Credit rating downgraded to poor - any experts can advise?

[WoolyMammoth55]

I'm in my early 40s, have always had good or excellent credit scores. But checked last week and it was 'poor' for the first time ever, at 565 out of a total of 710 (annoying TransUnion numbers). I had a perfect Experian 999 in January!

This downgrade matters because we have a remortgage coming up in October when the fixed rate ends.

So I need to get this score situation sorted before mid-August to allow 4-6 weeks for changes to pull through...

The report mostly looks accurate and there's no CCJs or any obvious red flags that I could dispute.

The credit report lists 'things I'm doing well' and then 3 'things to work on', which are:

1. You're using a lot of credit on an account
2. You're using a lot of your credit limit
3. You recently exceeded your credit limit

So 1 and 2 are correct - we've had some unexpected expenses recently and I whacked them on cards, partly to get the Amex spend as we want a companion voucher for next summer holidays!

But I have NOT exceeded any of my credit limits and I don't understand where that comes from. So point 3 is wrong.

I called Amex who confirmed I was close but not over the limit and they said nothing from their side was flagged.

I called TransUnion but the agent I spoke to said they can't see details of my file so can't help work out who raised this flag.

The TransUnion rep said to get my total credit under 50% of what's available and that will improve my score - I should be able to do this by August.

Can any one who is well-informed about credit share anything that I could do to try to remedy this incorrect 'flag' that seems to be affecting my credit score?

Can I write to someone or...? Grateful for any advice.

Hopeful bump?

Can you get a more in depth report, maybe equifax/experian and pay for a month or use a free trial then cancel? They should be able to give you more information I think, especially on point 3 so you can rectify it if needed

Credit score isn't shared with lenders, so means nothing. It is created based on a rough idea of what lenders want, and to give you an idea of how desirable you may be. If your payment history is good, I'd perhaps try and identify where it's showing over your credit limit before your remortgage and get that corrected, but otherwise, if it's for a remortgage, it'll be up to the banks individual criteria and they'll just want to make sure nothing significant has changed which means you wouldn't be able to afford the new mortgage. They tend to be more relaxed than when you're applying for a new mortgage.

Good luck!