Check your Experian Report regularly!
What’s in your credit report?
Credit references agencies – the largest in the UK is Experian – collate information about your financial background and past behaviour and format this data into your unique credit report.
Lenders see this information when they decide whether or not to offer you a loan, mortgage or credit card. It influences their assessment of the likelihood that you will repay them.
Information comes from two main sources:
- 1. Public records, such as court judgements, individual voluntary arrangements and bankruptcies. Your credit report also shows whether you are registered to vote – lenders use this as a precaution against fraud, to check that you are who you claim to be and live where you say you do.
- 2. Information from lenders and financial institutions, such as records of the number of loans you have and whether you have ever missed a repayment.
It’s important that all this information is as up to date as possible and correctly reflects your circumstances. Then lenders will make the best-informed decisions – and you will get the right deal.
The easy way to check your credit report is to log onto CreditExpert, the credit monitoring and identity protection service from Experian. Click here for a free, 30-day trial, which will allow you to see your credit report as often as you like.
The credit blacklist myth
It has never seemed easier to borrow money, so if you do get turned down, the obvious question is “Why?” swiftly followed by the nasty suspicion, “Maybe I’m on a credit blacklist.”
The good news is that you’re not. In fact, there’s no such thing as a credit blacklist. But there is a host of reasons why you might be rejected.
Why check your credit report?
If anything in your report is out of date or gives a misleading picture of your willingness or ability to repay a loan, mortgage or credit card, it can affect your chances of getting the best deals. It can even lead to outright rejection by lenders.
For example, you may have separated from a partner who has since run up debts but, because you have still got a joint account, his or her payment behaviour could be affecting you. You won’t see their credit data on your report but you will find a note of any financial association.
Or you may have shopped around for the best offer, without realising you’re your enquiries have been registered as multiple applications. These should show as quotation searches. If they are down as applications, lenders could think you are desperate for money, have over-extended yourself or even that a fraud is being planned.
You could even discover applications and credit accounts in your name that you did not ask for. In that case, your identity may have been used fraudulently.
The easy way to check your credit report is to log onto CreditExpert, the credit monitoring and identity protection service from Experian. Click here for a free, 30-day trial, which will allow you to see your credit report as often as you like.
If you find anything you disagree with or would like to clarify the circumstances surrounding an entry, CreditExpert will help you to put the record straight. This article comes from CreditExpert. Your thoughts, experiences and comments are welcome. Just CLICK on the green coloured COMMENT bar below and Leave your thoughts or experiences today!
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