When Which? asked 81 people to check their credit records, a third of them found inaccuracies. So keeping an eye on your credit score is a good idea! But how should you do it? In 2017 there are a bewildering eleven different ways to check your credit records.
Most people don’t need to pay anything to look at their records in detail, but tens of thousands of people are paying for expensive subscription services when they could get the information they need for free.
There are three main Credit Reference Agencies – Experian, Equifax and Call Credit – and they do not all have the same information. Which you should check and how depends on why you want to check your credit rating.
The top three credit checkers – all free and no need to cancel later :)
For 95% of people, there is a simple answer to the question. You should use one of the following top three credit checkers or, even better, get all three as they are all free!
- MSE’s Credit Club for Experian details,
- Clear Score for Equifax details and
- Noddle for the Call Credit records.
If you want to know exactly what you will get and what all the other more complicated or expensive alternatives provide, the details are in the following table:
What exactly do all the credit checking alternatives give you?
| Score | Records | Tips | Match | Freq | Cost | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| records but no score | |||||||
| Experian statutory report | no | EX | no | no | daily | £2 a report | |
| Equifax statutory report | no | EQ | no | no | daily | £2 a report | |
| Call Credit statutory report | no | CC | no | no | daily | £2 a report | |
| score but no records | |||||||
| Experian Credit Matcher | 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 | £14.99/month | |
| My Credit Monitor | CC | CC | no | no | daily | £14.99/month | |
| MSE's Credit Club | EX | EX | yes | yes | monthly | free | |
| Clear Score | EQ | EQ | yes | yes | weekly | free | |
| Noddle | CC | CC | no | yes | monthly | free | |
| Noddle Improve | CC | CC | yes | yes | monthly | £30/year | |
| Check My File | all 3 | EQ,CC | yes | yes | monthly | £9.99/month |
Notes:
– all the services with a monthly fee let you have a free first month. But there is no good reason to sign up to these services anymore – you can get all the info you want, for free, every month from the other option.
– Noddle Improve is an add-on service costing £30 a year – to get it first sign up to the standard Noddle
– Check My File also covers Crediva, a fourth CRA. I think this is a curiosity and unimportant.
The important things to look for
Some people will care about one column in the above table but may be able to ignore another:
Score – EX = Experian; EQ = Equifax; CC = Call Credit. Not all debts show up on all agencies (see Is Experian or Equifax better? for more about this). Experian is the largest CRA that is used by the most lenders, so if you only want to check one, go for that.
Records – which CRAs can you see detailed credit records from? If your credit score is as expected you may not care about the details. But if you have a mortgage application coming up, you have been turned down for credit unexpectedly, or you are trying to clean up your credit records, you really need to see the details with all three CRAs to get the full picture.
Tips – some of the services have suggestions on how to improve your situation. My impression is that many of them are rather general, not directed at your exact situation.
Match – If you want to borrow more, look for one of the alternatives which matches your credit record against lenders’ criteria, showing which credit cards and loans you are most likely to get. These eligibility estimates are “soft” – they don’t leave a search mark on your credit file.
Snapshot from Experian’s Credit Matcher
If you want to borrow money it’s really important you are accepted by the lender you apply to, but there isn’t a way I can check how accurate the percentages quoted are. An 80% chance of being accepted sounds good – but 1 in 5 people may end up disappointed. Also, you may be accepted but on worse terms (higher interest rate, lower credit limit) than you had hoped for.
MSE’s Credit Club takes the “eligibility” assessment one stage further because it asks you for information about your income. This should let it get closer to the “affordability” checks that lenders do.
Freq – some services let you see the up to date situation each time you use them (“daily”). Others take a snapshot every 30 days (“monthly”). This may sound important, but for most people it doesn’t matter much as credit ratings usually change fairly slowly. If you have closed an account or started making payments to a new one, it will take a few weeks to show up anyway.
So which should you use?
That depends on why you want to look. Here are some typical reasons, together with my suggestion for each situation.
A quick look at your credit score. I would sign up to Experian’s Credit Matcher. It’s a very simple sign up process and it’s free. If you think the result is lower than you expect, go into more detail.
