With the current worldwide financial climate being in such turmoil, securing[spin] credit for loans, credit cards, mortgages and other borrowings is becoming [spin]increasingly difficult to come by. But many potential borrowers don’t realise the importance of where to check free credit reports from one of the major credit reference agencies.
Without realising it, your credit report might be showing data that may hinder your ability to take out further credit. Some of this may not even be down to you. Worse still, it may even show that you have been the victim of identity theft!
Those people that have been rejected after applying for credit should definitely review their credit report data from at least one of the major credit reference agencies, such as Equifax. If you have been declined credit, ask the lender who refused you which of the agencies they were using when they credit vetted you and their contact details. Then write to them asking for a copy of your credit file.
It is a good idea to ask for a copy of your credit file before applying for further credit so that any errors, or omissions, can be amended before you apply. This could prevent a rejection, which would also be recorded on your credit file and might count against you in the future.
If you don’t already know how to check a credit report for yourself, then it is very easy to do. The major credit reference agencies will offer a free service if you write to them and ask them for the file information and there are many online services doing the same. As an early identity theft detection method, you can also join schemes whereby you are notified when certain changes are added to your credit reference file. This would warn you to sudden huge loan applications if someone was trying to clone your identity.
The free credit reports don’t tell you exactly how the lenders are going to score you, but they give you a good basis for understanding what they are likely to be taking into account. In addition, lenders will also score you on other questions that they ask, such as your history with that lender, your annual household available income and other details they ask you to include.
Your credit report won’t reveal details of anyone else included within your house, but it will include details of who the credit reference agency assumes are financially related to you, for example a spouse. If this information is incorrect, then it can be worth getting it corrected.
As an example, if your husband doesn’t go under the same surname as you, but has a better credit rating than you, then you may improve your credit rating by identifying yourselves as being financially related.
On the other hand, if parent and non-dependent child, or others sharing a surname, share an address and aren’t financially related, it is worth checking that this information is correctly shown, in case they have a lower credit rating.
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