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IMPROVE YOUR CREDIT RATING
There is a variety of information held on your credit report from a variety
of sources. If any of it is wrong, it could affect your ability to get credit.
Here's how to correct the information held on your report.
The electoral roll
If you have registered to vote and your credit file does not show this,
please contact the credit reference agencies listed at the bottom of this
article and they will investigate the matter. If you have not registered
to vote, you may want to contact your local authority about filling in an
electoral registration form.
If you move home you can tell your local authority who will tell credit
reference agencies about your change of registration in the course of the
year.
Court judgments
If you believe a county court judgment 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 change their sooner if necessary.
If you have paid a Scottish Decree, you should send Registry Trust (address
below) a receipt or a letter from your creditor (known as the pursuer) to
confirm your payment.
If you write to Registry Trust Ltd questioning the accuracy of a judgment
recorded on your file, asking for an entry to be changed, you should send
a cheque for £4.50 to cover their search fee. They will then tell
the credit reference agencies about any change to your file.
For judgments made in Northern Ireland, if you provide documents from a
plaintiff to confirm a payment, the agencies will change their records.
If you have any questions about the accuracy of a judgment recorded on your
file, contact the court concerned.
Registry Trust Ltd.
173-175 Cleveland Street
London W1P 5PE
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.
Voluntary arrangements
If you have any questions about a record of a voluntary arrangement you
should contact the supervisor who dealt with your case. If you send documents
from the supervisor to confirm that the information on your file needs to
be changed, the agencies will change their records.
Credit accounts
After carefully studying the credit account details (credit cards, loans,
mortgages, etc.) on your file, if you believe any information needs to be
changed you should write to the lender concerned and ask them to give the
correct information to the credit reference agencies.
Searches
Credit reference agencies will delete searches only when they are instructed
to do so by the company who searched your file. If you are concerned about
the accuracy of a record of a search, you should contact the company which
carried out that search.
Linked addresses
Links between your previous addresses, or any addresses you may use for
correspondence, may be listed on your credit file. The link will only be
broken when the reference agencies are asked to do so by the organisation
that created the link.
CIFAS
If you have any questions about a CIFAS record, write to the organisation
concerned. If you disagree with that organisation over the information on
your file, ask the organisation for details of the scheme for settling disputes.
Financial associations (shared financial responsibility)
If a financial association is shown, and you do not share a financial responsibility
with the other person, or if that financial association no longer exists,
you should write to the credit reference agencies. They will investigate
the matter and make any necessary change to your file.
Aliases
If any names are shown on your credit report that you have never used, you
should contact the company listed as providing the other name, or write
to the credit reference agency and they will investigate the matter and
make any necessary changes to your file.
Information about other people
If you share no financial responsibility with any other person mentioned
on your file you can ask the agencies to ‘create a disassociation’.
This breaks any connection between your information and theirs and so makes
sure their information is removed from your file, and that your information
is removed from theirs. To do this you must give the agencies your, and
the other person’s, full name and date of birth, details of your relationship
and any shared addresses.
To view your personal credit information that lenders are currently basing
their credit decisions on, apply online for a credit report from Experian,
the UK’s largest credit reference agency, now.
You will also receive a 30-day free trial to the CreditExpert Monitoring
Service from Experian.
Click here for your free Experian credit report and a free 30-day trial of the CreditExpert Monitoring Service |
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.
Your credit report has worried the lender.
This unique, personal record of your credit history could show that you already have a number of loans and the lender may be worried that you will not be able to repay another. You will also find advice that will help you to improve your report.
Click here for a free copy of your credit report from Experian
You may not fit the lender’s profile.
For example, a credit card issuer may only give cards to people who already have fewer than three, or a mortgage lender may specialise in first-time buyers.
You are a non-standard credit risk.
According to Datamonitor, the independent market analyst, more than one in five adults in the UK are deemed non-standard. They may include the self-employed, others who cannot provide sufficient proof of income and people who have an outstanding county court judgment (CCJ) against them or have had their homes repossessed for non-payment of mortgage.
You move around.
Credit companies look for stability – for example, living at the same address for at least three years or having a long-term relationship with the same bank. So, if you move around a lot or switch banks often, this may tell against you.
Your credit score wasn’t high enough.
Lenders generally base their decisions on a credit score, which they calculate using the information in your credit report and your application. Every lender has a different formula which can even vary from one type of loan to another. To get an idea of how lenders may regard your application you can become a member of CreditExpert and order your National Credit Score for just £4.99. It is based only on the information in your Experian credit report, so it will not be the same as the one generated by a lender, but it will give you a good idea of what they may think.
Click here to find out more |
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