Keeping an eye on your credit reports is a good idea, but how should you do it?
In 2020 there are more than sixteen different ways to check your credit record!
Contents
The myth of a single credit score
You don’t have “one credit score” or “one credit record”. You have three different ones.
This is because there are three main Credit Reference Agencies (CRAs) in Britain:
- Experian;
- Equifax; and
- TransUnion (used to be called Callcredit).
Each CRA has a record of your data which has been sent to them by the lender. Some lenders report to all three, but most lenders only report to one or two CRAs. About 50% of lenders only report to one CRA, for example, many payday lenders only report to TransUnion.
So a report on your Experian file can look very different from a report on your Equifax file. None of them are “better”, they are just reporting on information from different lenders.
Statutory Credit Reports – why simple is often best!
I have changed my mind on these. I used to recommend the “top three” reports listed below.
But in 2019 and 2020 I have seen people increasingly struggle with these reports and now I think that the statutory credit reports are very often better.
They are:
- free;
- real-time – you always see the latest information;
- clear – many of the other reports look fancy with colours and charts, but if you want to see what the default date is, or see all your accounts, closed as well as open, the statutory reports are simple and straightforward;
- easy to download – so they are easy to keep and easy to send on to someone else, eg the ombudsman if you have a complaint.
The downside they do not have your credit score on them.
The top 3 credit reports if you want your credit score – all free!
Tens of thousands of people are paying for expensive subscription services when they could get all the information they need for free.
If you want your credit score, use one of the following top three credit record checkers or, even better, all three:
- MSE’s Credit Club for Experian details,
- Clear Score for Equifax details and
- Credit Karma for TransUnion (Callcredit) records – this replaces the old Noddle report
They are all free, no sneaky first month free then a high charge if you forget to cancel. They are paid for by lenders paying to be included in the “you are eligible for” or “you could be eligible for” recommendations. This is just advertising, it’s not the cheapest credit you can get.
What do all the different reports give you?
| Score | Records | Tips | Match | Freq | Cost | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Simple clear reports ( no score) | |||||||
| Experian statutory report | no | EX | no | no | daily | free | |
| Equifax statutory report | no | EQ | no | no | daily | free | |
| TransUnion statutory report | no | TU | no | no | daily | free | |
| Free reports if you want your score | |||||||
| MSE's Credit Club | EX | EX | yes | yes | monthly | free | |
| Clear Score | EQ | EQ | yes | yes | monthly | free | |
| Credit Karma | TU | TU | yes | yes | weekly | free | |
| score but no records | |||||||
| Free Experian account | EX | no | yes | yes | monthly | free | |
| score & records | |||||||
| Experian Credit Expert | EX | EX | yes | yes | daily | £14.99/month | |
| Equifax Credit Report | EQ | EQ | yes | no | daily | £7.95/month | |
| CreditWise | EQ | EQ | yes | yes | monthly | free | |
| creditreport.co.uk | EQ | EQ | yes | no | monthly | £12.99/month | |
| My Credit Monitor | TU | TU | ? | ? | ? | £14.99/month | |
| Totally Money | TU | TU | yes | yes | monthly | free | |
| Credit Reports Matter | TU | TU | ? | no | monthly | £19.95/month | |
| UK Credit Ratings | TU | TU | no | no | daily | £19.95/month | |
| Check My File | EX,EQ,TU | EX,EQ,TU | yes | yes | monthly | £14.99/month |
In that table:
EX = Experian; EQ = Equifax; TU = TransUnion/Callcredit.
Tips – rather vague suggestions about how you may be able to improve your credit score
Match – suggests what other loans or credit cards you may be approved for
Freq – is how often you can see a new report. Some services let you see the up to date situation each time you use them (“daily”). Others take a snapshot every 30 days (“monthly”).
? means that the company was unable or unwilling to answer my questions!
Never pay for a report!
There is no good reason to sign up for the services that charge you anymore.
You can get all the info you want, for free, every month from the other options. So don’t waste your money.
Real-time information may sound nice but it isn’t worth paying for:
- the statutory credit reports are all real-time and all free;
- credit ratings usually change fairly slowly. If you have closed an account, or started making payments to a new one, it takes a few weeks for the lender to update the records.