You want to see the details of your credit records. Use the TOP THREE CREDIT CHECKERS.
You want to apply for a loan or credit card. I would go for MSE’s Credit Club. You have to give extra information about your income and dependents, but the extra “affordability” checks they are doing should make their match recommendations more accurate.
You are going to apply for a mortgage. I suggest you use all of the TOP THREE CREDIT CHECKERS. It’s best to check your all your credit records in detail, 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. See How stranger’s £40 parking ticket cost family their new home and don’t think this can’t happen to you!
I am sceptical about mortgage eligibility recommendations from any of these services. Unless you have an excellent credit rating with all three CRAs, a good income for the amount you want to borrow and very little unsecured debt, you should be talking to a mortgage broker, not taking a punt on a suggestion from one of these services.
You need to investigate something unexpected, look at the default dates or clean up your credit records after insolvency. I suggest you use all of the TOP THREE CREDIT CHECKERS. These free services are not updated in real time, so if you want to check mid month if something has changed, you could pay £2 for a statutory record.
You have been declined for credit and you can’t see why. Checking your credit records should be the first thing you do – use all of the TOP THREE CREDIT CHECKERS. If that doesn’t show you where the problem is, you may also want to see if your name is listed on a fraud database.
Updated in March 2017.
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What should the default date be?
Jake Canning says
Hi,
I will be looking to apply for a mortgage in the next year or so. My credit rating is currently poor but the red mark dissapears next month from my credit history after 6 years. What will mortgage lenders look for in my credit file? Will my past low credit scores be a problem even if my credit score shoots up next month? If so any idea how far they will look back at past credit scores? So i have a rough idea how long i should wait before applying.
Thanks
Sara (Debt Camel) says
No-one can see your previous scores. All they can see is the older debt records which are still on your credit file. So if your problem (default, CCJ etc) has disappeared, they can’t see it. Unless the problem was with their bank, in which case they may be able to see it from their internal records of course.
Have you read https://debtcamel.co.uk/mortgage-with-debts/ ? Most lenders will ask to see 3-6 months of back bank statements.
What lenders
Jason says
Hi
I was wondering if you could advise, I stupidly took out a loan I could not afford in March 2010 and only made 5 repayments to it, I have not made any payments since and have not heard anything from the company regarding repayment in years. I have checked my credit report and it is showing as an “active” account but there is no default date showing just the account started date.
Will this just fall off my credit report this year or will I need to pay this back to get it off my file? I am so confused as I have 2 smaller amounts with O2 for like £124 and they have the default dates marked up and these are states as “default”.
Please help
Sara (Debt Camel) says
No it won’t fall off your credit record because there is no default date and the it has not been repaid.
From what you have said, it may well be that this debt is “statute barred” – if it is you don’t need to repay it, see https://debtcamel.co.uk/statute-barred-debt/ and talk to National Debtline to see if this does apply to your debt.
If it does, then the next step is to get a default added to the credit record, so it will drop off – see https://debtcamel.co.uk/debt-default-date/. But you don’t want to start writing letters to get this done until you are sure the debt is statute barred.
Melinda Mccann says
Hello, I currently live abroad and have been abroad since June 2008. This year we want to return home to the uk but have been told without a credit history it will be difficult to start again! In particular renting for example. I can’t even get a credit report as I do not have a uk address to enter …. can I run a report on myself at my previous address which was 8 &1/2 years ago now! We are both employed and will be arriving back with savings towards a large deposit ( or a few months rent in advance and for start up costs) but not sure what else I can do ! Any advice ?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Do you still have a uk bank account? Did you leave debts behind when you went abroad?
Melinda says
Yes I still have a uk bank account. We tried to pay everything off apart from a couple of credit cards… we sold
Our house and haven’t been back since …
Sara (Debt Camel) says
You could try to get a report using your old address, or your bank account;s address (which may be the same?).
With a bank account and money to pay for a few months rent in advance, I would have thought you are going to be fine. You are going to need jobs before you start applying for a mortgage so renting first seems the best route. As soon as you have a place to live and jobs, use a soft checker to see what credit cards you are likely to be accepted for and apply for 1 each, see https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/eligibility/credit-cards/. Use it each month and repay in full each month.
