You Have More Than One Credit Score

If you live in the United Kingdom there are two major companies that you will need to contact in order to obtain your credit report from in order to keep track of how your credit score is doing. One of these companies is called Experian and the other is called Equifax. Whilst your credit report contains the actual credit related data companies hold and share against you, these credit reports will not tell you your actual credit score.

So what is a credit score?

A credit score is a rating organisations use to predict your ability, likelihood and attitude towards repaying debts. Your credit score can be affected by a number of factors including the data held on your credit report and things like your age, your location, your level of income, your job type. The tricky bit in all this is that there is not one single credit score. There are in fact hundreds, if not thousands of credit scoring models in existence and each of them can be different depending upon which lender or credit organisation you are dealing with, whether its a bank, car loan company or a credit card company they all could be using different methods of calculating your credit score. Both Experian and Equifax offer services where you can obtain your credit score and you should. However, to add to the confusion, both Experian and Equifax use different scoring mechanisms which is why you should obtain your credit score from both these organisations. Your credit report is arguably the biggest single factor that influences a credit score so you should start by gaining access to your credit report.

It is quite common for the information on your credit report held by Experian and your credit report held by Equifax to be different. There might even be errors on one and not on another. This is because credit related companies (e.g. mortgages, loan providers, credit card companies, utility companies etc..) often supply the data they hold against you to only one of these two credit reference agencies (Experian and Equifax). This means that one credit report might mention say you're behind with some payments and the one might not. This could make a big difference if you are trying to do something like obtain a mortgage, a loan, a car loan, a credit card or even a mobile phone.

However, your credit score does not just effect whether you are accepted for credit and loans but actually how much you pay too. It is common practice these days to peg the amount you pay for credit and loans (e.g. interest rate) against how good, or bad you credit score is. So really don't delay get access to your credit report and credit score today.

Credit Reports and Credit Scores affect your life

You may not realise this but credit scores and credit reports interact and affect numerous asecpts of your everyday life. You can't control them all but there are some important measures you can take to control your credit rating and credit scores. This is a process that begins with the acquisition of your credit report.

Often you will find data listed on your credit report is incorrect. It is important that you get it corrected as soon as possible. This can be done by writing letters the credit reference agency (Experian or Equifax) to correct any misinformation.

However, through this site you can reduce the hassle of writing letters as your credit report FREE for 30 days with Experian. What's more, Experian offer a telephone help line dedicated to helping you correct any incorrect data held against you.

The problem for UK citizens is that sometimes the data on the two main credit reference agencies, Experian and Equifax can differ widely. Unfortunately these two credit reference agencies tend to operate independently and the do not notify each other of changes. That is because a credit reference agency is not there to serve you nor do they have a responsibility to be in sync with other agencies. Agencies are in the business of selling unique information about you to companies and individuals who want to either to assess your credit risk or sell you things.

As mentioned, it is quite common for the information held about you on Experian is different to the information on Equifax. This can cause your credit score to vary widely. The reason that you want to try and make sure that all of the information on both credit reference agencies is about the same is because you never know which UK credit reference agency a lender is going to use when you approach them to make a credit application. It really is an excellent idea to periodically monitor your credit report to make sure that they are free of mistakes and that the two credit reference agencies (Experian and Equifax) hold more or less uniformed information about you and that they are and in sync with each other in terms of your credit history.