- if you have just got a new credit card and you are hoping your credit score will improve, come back in 4-6 months!
A lot of the fee-charging services make a big thing about helping you with disputes about your credit record.
I think this is just marketing guff! All they do is send your complaint to the CRA. But the CRAs don’t investigate anything, they just forward the complaint to the lender. And then typically the lender tells the CRA it’s accurate and nothing happens. So you have wasted a month or two by going this route.
If you have a problem with your credit record, you need to complain to the creditor directly. Then you can go to the Financial Ombudsman if the creditor refuses to correct the record.
Which should you use?
That depends on why you want to look. Here are some typical reasons, together with my suggestion for each situation.
See the details of your credit records
If you want to know the details of when defaults will disappear or clean up your credit record after bankruptcy or other forms of debt management, use the 3 statutory credit reports. These are free, clear and always up to date. If you only use one you may miss something important.
Apply for a loan or credit card
Go for MSE’s Credit Club. You have to give extra information about your income and dependents, but the extra “affordability” checks and being based on Experian data, which is used by more lenders, should make their recommendations more accurate.
But remember that the loans or cards you are offered may not be the cheapest you can get.
These are the lenders that are paying to be included in your report… this isn’t a review of all lenders to see which is cheapest for you, it’s just advertising!
Going to apply for a mortgage
Use the 3 statutory credit reports. Looking at everything from the credit details to who you are associated with. It’s good to do this at least six, preferably twelve months before you want to apply for a mortgage so there is time to sort out any errors you find.
pay no attention to the mortgage eligibility recommendations on these reports. Talk to a mortgage broker, you may be able to get a much better not take a punt on a suggestion from one of these services.
Surprised to be declined for credit?
Checking your credit records should be the first thing you do – use the 3 statutory credit reports. If they don’t show what the problem is, you need to see if your name is in a fraud database.
Send report to the Ombudsman for an affordability complaint
If you are asking for a refund for a payday loan or making some other sort of affordability complaint you need to send the Financial Ombudsman a copy of a credit record.
It’s best to send a TransUnion Statutory report. Most payday lenders only report to TransUnion. So this is the report that is most likely to show most of your credit history, better than sending FOS an Experian or ClearScore report. And the free Credit Karma report is difficult to download.
Why I haven’t included some reports…
I haven’t included various reports including Credit Hub, Credit Perfect, Credit Angel, Social Credit, Social-score, Scope People or Your Social Presence. There are reports that people are signed up automatically to free trials from some of these when they try to get a payday loan. The trial then expires and people find the money debited from their bank account. If this happens to you, try to get the money back from your bank, complain to the firm and if you can’t contact the firm, complain to the payday lender or broker.
Apart from the dodgy sign-up methods, they all charge a lot and I think you would be better to ditch them and use the very good free options.
If you know a report that’s not on my list, please mention it in a comment below!
Updated in October 2020
How much will my credit score change if…
The best way to clear credit card debt
What should the default date be?
Tony says
Hi Sara, is there any way of getting an old credit report. I defaulted on Vanquis card some years ago. This has now gone off my record and does not even show on closed accounts. This is making it difficult to prove I was on token payments to Vanquis at a time I took out a loan. FOS is saying if I could find this information then they would be more likely to uphold complaint as this debt would have shown up in a search. This was August 2017
Sara (Debt Camel) says
No.
Your bank statements could show what you paid? or any old emails with Vanquis?
David Harley says
How long does a incorrect default take to clear? Scottish Power applied a default in error and have agreed to remove it, but I’m currently applying for a mortgage and need to know how long this will still show on my record. Thanks
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Most firms update credit records once a month. So it can take up to a couple of months to go through, depending on how fast they move and when their next credit record update is. If you have an email from Scottish Power saying they will remove this, show this to your mortgage broker as it may help.
David Harley says
Thanks. I have asked for that. I received this, which isn’t as clear as I’d like.
“Thank you for your most recent email. We have sent off the request to have your credit default removed however we will not have a reply for the next few days. Once we have a reply confirming the next actions we will be back in touch. I hope this helps”
Second question. Once removed, will that immediately add 350 points to my score?
Side note: I have spent a good few hours on your site today and it’s been really helpful, so thank you!
