What the hell is Credit Rating System

Equifax is simply a credit reference agency - they don't provide ratings (except as an additional service which you pay for and which doesn't really mean anything - but is useful as a guide) Credit references agencies (of which their are 2 main players in the UK - Experian and Equifax) provide information concerning an individuals credit file to a bank (for instance) for that banking organisation to assess your credit worthiness. This is assessed based on the limit of your current credit commitments (or lack of them) and your performance of maintaining those commitments (i.e., how many payments you made, whether you paid them on time, etc).

Credit rating scores are individual to whatever bank or credit card company you apply to, depending on their own lending criteria. Individual banks or lending institutions don't usually provide much information on what they look at when assessing your credit rating or score with them, but there are some obvious ones, like how long you've lived at your current address, how long you've been in a job, how many other debts you have, etc.

If you want a copy of your credit reference file, then you can write to Equifax and/or Experian and apply for a copy under Section 7 of the Data Protection Act 1998. You can either write to them, or use their on-line form which can be accessed via their website. If you apply on-line you need to enter the details of a UK based credit or debit card.

Links here:

Experian:

Equifax: There is a statutory 2 charge for requesting a copy of your credit file by post which covers the administration costs of sending the file to you. It costs more if you do it on-line.

Browse the links on my webpage

Daytona

and

CALL CREDIT PLC Consumer Services Team PO Box 491 LEEDS LS3 1WZ

Without a hint of irony, param snipped-for-privacy@yahoo.com (Nirvana) astounded uk.finance on 31 Jan 2005 by announcing:

Why use it at all?

Presumably because you have no history in the UK.

You don't & you can't.

You have the right to go to another bank. They have the right to refuse you credit.

Because these have little or no risk to them.

You can only build up a credit history by successfully opening a credit account. Would you lend money to someone you knew nothing about? You may find more information at

Check out the "How can I get credit in the UK when my credit history is in the US?" for instance.

Do you actually NEED a credit card immediately? Can you not make do with a debit card (you may well succeed with an application for an Electron card, for instance, which has little risk to the bank). Once you've built up a history with the bank you may have more success and then, once you get hold of a card, manage it well and your history will indicate to other lenders that you may be an acceptable risk.

You can't.

I suggest you try applying for a card which is easy to get with a poor rating. One is the Capital One classic card. I would make sure to pay off the card every month as the interest rate is very bad.

000 You may also find it easier to apply for a card with your own bank.

cd

Here's a free way of getting some idea of what your credit rating would be and how to improve it. It uses the same style of scoring process as the banks but becuase you are answering the questions (not equifax) there's no charge. It'll also work out you estimated credit limit.

Direct download :

(633K) Web site :

Thanks, Michael

[snipped]

I trust the language you used in your letter to the bank was a little more temperate than the impression you give here.

Bank staff are only human.

Rgds

__ Richard Buttrey Grappenhall, Cheshire, UK __________________________

Are you sure? Most of the time I call all I get is a automated computer responder.

"Credit Check Support" wrote

Really?! :-o

"Credit Check Support" wrote

According to that credit check, having a lot of Live credit accounts increases your rating. I thought the opposite would happen because don't lenders work out the total credit that's available to you if you max out your existing credit cards, to ensure you can't over commit yourself?

Surely only at first contact. You must deal with a real live person at some stage?

Rgds

__ Richard Buttrey Grappenhall, Cheshire, UK __________________________

The scoring program improves your rating if you have a number of live accounts. However, there is a point at which it reckons you have too many and your rating will take a massive hit.

This scoring doesn't mind if you have 2 or 3 credit cards - in fact it means other instituitions trust you but, like you say, too many and it gets suspicious why you'd want another credit card and your rating takes a big hit. Different institutions may vary what is an acceptable number of live accounts.