards. A defaulted account is one where you have not kept to a credit agreement. Agencies keep a record of these accounts for six years from the date you broke the relevant term of the credit agreement. The record will show how much money you still owe (the default). If you have paid off everything you owe since you broke the credit agreement, the account will be shown to be satisfied at the balance.
A delinquent account is one where your repayments have been at least three months in arrears for two or more consecutive months or have been late for more than three months over the past year.
Every record of a credit account will include a status history showing whether or not payments have been made on time. Credit accounts can include your payment record over up to 36 months. The most recent payment is shown as the first entry.
The last 12 months' payments are shown, and underneath there is a summary of the payment history over a period of up to 36 months (unless the status history shown is 8). In the summary, the entries for "number of status 1-2" and "number of status 3+" identify how many times payments been up to two months late, or three or more months late, within the last 36 months (or since the account was opened).
Members of the Council of Mortgage Lenders record information on customers who have given up their homes or had them repossessed. The information may include the address of that home, the address from which the mortgage application was originally made and the address the customer has moved to.
Bankruptcies
If a bankruptcy order against you is annulled (cancelled) or discharged (that is, you have met all terms), you should send a copy of the Annulment Certificate or Order of Discharge to the credit reference agencies. They will then update their records.
If your bankruptcy has been annulled they should completely remove any record of it from your file. If your bankruptcy has been discharged, a record of it will be kept on your file but it will show that it has been discharged
Use Full Contacts
Citizens Advice: The largest provider of free, impartial and holistic debt and money advice in the UK. For your nearest office, see your local phone book.
National Debtline: A free telephone-based information and advice for people in England, Wales and Scotland, Call 0808 808 4000
Consumer Credit Counseling Service: a charity funded by the financial services industry specialising in debt management plans. Call 0800 138 1111
Insolvencyhelpline.co.uk: a network of accountants and lawyers who provide some free advice on 0800 074 6918
Go Direct.co.uk is a trading style for website purposes of Go Direct UK Ltd.
Go Financial Services is a trading style of Go Direct UK Ltd which is an appointed representative of Personal Touch Financial Services Ltd which is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority. FCA Number 456600