1. Credit History Reports – Important Enough to Check It Regularly
When you apply for a loan, credit card or mortgage, the lenders check your credit history
reports to decide whether or not to give you the credit. They check the information from your
credit report and the information you have supplied in the application form, and then calculate
your credit score. After that they decide on how much to lend you and the interest rates to be
charged. Each lender has its own method of calculating the credit score.
The lenders get the credit report on a person from one or two of the three credit reference
agencies in UK like Experian, Equifax and CallCredit. The information offered by each one of
them is slightly different. So if you know from which credit reference agencies the lender gets
your credit report, you have better chances of getting your credit, and making a better deal with
the lenders.
Many of the websites provide you information on different lenders and the reference agencies
from whom they get the credit reports. Thus, you can order free credit report online from these
reference agencies and check whether the report submitted by them is accurate or not. If you find
any mistake in it, you can immediately contact them and have it corrected within 28 days.
Experian is the largest credit reference agency in the UK, which offers the latest and reliable
information. It is presented in a simple manner, and is easy to read and follow. It is more
expensive than the Equifax and CallCredit. All the three credit reference agencies offer you free
credit reports online.
The credit reference agencies prepare your credit report from public records and the information
provided by lenders and other financial associations. This, they submit to the lenders, and they
decide whether to give you the credit or not. When you apply for a credit, it is more important
how you repay rather than your income. Similarly if you have never had any credit, the lenders
will be hesitant to lend you money, as they cannot decide whether you are a good customer or
not. If one lender says no to your credit report, it doesn’t mean that all will reject you. So there is
no need to get dejected in such cases.
In order to make sure that nobody is collecting your financial details and taking credit against
your credit report, you must always check your credit history reports at regular intervals. This
will avoid identity theft and identity fraud.