Read MNers reviews of TotallyMoney & find out how to improve your credit score

[EmmaMumsnet]

We recruited Mumsnet users to test out free credit report provider TotallyMoney Testers signed up to TotallyMoney to find out their credit score and look at what has affected it over the years. They then browsed the TotallyMoney site to see credit cards, loans, and mortgages they could be accepted for based on their credit score, as well as tips on how to improve their credit score.

Here’s what TotallyMoney has to say: “TotallyMoney is a Free Credit Report provider, which aims to make consumer credit fairer and more transparent by giving customers the information they need to make the right choices.

Until recently, our customers didn't really know why their credit score changed, meaning they had little idea of what they could do to make it better. What's more, our customers didn't know whether they were eligible for a credit product: their only option was to apply and hope they would be accepted. This was a problem, because being rejected for credit can make it much harder to get accepted for credit in the future.

Now, thanks to our Free Credit Report, that’s a thing of the past. Your Free Credit Report lets you track your credit score and gives you reasons why your credit score has changed, so you know what you need to do to improve it. Your Free Credit Report also comes with Borrowing Power: one number to show the best offers for your credit profile — offers you're most likely to get accepted for, helping reduce your chances of being rejected.

But, why else should you sign up to TotallyMoney? TotallyMoney is free and always will be — and 97%* of customers would recommend us to improve their credit score. Our service is easy to use and understand, we’re the highest rated Free Credit Report provider on Trustpilot, and we're Moneynet’s Best Credit Report Provider 2018.”

If you’d like to find out your credit score and how to improve it click here to sign up to TotallyMoney.

All selected testers who leave their feedback on this thread will receive a £10 voucher of their choice (from a list) for taking part AND will be entered into a prize draw to win one of three £100 vouchers.

Testers please answer the following questions:

• How did you find the overall experience of using TotallyMoney?
• How did you find the sign-up process?
• Which aspects of the TotallyMoney site do you like the most? And which were most useful to you?
• What did you think of your Borrowing Power?
• How did you find TotallyMoney’s recommendations for products (e.g credit card/mortgages)?
• How has your knowledge of your financial situation changed?

Thanks and good luck!

MNHQ

Terms and conditions apply

*Based on a Feb–March 2018 survey of 958 respondents.

How did you find the overall experience of using TotallyMoney?-very easy to use and navigate.

• How did you find the sign-up process? Really easy, although I was a bit surprised at how much information was shown on just a few pieces of information.
• Which aspects of the TotallyMoney site do you like the most? And which were most useful to you? Definitely the credit score for both. I had no idea what mine was before I logged on, so was interesting to see.
• What did you think of your Borrowing Power? I was a bit disappointed with how low mine seemed to be, but again, interesting to see.
• How did you find TotallyMoney’s recommendations for products (e.g credit card/mortgages)? Very helpful, with a good range of products and offers.
• How has your knowledge of your financial situation changed? I'm more aware of my credit score. I'm also hoping the app will help us towards getting a mortgage sorted.

• How did you find the overall experience of using TotallyMoney?

* I think that TotallyMoney is great and it deserves the time i spent to look my profile, borrowing options, etc. I will definitely continue to use it in future and i will make a profile for my husband as well as i found it easier to understand than the other popular credit score websites.

• How did you find the sign-up process?

* The sign-up process was super fast and easy. The only down thing i think was the checking questions which can include a question from before 5+ years and sometimes in this busy life maybe we can't remember exactly the answer which may lead to not finding our profile. So my recommendation is if the questions include up to 3 years it will be better.

• Which aspects of the TotallyMoney site do you like the most? And which were most useful to you?

* I like the most the overall of the website and my account and how easy is to navigate thru it. What was most useful for me was the borrowing power and especially the part with the mortgages.

• What did you think of your Borrowing Power?

* I think it is great and i will take into account everything i need in future when applying for a financial product. It gives me hope that i can have a good mortgage deal which i thought i can't.

• How did you find TotallyMoney’s recommendations for products (e.g credit card/mortgages)?

* Really satisfied with the recommendations, it gives u a lot of options and explains them good

• How has your knowledge of your financial situation changed?

* I have another credit score accounts so basically i have good knowledge of my financial status but what i learned from totallymoney is that my borrowing power is good and i can apply for a good mortgage. I didn't know this before and this is number 1 topic for me at the moment bcoz i m planning on buying a property and looking for my options. So definitely been very helpful and useful for me. Will recommend to all my friends.

How did you find the overall experience of using TotallyMoney?
It was really easy to use and a lot less hassle than I thought it would be. I would recommend it.