Melinda says
Ok thanks very much. My husband already works remotely across Europe so he will already have an income , it will just be myself who will need to find a job which I will do in advance. Thanks again for your help!
George says
Hi, To cut a long story short I would like to view my credit file but do not want to alert and debt collectors to me. If I purchase a copy of my file would a debt collector then notice or be told I have done this? Not sure how they work in this respect. Any information would be very welcome.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Lenders can’t see when you have looked at your record.
Jean says
Hi we had an overdraft on joint bank account with abbey which we didn’t pay.for the last 12 years we have received letters from various debt collectors at various addresses chasing this debt.we are pensioners now in Ill health and wondered what’s best way to resolve this.i have just been binning the letters but they still come regardless of where we live.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Hi Jean,
can I suggest you talk to National Debtline 0808 808 4000 about this? There may be a good argument that the debt is “statute barred” (see https://debtcamel.co.uk/statute-barred-debt/) but overdrafts can be tricky so it will be good for you to talk through the details with an expert.
Jean says
Many thanks for your advice it’s very kind of you
Rob says
Hi Sara,
I don’t know if this is something you can advise on, I recently (5 days ago) logged onto experian to check my credit score as I do once a month. It was a ‘perfect’ score of 981. However I have this past week received notification of changing electoral role as I have moved. The letter has indicated this will take effect on the 1st of March. However today I logged on to see if it had potentially made a change. However the score has now gone down to poor. I have paid off my credit cards for the month of Feb. I am curious as to why it has dropped as I don’t have a history of bad debt, e.g ccjs been made bankrupt, have paid off my overdraft. Do you have an idea as to why this might have happened
Sara (Debt Camel) says
That seems a big change just because you have moved. Tell your bank and all your other active accounts on your credit record your new address. Get yourself on the electoral roll at the new address. And look in details at your credit record for anything unusual.
Andrew says
Hello Sara,
I’ve nearly finished my first year on an IVA .
Do the insolvency practitioners look at my credit report on the yearly review?
Will they see all the bank accounts I have now?
Does PayPal show up on credit report? If I was to earn extra through PayPal or Ebay would they see this on my credit report and would I have to declare it ?
Thanks in advance for your help. You are amazing and sure are helping a lot of people her.
Kind Regards,
Andrew
Sara (Debt Camel) says
It’s not possible to see earnings on a credit report.
Your IVA could ask for a copy of your credit report. Most only ask for bank statements but there is no reason why they shouldn’t ask for a credit report.
If you just sold something for £50, I probably wouldn’t bother to tell them. But if you are selling as an extra income stream, you should. And also tell the tax man :(
Andrew says
Thank you so much Sara,
A few clear answers can empty your mind of stress and worry, (which is no good for anyones health), no matter how trivial my questions may seem to some.
I Thank You Again.
Andrew
john hughes says
I recently moved house and my credit score has taken a large hit. I have re registered at new address but how long will my credit score take to recover?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Have you told all your active accounts that you have moved? Are you on the electoral roll at your new address? If you have a new mortgage, it will take a few months for this to start showing a positive feature, at the beginning it is a negative.
Ways to avoid problems occurring: tell any mobile accoounts that you have closed in the last year that you have moved – of course these should be zero but this is a good time to check they are. After a couple of months contact your old utility accounts and check they are showing zero too. Get these “zeros” in writing and keep these records. Otherwise in a couple of years up pops a default for a balance you never knew you had.
Suzy says
Hi Sara
I checked my credit file today and noticed a new search that i know nothing about , See below please, have you seen anything like this before ?
Do you know what this search is ???
Beneficiary Trace Enquiry Capita – Sheffield
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Someone is trying to find someone with something like your name. You can ignore this – it has no effect on your credit score and lenders don’t see it.
gail says
I have a ccj just showed up 11 months ago ,, the debt is from over 8 years ago , are they allowed to start them at any stage and will this show for the next 5 years or so
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Read https://debtcamel.co.uk/help-ccj/, that looks at what your options are. If you can’t get it removed (the legal term is set aside) it will be on your record for another 5 years.
T says
I’m about to apply for a new tenancy and a bit worried my defaults will show.
