A credit report contains information that is held at credit reference agencies and is compiled using two main sources of information from Public records (Electoral Role, Court Judgements, IVAs and Bankruptcies) and information provided by lenders and financial institutions (Credit Accounts, Credit Applications and Financial Associations).
The information that is on your credit file has a bearing on whether or not you are accepted by a lender, how much a lender is willing to lend you and the interest rate that is offered to you.
Credit reference agencies provide factual information with your consent, so that a company can make a decision about whether to lend you money. They do not have a 'blacklist' of people who should not be given credit.
There are 3 main credit reference agencies: Experian, Equifax and Call Credit.
Electoral Roll Entries: Lenders use the electoral roll to check the identity of the people applying for credit and to make sure the addresses provided on application forms are correct.
County Court Judgements: Court judgments are held on your credit report for six years from the date of the judgment. The Credit Reference Agencies receives the information from Registry Trust, an independent organisation set up by the Lord Chancellor's Department.
When applying for credit many things are taken into consideration, such as: age, income and whether you are a homeowner also play a big part in the lenders decision making. Lenders often assess this information and the information on your credit report using a process known as credit scoring.
Lenders that you apply for credit with will perform a credit check to determine whether or not to lend credit to you, this could be for things like credit cards, loans, insurance or even a bank accounts.
Under the data protection act 1998, you are entitled to view the information contained in your credit report to make sure the information held about you is true and accurate. If errors are found you are entitled to have them corrected. To obtain your credit file by post, each credit reference agency charge £2.
If you have forgotten who you owe money to or the companies that you obtained credit from then do not worry as the bulk of your credit report consists of details about credit accounts that were opened in your name or that list you as an authorised user (such as a spouse's credit card).
Clear Insolvency is trading name of Hamilton and Clarke Ltd.
Registered in the UK. Company no. 6465374. Consumer Credit License (UK) 612841
Clear Insolvency, 27 Old Gloucester Street, London, WC1N 3AX
