credit scores........how much do they matter???

[blushingm]

I've made some applications recntly but not actually take out the loans. I have asked my mortgage lender for a further loan which has been agreed on the phone but they won't do the credit search til we've signed the agreement.
We haven't missed any mortgage payments ever or loan etc repayments but I'm afraid that those credit searches recently will blow the deal......should i be worried or quite confident?

normally i'd say should be OK, we used to do searches where I worked and we'd not take notice of searches aprticuarly unless other issues but in the current climate anything can count, so could go either way tbh

They matter a lot
get your file from equifax, experian and call credit (£2 each) and see what they say

scores are affected by

moving house/job/bank account
making late payments
being on electoral roll or not
amount of credit you have vs what you use, i.e maxed out on cards or not (not being also means they prob won't make money out of you so equally not good)
see moneysavingexpert for detailed article on this

i've seen my fgiles and all accounts are classed as good or satisfactory but there are a number of searches....could they refuse me the loan then?

Unlikely if your payment record is good. LOADS of searches would be good, no searches is bad (shows you're not credit active) but moderate searches are usually a good thing