Why have I got bad credit?

[MumofSpud]

I have suddenly got bad credit in the last few weeks and unsure why?
Bank can't help - they said ask Experian so I did and I got an 'excellent'
I applied for a small (I think) loan as house sale is much slower than anticipated snd was turned down

But I have a job / live in a house with no mortgage and have bought somewhere else

What does your full credit report say?

I went on Experian online and it gave me a number with 'excellent'
I didn't go any further into it (no idea re: any of this as this is my first time facing this!)

Sometimes you need to have a history of receiving loans and credit cards to help make you eligible for a loan. I remember years ago I was told this. So I got a credit card

I've had a mortgage / various credit cards for 30 years!
I got a 969

could it be an excuse by the lender, plus some prefer not an excellent score as they can make more profit off the lack of being on time etc

It's not necessarily an excuse to not lend to you. They'll use their own internal scoring system and they might have low appetite for lending at unprofitable levels and rates at the moment for any number of reasons.

The bank said the decision was purely by Experian and nothing to do with them!

Well that's not true, unless they mean they couldn't identify you using an Experian electronic check which most banks use. Experian just provide a credit score to the bank to be used as part of the bank's assessment, they're not involved with deciding who should get a loan.

Perhaps it's to do with your house sale / mortgage / electoral register or some combo. If you've recently moved has your longest bill now changed for example my longest open account is Anglia water so if I moved areas and no longer covered by AW potentially that would impact things. Or have you just recently got your new mortgage? they don't like you opening too many credit account so maybe it's that, leave it 6 months and try again if you can eat it out.

I would use an eligibility tool and see what you are pre-approved for, then apply for that. Lenders have different policies for who they want to lend to. Just because you have been declined it doesn't make your credit score 'bad' you just didn't meet this specific lenders criteria.

I had exactly the same a few months ago. I just tried another application with someone else and got it straight away!
fwiw, you can pay a monthly charge (cancel at any time) to experian to get your full report. As soon as you make the initial payment they will give you your report.

I did this and it turned out there was some out of date information on there that was affecting my score a little bit. Give it a go OP

Thanks for all ideas - paid off mortgage last year / no loans (but have had in the past)
I think I'll have to go into the bank!

It probably won't make any difference. Just apply for a different loan!

of course and no one ever lies or mis leads etc , especially when it came to the 2008 crisis, and mortgage backed securities etc

The lender almost certainly won't have seen or cared what you Experian credit score is (no lender will). What's important is what is contained in your credit report. You can get this for free by signing up to the money saving expert credit club (don't pay via Experian).

The lender doesn't need an excuse not to lend to you. It's likely you just dont fit their lending risk criteria. They dont have to tell you and you'll lively never know why.

You could apply elsewhere, although too many applications in a short space of time could negatively impact your credit report.

This happened to me recently. In my case it was because I'd recently moved and hadn't registered to vote yet. I was told to use checkmyfile.com for the free trial, & then just cancel the subscription once you've found out. It's very helpful