Protect your Credit Score

If you never borrow, never get into debt, always repay your credit cards 100% first time then you will not get on the radar of Credit Checking Agencies like Experian and Equifax. At the other end of the scale if you have lots of credit cards, miss payments, have county court judgements, apply for credit and don’t take it up or apply and fail too often then you may end up with a poor credit score.

What Can You Do to Improve your Credit Rating?

• Be aware you are leaving a credit footprint. This financial reputation will stay with you (or at least be accessed by future lenders form checking agencies).
• You can ask the agencies for a copy of your personal credit report to see if there are any black marks against your name for a cost of £2 admin fee.
• Check to see whether any mistakes have crept in.
• Improve your score by making at least the minimum payment on your credit cards
• Check you are on the electoral roll.
• Close any old cards even if they have a zero balance as the ‘facility’ ( possible credit limit) will be used in assessing how much you may borrow from a new lender.
• Use web tools to check you are eligible for good deals before applying. Too many failed applications count against you.
• Lenders prefer people with a history of repaying loans rather than someone who never takes out a loan or credit card.

Other Credit Score Tips

• Be cynical about companies who say they will repair your credit for a fee.
• If you are consistently refused credit there is probably a good reason. Get advice from National Debt line or Citizens Advice Bureau.
• Scoring systems are not published and differ lender-to-lender, so just because one company rejects you, it doesn’t automatically mean another will.
• If you disagree with anything on your credit file write to the agency and request it is changed. If they and the original lender refuse to amend your file you are entitled to add your own comments as a ‘notice of correction’.