Credit report question

Caporegime
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I want to sign up to either Equifax or Experian.

Does all of your credit information appear on both? I know some companies use different agencies for for searches, so even if you are searched for, by say, Experian, will it still appear on your Equifax credit report?
 
Noddle isn't as in depth as the main ones though is it.

Also, Noddle is showing searches over two years old. Consequently, I've got loads of searches which is hitting my rating. I though that searches should disappear after a year?
 
The reviews on Trust Pilot about Noddle have always concerned me and that's why I have never signed up with them personally. But seems like others haven't had any issues.
 
I want to sign up to either Equifax or Experian.

Does all of your credit information appear on both? I know some companies use different agencies for for searches, so even if you are searched for, by say, Experian, will it still appear on your Equifax credit report?

I think both offer free 30 day trails. Sign up check your details and cancel.
 
The guys are right. Noddle does give you a free report, but personally I have found Experian to have more up to date information (by about a month or two).

From what I gather ( and I may be wrong on this) Experian is the MAIN credit agency that gets referred to, but not the only one.

An Experian membership, though, is expensive. 14.99 per month is steep, but the one I opt for is the 2.99 per month option. You dont get a credit report with this but what it does give is emails and SMS when a search is done on my file. For someone that has been the victim of identity fraud in the past, this is inavaluable and it has saved me from a problem on a couple of occassions.
 
You can request a copy of your statutory credit report from the main agencies for £2.

You get it online but they post you an access code which takes a couple of days to receive. This has everything on it that'd you'd need.
 
I recently did a search with all 3 of the agencies, to check if some things had dropped off (I have an account with Noddle, and used the Experian and Equifax free trials).

The Experian one IMO was the most useful and up-to-date, the Equifax and Noddle ones were quite similar in terms of what they showed, with the Noddle one showing things which were over 6 years old, and therefore should no longer have been on there.

The Experian one also highlighted each of the "problem areas" with recommendations on how to improve them - most of which were pretty much common sense, but may still prove useful.

In terms of scoring, they each use their own method of scoring, so you may find it varies quite a bit (my Noddle and Equifax both showed quite a poor score, whereas the Experian one was quite good). However, since each lender also scores in their own way based on their own criteria*, the credit agency's own score isn't particularly useful except as a broad indicator.

So basically, in my experience, Noddle is fine for getting a rough idea of where you are, but if you were going to pay for one, I'd recommend Experian over Equifax.

However unless you want all the realtime monitoring etc. you'd be better of just doing one of their one-off £2 statutory reports

Even if you do one every month, it will still cost you less than 2 months' worth of subscription! :p



* E.g. a high APR credit card aimed at people with poor credit may actually be more likely to decline you if you have a good rating and always pay off your balance in full, as they probably wont make any money from you ;)
 
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I've been recently doing some updates on my stuff, Experien had several items wrong and missing and even though they had no impact on my rating with them, which is 999, it annoyed me that they had so many inaccuracies such as missing 3 credit cards for no good reason I could make out. Pain in the ass but being OCD if people hold my background information I want it right!! Their call centre staff are also mixed, some are quite the worst I've come across in years.
 
Experian > Equifax

but iirc Equifax is cheaper

why would you need/want to do one on yourself though? unless you were refused credit and don't think you have a bad rating or weren't given an explanation directly from the people that refused you credit.
 
Experian > Equifax

but iirc Equifax is cheaper

why would you need/want to do one on yourself though? unless you were refused credit and don't think you have a bad rating or weren't given an explanation directly from the people that refused you credit.

Can be useful to give you a vague idea of what products you'll be accepted for, without applying, failing, and ending up with a search on your record, thus making your history worse :)

Although quite a few places have started doing eligibility checks where they do a "soft" search, which doesn't give a 100% answer, but a good idea about whether you'll be accepted.
 
doing a search on a record doesn't make your credit rating worse/better. the number of searches has no bearing what so ever.

you could fail a credit check for almost anything.

e.g. let's say i start a new job earning very good money but I'm on probation for 24 months. i would fail to get credit because the job isn't as secure as it could be.

what makes it better or worse is how you manage the credit given to you. if you have defaulted - makes it worse. if you only make the minimum payments that isn't exactly good either.

if you pay in full all the time that would give you a good rating.

nothing to do with searches or failing with an application.

but every credit agency uses a different measuring stick some may use that against you.
 
doing a search on a record doesn't make your credit rating worse/better. the number of searches has no bearing what so ever.

you could fail a credit check for almost anything.

e.g. let's say i start a new job earning very good money but I'm on probation for 24 months. i would fail to get credit because the job isn't as secure as it could be.

what makes it better or worse is how you manage the credit given to you. if you have defaulted - makes it worse. if you only make the minimum payments that isn't exactly good either.

if you pay in full all the time that would give you a good rating.

nothing to do with searches or failing with an application.

but every credit agency uses a different measuring stick some may use that against you.

It's pretty common knowledge that multiple searches in a short space of time has a detrimental effect on your credit rating...
 
It's pretty common knowledge that multiple searches in a short space of time has a detrimental effect on your credit rating...

Multiple searches, or multiple credit checks by lenders?

For example, mine shows up various items as either "Identification Check", "Quotation Search", "Administration Review", "Checking Credit Application", etc.

I think too many of the "checking credit application" ones that have a bad effect, but I'm not sure...
 
Yes, there's a difference between a "soft" search (only you can see them) and a full search (affects your rating)

Things like insurance quotes will generate a soft search, applying for a loan, credit card, etc will generate a full search
 
Well, I've signed up with Experian and it seems very useful for letting me know how I can improve my score.

It is missing one account though. Santander apparently use Experian and I had a satisfied defaulted bank account with them in 2012. The record appears on Noddle, but not on Experian. It's no skin off my nose as any credit company using Experian will not see it and it's not affecting my score. Just strange its not there. It deffo says that my credit applications were hurting my credit score.
 
doing a search on a record doesn't make your credit rating worse/better. the number of searches has no bearing what so ever.

you could fail a credit check for almost anything.

e.g. let's say i start a new job earning very good money but I'm on probation for 24 months. i would fail to get credit because the job isn't as secure as it could be
Be


This is absolute rubbish, CRAs don't keep employment info. A high number of searches in a short period does mess up your rating
 
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