Credit Improver – will it work for you?

I am sceptical about firms offering to improve your credit rating – too many of them are either scams or something you can easily do yourself. But Credit Improver is authorised by the FCA, any complaints about it can be considered by the Financial Ombudsman and it is offering a “guarantee” so I decided to take a look.

How Credit Improver works

When you sign up to Credit Improver you are buying a book on how to improve your credit record. I expect it has some useful tips, but the content doesn’t really matter!

The important bit is you are given a loan to pay for the book. So you then make payments for the next year – £14.99 for the first payment then 11 monthly payments of £9.99. These payments show up on your credit file as repayments of the loan.

That’s an expensive book! But you are really buying the good marks being added to your credit record. If you stick to the Credit Improver guidelines on using credit, these loan repayments should result in your credit score improving.

You can cancel the loan at anytime, return the book and then you don’t have to pay anything more. There is a “non-guaranteed” option which is cheaper, with monthly repayments of £4.99.

Who it is aimed at

Tom Eyre, Credit Improver’s CEO, says that 70% of the people using it have a “thin” credit file. They get rejected when they apply for credit because they don’t have any history of repaying credit on their credit records. To young people with their first job or people who have moved here from abroad this is an annoying Catch 22. A year of good marks from Credit Improver may mean they can get other forms of credit.

The other 30% are people who have had problems repaying credit in the past. The Credit Improver website is clear that it is not meant for people who still have financial problems:

• If you have arrears elsewhere our product isn’t likely to make much of a difference. Your best option is to clear your arrears and make every effort to reduce your outstanding debt. Once you have done this, your credit score should naturally start to improve.
• If you already have lots of debt its doubtful our product would do enough to improve your credit score. Your best option is to make every effort to reduce your outstanding debt.

And it doesn’t make claims that it will increase your chance of getting a mortgage, which is good.

Could you ever claim on the guarantee?

To claim on the guarantee, you have to stick to the following guidelines:

1. Make your Credit Improver payments on time.
2. Be on the electoral roll.
3. Don’t miss payments for any other credit  or to any utilities providers.
4. No insolvencies or County Court Judgements.
5. No fraud alerts on your credit reports.
6. No more than 3 credit applications in a year
7. You must not be known by more than one name.
8. Keep your credit utilisation below 50%.
9. Don’t close any credit accounts early.
10. Don’t move address.
11. Check Credit Improver data is showing on your file.
12. No payday loans during the plan.
13. The guarantee will no longer apply if credit reference agencies change their algorithms.

All of those are sensible from the point of view of improving a credit rating. Some of them may be pretty tricky for people though.

The electoral roll will rule out non EU nationals at the moment and, post-Brexit, may rule out EU nationals.

Telling students or other millennials they can’t move for a year is pretty unrealistic, it’s not under their control very often.

And people may not realise getting a new phone contract or paying car insurance monthly counts as a credit application.

How much does Credit Improver help?

Time tends to heal all credit record problems. Many people with a poor credit record would have their credit score improve if they stick to those guidelines for a year even if they don’t sign up to Credit Improver!

The Credit Improver green ticks added to your credit record may not make that much difference if your credit score is going to be improving anyway. Or if you have a recent default.

And how much is a small improvement in your credit record actually worth? Many people will expect more of an improvement than they will see.

They are FCA-authorised and not much can go wrong, because you can always cancel the contract and return the book if you can’t make the payments. I also like the fact that they are clear on their website that they won’t suit everyone.

But for most people there are better uses for this money.

If you have £20 or more you can save every month, then use it with LOQBOX, where regular saving helps your credit rating. If you don’t have that much spare, then honestly you would probably be better paying the little you have off your debts or putting it into an emergency fund.

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