Is it correct that tenancy referencing companies can only see CCJS and insolvency? Is there anyway way they can see defaults?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
That’s what the CRAs say, see http://www.experian.co.uk/consumer/questions/askjames370.html for example.
T says
Thanks,
I can’t seem to get anything definitive on it. Many of the tenant referencing companies mention a “full credit check”.
The main worry I have is that I have a £5000 default, the default is 6 years old on 7th April. Will the default automatically delete on 7th April or does it need the lender to update it?
I have no other unsatisfied defaults other than this so I’m thinking I may try and delay the checking process until 7th April if I can be sure the default will vanish on that date.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
That default will go on the 7th. It’s dropped off by the credit referencing agency systems, it doesn’t need to lender to do anything.
T says
Do you think it’s worth waiting for it to drop off before doing the tenancy credit check?
It seems like they can’t see defaults etc but the tenancy referencing companies make it look like they check everything
Ellie says
Hi
On my credit file it is showing two debts that I know are the same one debt but for some reason it is coming up twice, all the dates are the same and the amounts, however one seems to have reduced by £20 which I don’t understand either? Both are showing as defaulted and have been since 2012, but one says ‘date updated: October 2013’ – what does this mean? And why is the same debt showing twice making it look like I have double the debt? How do I resolve this? If I contacted someone to resolve would it restart the clock?
Thank you
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Are both entries with the same creditor?
Georgie says
I see you don’t include Credit Perfect in your list. I have just found they have been charging me for months but I have no idea who they are. Can I get my money back?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
I don’t list them – or Credit Hub which seems to be owned by the same people – as they are not so much providers of credit reports as payday loan brokers who charge you a monthly fee to be a member and get a credit report. You may have tried to get a payday loan and not realised you were becoming a member?
There seem to be a lot of complaints about them. See https://www.aspokesmansaid.com/money-and-insurance/guides/content-10947/had-money-taken-by-credit-hub–credit-angel-or-loan-marketing–read-this for what to do to cancel your “membership” and ask for a refund. As that says, take your complaint to the Financial Ombudsman if you don’t get a refund – the firm will get charged over £500 by the Ombudsman for every complaint, so this is a good way to stop them taking advantage of other people as well!
Gabi says
Hi
Two questions please:-
I have long standing debts which have been serviced by £1.00 token payments for years. I have just check my credit score using MSE (thanks for the useful recommendation) and the default date for one debt is set as Oct 2011 when I have correspondence showing it to be April 2011. As it will drop off in October, should I contact anyone to try to get the correct date put on so that it is gone now or will that stir up a new hornets nest? Secondly, is it worth trying to get these debts written off as I have no hope of ever repaying them or will that put something on my credit file when it is soon to have these debt drop off anyway?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Well it’s up to you, but if it was me, I couldn’t be bothered to try to bring the October date a few months earlier.
What sort of debts were these? When were the accounts originally opened?
Gabi says
They were both with Halifax. One was a joint personal loan which seems to have dropped off although I am continuing the arrangement of £1.00 and the other was my credit card with the same payment arrangement. I think it will take about 2376 years to complete the repayments but at least they aren’t adding interest! Debts came about when my husbands firm was defrauded of a substantial amount of money and we had a five year court battle. Unfortunately nothing was resolved as it was an overseas company and we were left in considerable debt. With hindsight I think going bankrupt at the time would have been a better option but we are many years down the line now and probably too old for a mortgage now even if I could get my credit rating acceptable. I have asked Halifax to write off the debt before but they just ignored my letters. The accounts were opened in the late 1990’s.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
So were these your personal debts? Or to your business? How much do you still on the two debts? Do you have other debts at the moment?
Gabi says
Personal debts. When the business was successful I could easily manage the repayments, When the business went into administration we sold our house and repaid all but these two debts ( the bank had a personal guarantee £150,000 which was repaid from the proceeds of sale along with other debts and the mortgage) Loan was £25,000 of which £14,875 is outstanding and credit card is £6750.
I started my own business 3 years ago which is slowly providing a small income but will be some years before It will fully support us. I’d like these debts gone if at all possible. I have no other debts.