• How did you find the sign-up process?

Very easy and clear. Fairly quick.

• Which aspects of the TotallyMoney site do you like the most? And which were most useful to you

The ease of signing up and validating identity. I liked to see who had searched my credit report. I think this is a good "selling point" they could advertise especially for people not actually looking for credit recommendations, more for monitoring re identify theft etc.

• What did you think of your Borrowing Power?

As I expected

• How did you find TotallyMoney’s recommendations for products (e.g credit card/mortgages)

Reasonably helpful

• How has your knowledge of your financial situation changed?

It was as I expected but as it is a free service I will continue to use it to monitor my credit report and check if any searches has been made.

Thanks for the chance to try this.

How did you find the overall experience of using TotallyMoney?
I found it straight forward and informative.

• How did you find the sign-up process?

It was easy to complete and sign up. I found one spelling/ grammar error on the first page I think.

• Which aspects of the TotallyMoney site do you like the most? And which were most useful to you?

I like knowing who's searched my details abd keeping track of my credit score.

• What did you think of your Borrowing Power?

It's a good idea. I don't currently want to borrow money but it's an easy way to find who would hopefully lend to me with my current credit score.

• How did you find TotallyMoney’s recommendations for products (e.g credit card/mortgages)?

Easy to understand and follow. Quick too.

• How has your knowledge of your financial situation changed?

I had used another free credit check site in the past but found this very easy to use with the welcome addition of information about lenders. Especially great that it is free and will stay that way. I will continue to use this site.

How did you find the overall experience of using TotallyMoney?
Really user friendly

• How did you find the sign-up process?

Fantastic took less than 5 minutes and only asked questions I knew the answer too without having to look things up

• Which aspects of the TotallyMoney site do you like the most? And which were most useful to you?

Knowing my credit score and knowing which cards I would be eligible for

• What did you think of your Borrowing Power?

It was better than I expected it to be

• How did you find TotallyMoney’s recommendations for products (e.g credit card/mortgages)?

Really Good to see at a glance what I could be eligible for and apr etc was all there to see and easily compare

• How has your knowledge of your financial situation changed?

I had literally no idea what my credit score was before using this

• How did you find the overall experience of using TotallyMoney?

Really simple and easy to use website.

• How did you find the sign-up process?

Very quick and simple.

• Which aspects of the TotallyMoney site do you like the most? And which were most useful to you?

Checking previous accounts and spotting one I'd never seen before in my name! And being able to raise a dispute.

• What did you think of your Borrowing Power?

As expected.

• How did you find TotallyMoney’s recommendations for products (e.g credit card/mortgages)?

Quite surprised as thanks to my ex husband it's been a debt filled few years.

• How has your knowledge of your financial situation changed?

I can now take steps to start clearing my credit score up. I was a bit surprised that it was as low as it was as so many accounts had been settled recently.

• How did you find the overall experience of using TotallyMoney?

Very easy. Sign up took less than 5 minutes and the information available is very comprehensive. It’s a really good site to use.

• How did you find the sign-up process?

So simple. Easy questions, no need to hunt out paperwork etc.

• Which aspects of the TotallyMoney site do you like the most? And which were most useful to you?

I love how it’s laid out. I can easily see what I owe and where I have slipped up on payments. It makes keeping on top of debt incredibly easy. I wish I’d heard about it sooner!

• What did you think of your Borrowing Power?

It’s as expected, but handy to see it all in one place.

• How did you find TotallyMoney’s recommendations for products (e.g credit card/mortgages)?

Really good. If I did need to borrow this would be where I would look first.

• How has your knowledge of your financial situation changed?

It’s improved it. There’s a debt I completely forgot about but means I can now remedy it and hopefully get my score back up.

Overall experience of using TotallyMoney was good. Better than expected.

I found the sign-up process straightforward and easy.

What I liked most was that the site was easy and quick to navigate. I was pleasantly surprised that my credit score and credit report were found very quickly, within a minute or two! The most useful part of the site for me is knowing my credit score and borrowing power.

My borrowing power was about what I expected but I was surprised that when I tentatively applied to borrow an amount, one of the offers was for more than double the amount I had requested.

I was not interested in any of the product recommendations, but accepted them as a way of TotallyMoney being able to keep the site free to use, by presumably gaining commission on any sales.

I do feel a bit more knowledgeable about my financial situation as a result of this process, just by knowing what information other companies can access about my finances and that this information is correct.

• How did you find the overall experience of using TotallyMoney?

Very good, the site is easy to navigate and very clear to read.

