WHAT IS ON MY CREDIT FILE?
In general your Credit Report (or File) holds information on your identity and credit history so lenders can check to confirm who you are and look at your past ability to repay loans, credit cards and other forms of credit.
Typically a Credit Reference Agency (CRA) will hold the following types of information in the file they have on you.
General Information:
[1] Electoral Roll details updated each year by your local authority. Lenders will use this check the name and addresses on your application form.
[2] Court Judgements and Scottish decrees.
[3] Bankruptcies, Individual Voluntary Arrangements and Administration Orders.
[4] Repossession of your property, if it occurred in the last six years.
Information on your Borrowing Activity:
[5] Details of all your past and present credit agreements with UK lending companies.
This allows any lender to check if you have repaid previous lenders correctly and see if you are repaying current credit agreements.
The lender will also be able to check how much you already owe to other lenders so they can decide if you can afford more credit.
Whenever you apply for credit your new lender will ask permission to share details about your application and any credit provided with other lenders. These details will then be forwarded to all the Credit Reference Agencies to update your credit file.
Information on Who has accessed your File:
[6] Every time you apply for credit the lender will access or search your credit file to check your address, identity, credit details etc. The CRAs will keep records of who accessed your file for one year so you can see who has been looking at your information.
Other lenders will be able to see that your Credit File has been accessed but not who did it.
A lender may use the data on the number of accesses to identify abnormal activity, especially if a lot of credit checks are made within a short time period. This may suggest that you are trying to apply for credit, which you cannot really afford, or that someone else is trying to illegally get credit using your identity.
What is Not on your Credit File
You won’t find any information about your savings accounts, insurance policies, other investments, race, religion, sexuality, political beliefs, employment history, medical records, Council Tax payments or criminal record.
Also there is no such thing as a Credit Blacklist. Lenders will only check your individual credit file to make a decision.
All information held is purely factual and the CRAs do not give an opinion on the information they hold on you. The CRAs do not make lending decisions as the lender who processes your application does this.
Your credit file does not show whether a lender has refused or accepted your credit application.
A credit check can only be done on an individual and not an address, so previous occupants of your home will have no effect on your credit score. Similarly if you have an impaired credit history it will not affect anyone living at the same address as you.
Just one Credit Score ?
You do not have just a single credit score or rating because each lender calculates your score using their own points system and they do this every time you make an application.
Thus each time you apply your score will be different and every lender will come up with a different score. The lenders may also determine what is a good or bad score using a different points total. They may also score differently for different lending products. Thus you could find yourself being rejected by one lender but accepted by another!
The Credit Reference Agencies can also issue you with a Credit Score, but this is only indicative and will not be calculated the same way as your Lender. It will however give you a good idea of whether or not you are likely to have problems when applying for credit.
Who can access my Credit Report ?
Your permission is required to search your Credit Report. You will give this permission to your lender when you apply for credit. No one else can access your report.
