Credit FAQs

5 ways to improve your credit score

Pay off your bills as soon as they are due. Your payment history is the most important factor when it comes to determining your credit score.  Because your recent credit history is more influential than what happened five years ago, it is important to get into the habit of making one off payments in order to rebuild your credit rating.  For those who may find this impossible because of difficult financial situations, then try avoiding late payments by putting as many bills due on direct debit as possible.  Such as mortgages... [more]

Correct credit report to improve rating

English law states that all information given to agencies / companies by their applicants must be entered into their systems correctly, and any inaccurate details can be changed or indeed deleted. So once you have received your copy of your report file, follow the advice below to ensure your details are fair and accurate. 1. If you believe a County Court Judgement has been recorded incorrectly, contact the County Court... [more]

Credit brokers and your details

If you apply to a FISA company or a credit brokers, then the information given below will describe how your data is processed.  If your data is to be processed differently then the trader should tell you. The information you have provided will: - 1. Process the application you have made. 2. Cause a search to be made at a credit reference agency.  This search will link any other searches made in connection with applications made by yourself or other members of your household.  Your credit profile may adversely be... [more]

Credit card debt

Would you pay £5,397 for a computer that actually cost £1,750? Of course not I hear you say, but many people do!! How is this possible? They purchase their computer using  a credit card or a store promoted charge card, and don’t pay it off in full upon receiving their statement. What normally happens? The purchaser receives the next statement and pays only the minimum payment due. In this example lets say it’s a new card and no other charges are made on it. The credit card company calculates its minimum... [more]

Credit reference agencies Top 10 FAQ

What is a Credit Reference Agency? The top 3 Credit reference Agencies in the UK are Callcredit, Equifax and Experian.  They are all a commercial organisation that holds information about you, which is then provided to banks and lenders that is used to help them decide whether or not to give you a loan/mortgage/credit, or whatever it may be. Do Credit Reference Agencies have a blacklist? No they do not, Crags don’t assess any of the information they hold about you.  It’s the lenders themselves who decide whether... [more]

Credit repair

There are many credit repair agencies and other organisations that claim that they can repair credit reports. They all require you to pay a fee up front, and many claim they will refund the fee if they are unsuccessful.  Well we all know that getting a refund can be difficult and often impossible, even when granted with many a thing, and this is certainly one of them.  They know that people are sceptical about their service, so spend a fortune on literature persuading you that it actually works, so you part with your money... [more]

Credit scoring myths

Closing an account that is disastrous will help my credit score. False.  Closing an account will never help your credit score; in fact it could do the opposite and actually harm it!  It is true that having too many open accounts can damage your score, but once you have opened them there is nothing that you can do, the damage has been done.  Instead, why not try to pay off your debt, something that can... [more]

How they decide to grant you credit

There are credit reference agencies, known as Equifax and Experion.  These agencies accumulate and sort out information about us.  They make information available on the voter’s role, information on County Court Judgements, bankruptcies, defaults and payment profiles. They then arrange the information onto their systems.  They note the voter’s role, and then add on any information concerning county court judgements.  Whenever anyone receives a judgement they have 28 days to pay it.  A judgment is... [more]

How to obtain your credit file

You have a right to see what information and where information was obtained about you from any of the below. If you wish to become aware of this information then you will need to write and pay a small charge fee of £10.00 maximum. The firm have a duty to reply within 40 days of receiving the receipt of their fee. You may also require the information contained on a credit reference agency file, you can do this by... [more]

Information about credit scores

This is how the lenders can find out certain information about us.  From this information the reference agencies provide a credit score.  Many lenders operate their own credit score system, but in general they are all alike. From the information contained about us we are given a score.  The higher the score, the better the credit rating. Advantages to a high credit score. You are put on voter’s role at address... [more]

The fast way of fixing your credit

Any body that has tired to mend an error in their credit report will know that it is a slow and arduous task.  But do not despair; there is a solution, a credit service that claims to fix credit mistakes in 72 hours flat.  Sounds fascinating doesn’t it!  They are known as the Rapid Re-scoring Service, and are a growing part of the credit-reporting agency.  Mortgage lenders or brokers who are trying to get better loan terms for their customers usually use their services, and by removing these errors a borrowers credit score can be dramatically improved, enabling them to get a better loan and a better rate... [more]