Credit score. Difference between clearscore, experian and bank?

[TheChip]

According to my bank, my credit score is 536. According to experian its 915 out of 999 According to clearscore its 529 out of 1000.

I'm going to assume I'm more in the 500 mark since my bank is saying it. But why such a difference with experian?

Also is aqua a good credit card to use to improve my credit score?
Could I purchase my shopping with a credit card and then pay it within a couple of days, or do I need to wait until the end of the month?

The scores are different (and pretty meaningless tbh) because each company has their own way of arriving at that number, there is no standard.

I would pay for your shopping with a credit card and then pay it off in full once the bill arrives, not two days later. Any credit card that you can get will do, it didn't have to be Aqua.

Ah thank you. I honestly thought the credit scores would have came to pretty similar conclusions. I'd never of expected such a large difference. Interesting to learn that isn't the case!

Aqua was just the first that popped up in what would be offered to me. I havent decided yet, but will keep in mind to pay when the bill arrives.

You should wait u too the end of the month, so there is a ‘balance’ which you pay off.
If you pay off before there is this balance, then it will be NIL at the end of each month, which would be the same as if you hadn’t used it at all

You can set up a direct debit to pay off the full amount on the required date - so there's no chance of you missing a payment .

Mine is 600 with my bank and 780 with clearscore. I’m in a lot of debt - but do make more than the minimum payments - and I’ve got £100 left of my £2500 overdraft. It’s all insane really. I’ve got no idea how they work it all out but it’s all a load of nonsense.

Hiya, I just went through a talk on how all this is generated. Its pretty complex, but the main thing to note is that each agency has their own range, so 500 on one can be the same as 650 on another.

Reference a credit card, (and credit scores in general) the biggest thing that can hurt your score is not making a payment. I've actually also been slightly penalised for not using my credit card as they prefer to see a balance on there which looks better than Nil. So, if you're bothered about your score and have an empty credit card, either get rid of it or use it now and then.

Finally, affordability will be becoming more and more important as we go forward, much like it is with mortgages, so your debt to income ratio will be looked at in future.

I'll give you a whammyyammy score of 999.9/1000.... its about as useful as the score awarded by clearscore/experian/your bank etc.
When borrowing, lenders look at your credit history, how you manage your money each month such as clearing credit cards as opposed to minimum payments, do you rely on overdrafts and how much of your income is used to service debts/how much debt u have.
They can't even see the mythical score these companies award u

That's not correct I'm afraid. Lenders do go to experion etc before lending to you. Even Amazon use them when you want to buy something on credit.

I thought there were different databases though?

when we applied for a mortgage, our broker told us that the database the lenders use is a different one to what we see on Experian etc.

He said it’s much more up to date, when’s the one we see can take weeks for updates

Martin Lewis on credit scores.

You need to find out what those items are on it which you can't identify. And sort out anything which is showing as arrears / non-payment (you can ask companies to correct mistakes, or get the credit file people involved, if necessary).

It's your history which lenders can see; each lending does their own scoring.

I don't know what the one you used was, but a decent credit reference agency will show you your latest score and not one from weeks ago. They don't have multiple databases with one out of date and one they keep up to date. These systems are huge and complex, so they would be mad to have copies of them and I'm not sure it would be all that legal to have out of date (and possibly incorrect) information being displayed to those it refers to.

The information provided by the lender can actually be up to 10 weeks' old, depending on when they report to the credit reference agencies. That's what PP means about the reports being out of date; it's not live information.

Ah right, understood. I work for one of the agencies, so I know a reasonable amount about the subject.

Lenders still don't see the arbitrary score each agency gives you though. Only the history of debt / payments. The lender then 'scores' you using their own criteria.

I looked up one of the credit cards, can’t remember now if it was Aqua or Vanquish, and they apply an interest charge on transactions as well as interest in outstanding balance.

So if you pay the entire balance by the due date they only apply the interest on the purchases, it was about 27%.

I think a lot of people will not realise that- I’m not saying people are stupid, but stress makes you miss/overlook things.

Was thinking the same my clear score is nearly 100 over my branch.shows you all your payments and missed as well.surey the branch score is the main score though 😔