What You Need To Know About Your Credit Rating
Every time you apply for a credit card, loan, finance or a
mortgage your credit history will be checked. This gives the
lender information from which they decide whether they feel you
are likely to make your repayments and so whether or not to
provide you with the funds you have requested. There are many
ways in which you can have inadvertently damaged your credit
rating and so it is advisable to gain a copy of your credit
report if you are considering a mortgage or large loan to
ensure you don’t receive any unpleasant surprises.
There are three main companies in the UK who hold information
regarding your credit history. These are Equifax, Experian and
TransUnion. Unfortunately, they all hold different information
and you will not know which of these companies will be used by
the lender you decide upon and so you will need to collect your
credit report from all three of them to build up an accurate
picture of your financial health.
There are many ways in which a credit score can be damaged and
some of these can be undone fairly simply. For example, if one
of these companies has a previous address for you it can damage
your score but this can be amended easily and will have an
immediate effect on your rating. It is also possible that they
may have accounts listed as open but which you have actually
closed. This will also have a positive effect. However, you
cannot request accurate information be removed so any late or
missed payments in your past will have to stay on your record.
Credit checking companies will normally go back over the last
seven years worth of records and so they late payments may have
an adverse affect on your overall score at any point within this
time. The only thing you can do to compensate for this is ensure
that you do not make the mistakes again and prove to the lenders
that you are more responsible and organised now. Even with
previous blots on your record your score will creep back up
every time you make a payment on time.