• How did you find the sign-up process?

Really quick! I was worried about having to remember everything but all you need is your name, dob and current address/how long you lived there.

• Which aspects of the TotallyMoney site do you like the most? And which were most useful to you?

I like the visualisation of the credit score on the first page, and any activity is easy to see there. The guides are very useful, they are written in plain English, and aim to help make a decision.

• What did you think of your Borrowing Power?

Again it's a good visualisation, I think a lot of people would rather see a graph rather than numbers. For me, I would be motivated to fill up the bar.

• How did you find TotallyMoney’s recommendations for products (e.g credit card/mortgages)?

Quite handy if I was looking for something like that, it is easy to filter what you want and see your chance of being approved straight away.

• How has your knowledge of your financial situation changed?

It has improved a great deal, I thought my score would be terrible, but it really isn't that bad! And I can see offers at a glance that I may be eligible for which I didn't expect. The guides are very useful, I will be using them in the future for sure.

• How did you find the overall experience of using TotallyMoney?

Brilliant - excellent service.

• How did you find the sign-up process?

Really easy, better than experian, they could never find me but these found me straight away, I had to confirm some info related to my current financial situation and it was easy as that.

• Which aspects of the TotallyMoney site do you like the most? And which were most useful to you?

Being able to check who has been credit checking you both hard and soft searches. It's a good thing to check from time to time as you don't know whether anyone has got your details and trying to borrow in your name. We give away that much info online these days.

• What did you think of your Borrowing Power?

Good, although I do feel it is a little dangerous as people could look and borrow more than they intended to and then get into trouble.

• How did you find TotallyMoney’s recommendations for products (e.g credit card/mortgages)?

Good range of products on offer. We recently went through a mortgage advisor for our remortgage, with this service we didn't really need to have done this. It is also good for finding good cashback credit cards.

• How has your knowledge of your financial situation changed?

I now know that everything is as it should be and am not worried about people using my data if I check this every so often. I would just like more info on my credit number "Your score is 637 out of 710" - what can I do to improve this, why is it not a top score etc?

How did you find the overall experience of using TotallyMoney?

It was ok and the info was useful but using it on a mobile was a bit clunky and didn't flow very easily

• How did you find the sign-up process?

Absolutely straight forward

• Which aspects of the TotallyMoney site do you like the most? And which were most useful to you?

Being able to see all balances in one place and seeing the status of all credit accounts in one place was most useful. The credit score rating and borrowing power is also useful

• What did you think of your Borrowing Power?

It's useful to give you an indication of whether you may be able to borrow if you needed to.

• How did you find TotallyMoney’s recommendations for products (e.g credit card/mortgages)?

Fine, I'm not in the market for borrowing so it's irrelevant for me but it is a useful feature

• How has your knowledge of your financial situation changed?

No.

• How did you find the overall experience of using TotallyMoney?

I found it really simple. I really liked the interface and found it easy to understand terms that I’d normally be put off by.

• How did you find the sign-up process?

Really easy and straightforward. I couldn’t remember certain questions in the verification process but I must have got them right as it signed me in.

• Which aspects of the TotallyMoney site do you like the most? And which were most useful to you?

The layout. I love the fact it is so clear and easy to view. I also found the credit card guides really useful - in the past I’ve been unsuccessful so to see the percentage I have of being accepted would make me more likely to apply.

• What did you think of your Borrowing Power?

It was as expected! The joys of being a stay at home parent. It was useful to have some pointers underneath on how I could improve it.

• How did you find TotallyMoney’s recommendations for products (e.g credit card/mortgages)?

I really liked these! It would definitely be my first port of call when applying for these type of products in the future.

• How has your knowledge of your financial situation changed?

I normally shy away from these type of sites - but I found the interface made it really clear and straightforward in a way I could understand.

My experience of using Totally Money was an interesting one...most of the info was what I expected...just a small amendment needed (which I have reported).

The sign up process was very very easy

I liked seeing my credit score, good to have confirmation of my own perceptions. I particularly liked the detail held about address changes etc as my ex husband's new address had been added in error, but was simple to report. I also received an email from TM confirming my concerns and their assurance that I would be sorted out.

My borrowing power was a little over inflated I thought.

Thanks information about products available was a bit overwhelming as an difficult to digest...but that's probably because I'm not interested in credit cards, mortgages, loans etc at the moment.

My perception if my financial position was as I thought...just good to have it officially confirmed....thank you.

Thank you for selecting me. This gave me an insight on how I am doing with my credit score.
In response to the questions:

• How did you find the overall experience of using TotallyMoney? I enjoyed using it and I think I may be using it monthly, just to check how am I doing.