Sara (Debt Camel) says
it sounds as though they aren’t quite sure how to do this :(
How much your credit score changes depends on what else if on there. But if you score was good apart from this then yes, it should jump.
But for a mortgage the actual level of the credit score matters less than what problems there are showing.
David Harley says
Thanks. I should be fine once this is clear. All loans and credit cards will be paid off with the sale of our current property and we should be left with a 20% deposit after all fees etc.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
ok so if you have levels of credit card utilisation your credit score may not get to be very good even without the default.
laura says
Hi a company that I have a CCJ against has another CCJ from someone else on their records. Is there a way to see who the other person is who has the CCJ against this company please?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Not that I know of.
D HOGAN says
Can i get a report on a ltd Company to cover a CCJ
Sara (Debt Camel) says
you can check if a company has a CCJ here: https://www.trustonline.org.uk/
Carol says
Would the debtor not get a warning before getting the CCJ? How can a debtor not be aware that he has CCJ?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
The papers may have gone to an old address.
David says
Afternoon, trying to sign up to one of the credit report services but I cannot provide 6 years worth of addresses. My current address is fine, my previous address has since been demolished and is not correct (turned from a house to a block of flats), and my previous address to that doesn’t appear on the drop down list, even though it’s still there. What can I do in this situation?
Many thanks for your assistance, David
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Contact the report and ask them? Which report is it?
David says
Credit Club. I haven’t tried the others yet, but I anticipate similar problems. I’ll look for an email address or, worst case, a phone number to try and talk to them about setting up an account. Thank you :)
Sara (Debt Camel) says
ok, one thing is to try and get the statutory reports direct from the CRAs. Links in the article above.
Martin says
Hi, I have arrears on a loan and althogh I pay more than the monthly amount but my credit record shows these as missed payents. Is this correct as seems unfair to me as paying over contractual amount and paying on time.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Missed payments are normally in months, so if you missed three months and then started making normal payments again the credit record would show 1,2,3,3,3…
If you start overpaying so you are only two months behind, this will then change to 1,2,3,3,3,2,2 etc
Jeanette says
I finished my IVA December 2019 and have only sent off copies of then to the three quoted in the the completion certification . I only held off as so much has happened this year. I applied and received a Capital one credit card to build up my credit rating. I have been denied by all others, do you have any idea how long it will take to re-build my credit rating?
Thank you in advance.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Read https://debtcamel.co.uk/repair-credit-record-iva/ which says what to do.
Rachel says
How do check got ccj without paying for a fee just want to see.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Any of the 3 statutory credit reports listed in the article above are free and will show CCJs.
Nigel says
One thing I don’t understand on credit file, is say you miss payments for 4 months on a loan , every month this should show missed, until you clear the arrears.
What if you then still pay your Monthley payments but don’t clear the arrears should this show Monthly payments made
What if you continue missing the payments should this show 2 miss payments to accurately reflect credit file one for arrers and one for miss payment.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
your credit record should record how many months in arrears you are. If you start the normal payments but don’t pay any more to the arrears, it will continue to sit at 4 months arrears. If you miss another month, the arrears should go to to 5 months.
James says
Hi sara,
Hope you have a wonderful new year when it comes. I noticed my credit file went down 245 points today after it was starting to increase well.
I am only using the free version just now and it doesn’t give much of a overview. Do you think its worthwhile paying a month’s full version in order to get a better view?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Is this Experian you are looking at?
James says
Hi Sara,
Spot on it was experian that went down by 245 points. Any ideas why the drop and if I should pay the one of fee to see if there is any mistakes? I have previously used the free month so I can’t get it again.
I also took the free trial of equifax and they did not have me down as on the voters role so I have raised that with them as I have been on the voters role for 10 years but supposedly there is a issue with councils updating due to covid?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
There is no point in paying for Experian’s expensive service. Have a look at MSE’s Credit Club – that’s free and reports on Experian’s data. That is normally sufficient – if that doesn’t show the problem you can get the Experian Statutory Credit Report. Links in article above.
Not being on electoral roll is pretty minor, see https://debtcamel.co.uk/credit-score-change/. That can’t be the reason your Experian score has dropped that much.
James says
Thanks Sara