Experian and ClearScore credit scores

Rilot said:
I don't understand this either. When I applied for my mortgage last year I was at 997 on Experian (damn, where are those 2 points?) but 400 ish on Clearscore.
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Which lender uses which credit reference agency?
The main agencies are Experian and Equifax, which together cover the majority of UK lenders. 76% of lenders use Experian, and 54% of lenders use Equifax. Callcredit is newer and used by fewer lenders – 30% use this agency.

You can look up which agency your lender is using by checking this table.

How do you check each one?
You can get ongoing, unlimited access to your reports in the following ways:

Equifax

  • ClearScore. It’s free and always will be.
  • Equifax’s Credit Report. This service is £9.95 a month, after a 30-day free trial.
  • Equifax’s Credit Report and Score. This service is £14.95 a month, after a 30-day trial.
Experian

  • Experian’s CreditExpert. This is £14.99 a month after a 30-day free trial.
  • Experian CreditMatcher. This gives you your Experian score for free and your report.
Callcredit

  • Noddle. Its main site is free. To see which factors are affecting your report, you can sign up to Noddle Improve, which is £30 a year.
  • CheckMyFile. This site shows you your Callcredit and Equifax information, and it costs £8.99 a month after a free 30-day trial.
It’s worth noting that you can get a statutory copy of each report for £2 – for Equifax, Experian and Callcredit. This is a one-off: you have to pay £2 each time you want to see your report. You can choose either an online or a paper copy.
 
Paying for your Credit score is a huge con.

Scores are generally worthless...

You can find out which lender checks with CRA (Credit Reference agency) but tbh the factors within your application make more of a difference....Thats if you dont have any CCJ on your credit file...

To have score of any worth....(and its not the actually score) then make sure you have at least a Credit Card active on your file with at least 6 months flawless repaying practices...

Say you apply for a Halifax Clarity Credit Card... (You have a Halifax account...) Then first they will analyse how you have manage your account...whether you have any savings with them and if you have ever gone in the red...etc...

Then they will check income if your salary is paid in...If they see a trend then getting a Clarity is pretty much a given if your data in Experian account is accurate...

Its just Risk...Your score means diddly squat....
 
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I too love the obsession of mostly young men trying to obtain a meaningless number in their lives.

Really tells you something about these people.
 
Efour said:
I too love the obsession of mostly young men trying to obtain a meaningless number in their lives.
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Agreed the score is only a general indicator of your likelihood for credit, but it is a worthwhile exercise keeping on top of the data that the agencies do hold on you (i.e linked addresses, financial associations etc).

As mentioned earlier I am a victim of fraud (happens regularly) and the information I get from Experian is invaluable to me in stopping an issue before it becomes a problem and a headache.
 
Does the Experian give "better" score cos you pay for it? ;)

My ClearScore goes between 450-490 depending on how much I spent on CC that month. My only negative is having low credit but my CC limit is enough for my needs, though I should really get Amex.
 
Actually these numbers aren't meaningless at all, I used to work at a mobile provider and one of the systems I looked after was one that queried the Equifax API in order to see if a customer would be allowed a phone contract. A fail or a referral meant a customer wouldn't be leaving with a shiny new iPhone.

More recently I applied for a small car loan from Santander only to be turned down. I have a fairly large house in London commuter belt with a recent Santander mortgage that has a LTV of about 50% so it was surprising to say the least. When I did some digging I found that Virgin Media (who were my broadband provider at my old address) had put a default on my Equifax and Experian account in error which I then got removed. It made a huge difference and also the subsequent credit searches meant that I didn't get the best interest rate which is very annoying. It pays to keep on top of these numbers, but it's also an industry I think should be regulated far better.
 
radar19 said:
I find its more of whats actually on your credit record vs what the score is.
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True, but they do go hand in hand. A default put me from 'Excellent' to 'Very Poor' in the number range. So it does pay to keep on top of the score just to see if you've got anything going wrong.
 
Em3bbs said:
True, but they do go hand in hand. A default put me from 'Excellent' to 'Very Poor' in the number range. So it does pay to keep on top of the score just to see if you've got anything going wrong.
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The excellent to very poor score has nothing to do with it, it's simply the default that they are looking at. You can not have any defaults but still be scored as poor and you would have a much better chance of getting credit. It's simply that word, default, that puts the block on you.
 
How does Noodle compare to Experian with regards to score? I believe Experian is the most widely used but didn't sign up to it as it was a paid for version back then.
 
All of these services check different aspects of "you" for scoring, and their scoring range is different too, so naturally the scores they give you will vary between each one.

That is why you check on multiple services instead of just one.

One isn't necessarily better than the other.
 
But on the whole you should be pretty even across the three, unless something is amiss.

CallCredit got my old and new addresses the wrong way around, had to get that fixed to see harmony between the three agencies.
 
So much miss information about the scores being worthless or useless. They are used by lenders and provide industry reference points. They are not the only factor in decision making but based upon the complexity and ability of the lenders they can range from having close to no impact on a credit application to being a driving factor.

The difference between scores on Experian and Clearscore is because the agencies use different models for scoring and also have access to different quantities and qualities of credit data.

Experian is a market leader in terms of lenders exposure (more lenders load their information to Experian) which means Experian have a fuller view of your credit history.
 
I was worried about viewing my ClearScore number going from what everyone else was saying here, turns out it's 502/700. Chuffed about that considering I'm looking to take out a bank loan to partly finance a new car :D
 
I stick with Experian. I tried Noodle and it had me down as someone with excess debt and tried to match me with some high interest loans/credit cards.

The fact is I have a Mortage of 90k and the house is work 160K which is my only debt caused Noodle to clarify me as dodgy... Waste of time.
 
So cherry pick which ever one gives you the best score to make you feel self worth.

Worth it.
 
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