• How did you find the sign-up process? I found the sign-up process easy, quick and straightforward. I was found in the system and I had my report within minutes.

• Which aspects of the TotallyMoney site do you like the most? And which were most useful to you?

I found it very easy to use. I liked the layout, it was clear to see how many financial commitments I have, from current accounts to credit cards and mortgage. It also displayed a list of past credit accounts. It was interesting to see how much I have left in my mortgage to pay.

• What did you think of your Borrowing Power? I thought it was higher than what I had in mind.

• How did you find TotallyMoney’s recommendations for products (e.g credit card/mortgages)? I found them useful but my mortgage is locked for another 4 years and I am happy with my current credit cards.

• How has your knowledge of your financial situation changed? It hasn't changed much, I had a rough idea of my credit score. I am quite careful and I knew it was high.

• How did you find the overall experience of using TotallyMoney?

It was ok; although I do use another site to check my credit score and don't find TotallyMoney as easy to navigate.

• How did you find the sign-up process?

Very straightforward.

• Which aspects of the TotallyMoney site do you like the most? And which were most useful to you?

Didn't find anything particularly useful as it just shows information that I already knew.

• What did you think of your Borrowing Power?

If I was looking to borrow money then I guess this could be useful, although it wasn't an obvious thing to find, had to go to offers, rather than just showing the Borrowing Power on front page with credit score.

• How did you find TotallyMoney’s recommendations for products (e.g credit card/mortgages)?

Easy to look through if I was looking for any products.

• How has your knowledge of your financial situation changed?

It hasn't - I already use another site to check my credit score and any credit checks regularly. I do prefer the site I already use.

• How did you find the overall experience of using TotallyMoney?

Really easy to use - navigation menu was easy to follow

• How did you find the sign-up process?

Signing up was almost too easy - was a little alarming how easy my financial information is available

• Which aspects of the TotallyMoney site do you like the most? And which were most useful to you?

Being able to view my credit score for free, and being able to report discrepancies / errors

• What did you think of your Borrowing Power?

This is a nice feature, my score was as expected

• How did you find TotallyMoney’s recommendations for products (e.g credit card/mortgages)?

This seems very useful, especially given all the subcategories that can be filtered

• How has your knowledge of your financial situation changed?

I'm reassured about my current financial status

How did you find the overall experience of using TotallyMoney?
Really easy and informative.

• How did you find the sign-up process?

Easy and fast

• Which aspects of the TotallyMoney site do you like the most? And which were most useful to you?

I like knowing what I owe in one place and the future borrowing is good idea

• What did you think of your Borrowing Power?

I liked seeing the choices available.

• How did you find TotallyMoney’s recommendations for products (e.g credit card/mortgages)?

It was ok. Easy to understand.

• How has your knowledge of your financial situation changed?

It’s goid to see it all in one place.

I found the sign up process really easy and fast. It found my details and gave a credit score very quickly. The information shown in my report was accurate but my personal current account wasn’t showing only- my joint account. The information was laid out in a really easy
to read way with colour coding too. The borrowing power was easy to read. The information about cards, loans and mortgages was easy to read and easy to compare the options with all the information you need making thus a logical place to start if you were looking for such a product.

• found the whole thing really easy. And simple set up of website made it easy to navigate.

-sign up literally took 2 minutes. Very quick

• liked seeing my credit score, and thought it useful to see my active credit cards. I had one I had forgotten about as the balance was paid, checked and my card had expired so can contact the cc company and close my account.

-was interested to see my borrowing power as whilst me credit score is very good, my borrowing power was poor. I'm a SAHP so don't have personal income, made me realise I'm quite reliant on DH income. Which is a worry should something happen so him. But good thing is is shows ways you can improve it. -found options for credit cards helpful, and will look into maybe transferring current credit card into 0% interest soon. -it's changed re borrowing power. However my credit score is better than I thought. Have downloaded the app and will continue to keep check of my scores.

• How did you find the overall experience of using TotallyMoney?

I was really impressed by the experience, I thought the site was really easy to navigate and simple to use and i was really impressed that it was free. I have already recommended to a friend.

• How did you find the sign-up process?

Really simple, didnt need too much information and i was pleased i didnt have to give any bank details. Only took a couple of minutes and then everything was available. No waiting like with other places i have used in the past.

• Which aspects of the TotallyMoney site do you like the most? And which were most useful to you?

I like the dashboard to give you a overview immediately but i thought being able to see your borrowing power was the most useful.

