The Importance Of Your Credit Reference And How To Get It
How do lenders decide make their decisions No one has a given
the right to credit. Before giving credit lenders check whether
to them you are an acceptable risk and they all have different
ideas of what is acceptable. One of the decision factors is your
credit rating.
There is no such thing as the fabled "blacklist" and agencies do
not give an opinion about whether or not you should be given
credit. The lender decides this once they have looked at the
information they have gathered. Some lenders use a credit
scoring system which gives points to pieces of data such as age,
job, home ownership, and of course your credit record. Once
these points are totalled it gives a Credit Score which helps
the lender make their decision..If you have been shopping around
for credit then there will be a number of searches recorded on
your credit reference file. In some cases this may be sufficient
reason for lenders to refuse you any credit even though you may
have no intention of taking up all the offers. The best way to
avoid this is to compare companies by rates and quotations
without actually going through a full application with each one.
Lenders do not have to tell you why they refused you but should
give an idea such as - your credit record. If you think this
decision is wrong you should ask the lender how to get the
decision reviewed. This could be by providing additional
information such as showing that the debts shown as unpaid have
now been paid.
You are able toput a statement onto your credit file explaining
the situation and about your current and/or previous
circumstances. This entry will be included with your file in the
future and will be seen by lenders searching your file. How do I
obtain a copy of my credit reference file? It is very important
that the information held about you is correct and you have the
right to request a copy of your file under section 7 of the data
Protection Act 1998 to check this. The easiest way to order your
file is online (Equifax and Experian) or by telephone
(Experian), as long as you have either a credit card or debit
card in your own name. Alternatively you can write enclosing a
cheque for