Why such bad credit? And can anyone explain Experian?

[sugaredplumfox]

I've been trying to work out why I have such a poor credit score on Experian. They've given me poor to fair (550) but I can't tell if I'm actually in poor credit or whether they are trying to make me purchase their improvement services

To make things clear I have never had a loan or mortgage. I have an outstanding overdraft of about £2,000 but it is still within the student interest free period. I also have an overdraft of £1,500 that I pay the regular interest payments on.

I have a couple of finance contracts such as a mobile contract and they all get paid on time and in full. I have no credit cards and a reasonable full time salary.

Can anyone explain? I've only just graduated and I feel worried about a poor credit score as I would like to start saving towards a mortgage. At the minute I live at home and my mum has lived here for years. She has excellent credit yet we still get letters through the post and debt collectors round from a previous tenant 8 years ago.

Is my address blacklisted?

There is no longer blacklisting of addresses, it's against the person.

Try Noddle instead, either free credit report, but it tells you why your report is graded and how you can improve it.

How many credit accounts do you have? Check the addresses and accounts linked to you and make sure nothing is fraudulent.

They make it all up.
Experien say I'm poor, but clearscore have me as super dooper amazing

If your overdraft is an interest free student one and you've never had a credit card, it could be that it's a lack of credit history that's bringing down your score, rather than bad credit.

Are you on the electoral roll?

Are you registered to vote?

High utilisation? (Large portion of available credit being used). Never coming out of your OD is a bit of a pink flag.

Shortish history of running credit accounts?
(Less than 6 years.)

Are you on the electoral roll? That makes a big difference.

Yes I have only had a phone contract of my own for less than a year.

Yes I'm on the electoral roll :)

Give it time. Never miss a payment on anything. Renew your voter registration every year. And try to get the OD paid down ASAP.

You'll see your score strengthen naturally over the next couple of years.

Having loans, credit cards or a mortgage boosts your credit "score" although take this score with a pinch of salt. It means nothing to any company. Get your overdrafts paid off as being in them all the time doesn't look great. Consider getting a credit card to pay off in full every month in order to build history. There are some excellent cash back ones on the market so you can use them to your advantage. I use three credit cards. They all have their own perks.

I find the best place for info on this type of thing is MoneySavingExpert HERE is their advice on raising your credit score

BTW MNHQ, I keep recommending MSE but I promise I don't work for them. 😂 It just they are my second favourite website

Something that dragged my score down on Experian was a tricky previous address that their system couldn't match. I had rented a brand new house in a little courtyard development where the owner had chosen names for the properties (no numbers) but clearly hadn't registered them or there was a delay for some reason. So my previous address just would not come up on their automated system. I managed to prove it and my credit rating suddenly went into the green.

It is definitely worth a phone call as they will have flagged on their system whatever your issues are.

MSE is great but if you venture into their forums ignore the "your score is a random made up number" crowd. There are far too many people over there who don't understand the concept of a representative algorithm

My understanding is that the credit score that the credit reference agencies give you is a just a guide to what they think lenders / financial institutions might think of your credit history. Each lender has it's own method of scoring, so your score will differ depending on which lender you approach for credit or insurance etc. As a PP has mentioned, there is no address blacklist, you are rated on your personal details only. the only other thing that might affect it is a financial association with someone else, i.e. If you have a joint account with someone and they have a poor rating it might affect yours.

y understanding is that the credit score that the credit reference agencies give you is a just a guide to what they think lenders / financial institutions might think of your credit history. Each lender has it's own method of scoring, so your score will differ depending on which lender you approach for credit or insurance etc.

Exactly. It's an algorithm designed to be broadly representative of the algorithms the financial institutions use to score your data.