• What did you think of your Borrowing Power?

It was as i had expected and no surprises.

• How did you find TotallyMoney’s recommendations for products (e.g credit card/mortgages)?

Really good, i think its great that it only shows products that are suitable and is clear about this.

• How has your knowledge of your financial situation changed?

A little bit, there is one thing that isnt quite right so i now know i need to contact that place and sort it which i wouldnt of done prior to using this.

• How did you find the overall experience of using TotallyMoney?

Very user friendly and impressive

• How did you find the sign-up process?

I found the questions quite difficult but perhaps that’s just my memory!

• Which aspects of the TotallyMoney site do you like the most? And which were most useful to you?

It looks good and is easy to use. I liked seeing my credit score but I couldn’t see what to do to improve it

• What did you think of your Borrowing Power?

Better than expected

• How did you find TotallyMoney’s recommendations for products (e.g credit card/mortgages?

Very straight forward and easy to see

• How has your knowledge of your financial situation changed?

My credit score was better than I thought. I needed a new balance transfer offer, and it showed me the best one to apply for

• How did you find the overall experience of using TotallyMoney?

Great, easy to use and really helpful.

• How did you find the sign-up process?

As easy as it could get really. All pages were clear and only a few questions on each page. Good security questions but still answerable. Really quick.

• Which aspects of the TotallyMoney site do you like the most? And which were most useful to you?

I liked the visual credit score as this was useful. Also liked how easy the site was to navigate. Most useful was checking the hard/soft searches and also checking all credit accounts were known and on there.

• What did you think of your Borrowing Power?

Borrowing power was good but not sure how accurately it linked into the recommendations

• How did you find TotallyMoney’s recommendations for products (e.g credit card/mortgages)?

Considering how good my borrowing power was, the products offered were all very high interest, starter products. Not something I would pursue.

• How has your knowledge of your financial situation changed?

I had a fairly good knowledge of financial situation although good to see it all laid out in one place!!

• How did you find the overall experience of using TotallyMoney?

Great, very easy and quick.

• How did you find the sign-up process?

Incredibly easy. Very little information required, just a few questions (some of which I didn't know the answer to, but that didn't matter).

• Which aspects of the TotallyMoney site do you like the most? And which were most useful to you?

The information provided is so clear. Really very simple to understand and so useful to know. The history of credit was very interesting (and much bigger than I'd imagined!), and I liked the reassurance it gave.

• What did you think of your Borrowing Power?

Seemed accurate.

• How did you find TotallyMoney’s recommendations for products (e.g credit card/mortgages)?

I'm not sure, I'd guess it's quite biased to the companies funding the site.

• How has your knowledge of your financial situation changed?

It hasn't, but it's nice to have confirmed what I believed.

I was quite impressed with the speed and amount of information that I could find using TotallyMoney. The sign up was very quick and only required a few pieces of information about yourself and account you may have.

It was surprising what information was then made available. It was very clear to use and laid out in sections for loans, mortgages, credit cards and your own credit report. It was good to see the credit report and also to be able to check details are accurate and up to date. It was also interesting to be able to see who had searched my credit history with the hard and soft search result, it makes you think a lot about what information is available to others quiet easily.
I was interested to see the ease I could find suitable new credit cards often with brands I was not aware of and find offers that did make me think. The borrowing power was also different to what I expected as I am self employed and have a low income by myself but I was still eligible for loans.
Overall looking at my report was really reassuring and I liked the simplicity of TotallyMoney. I would recommend it for people who are looking at remortgaging or getting a new credit card as it can simply be another source of information to aid your decision making.

- How did you find the overall experience of using TotallyMoney?

It was very easy to use, gave full information on my financial situation and was easy to follow

- How did you find the sign-up process?

I did get accepted, but I failed the first set of questions, then on the second set i was asked about a bank account that I know that I did not have. It did accept me as I presumed what it meant and answered accordingly.

- Which aspects of the TotallyMoney site do you like the most? And which were most useful to you?

The credit card rates are the most useful information as I need to do a balance transfer soon and there was one on there with really good deals.

- What did you think of your Borrowing Power?

This was lower than I expected, but I know that it is affected by balances shown on things

- How did you find TotallyMoney’s recommendations for products (e.g credit card/mortgages)?

The recommendations were very useful.

- How has your knowledge of your financial situation changed?

Yes. There is an incorrect address showing on my file, so I have asked for that to be removed.

Also, it showed me as still being financially connected to my ex husband whom I divorced several years ago, so I have asked them to remove that also, or advise what to do about it.