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There is a variety of information held on your credit report from a variety of sources. If any of it is wrong, it could affect your ability to get credit.

Here’s how to correct the information held on your report.

The Electoral Roll

If you have registered to vote and your credit file does not show this, please contact the credit reference agencies listed at the bottom of this article and they will investigate the matter. If you have not registered to vote, you may want to contact your local authority about filling in an electoral registration form.

If you move home you can tell your local authority who will tell credit reference agencies about your change of registration in the course of the year.

County Court Judgements

If you believe a county court judgement has been recorded incorrectly, you should contact the county court, quoting the case number included on your file. If the judgement was recorded incorrectly the county court will alter their records. Credit reference agencies are told about any such changes within four weeks, but if you give them original court documents, in the form of a Certificate of Satisfaction or Cancellation, they may be able to change their sooner if necessary.

If you have paid a Scottish Decree, you should send Registry Trust (address below) a receipt or a letter from your creditor (known as the pursuer) to confirm your payment.

If you write to Registry Trust Ltd questioning the accuracy of a judgement recorded on your file, asking for an entry to be changed, you should send a cheque for £4.50 to cover their search fee. They will then tell the credit reference agencies about any change to your file.

For judgements made in Northern Ireland, if you provide documents from a plaintiff to confirm a payment, the agencies will change their records. If you have any questions about the accuracy of a judgement recorded on your file, contact the court concerned.

Registry Trust Limited, 173-175 Cleveland Street, London, W1P 5PE

Bankruptcies

If a bankruptcy order against you is annulled (cancelled) or discharged (that is, you have met all terms), you should send a copy of the Annulment Certificate or Order of Discharge to the credit reference agencies. They will then update their records. If your bankruptcy has been annulled they should completely remove any record of it from your file. If your bankruptcy has been discharged a record of it will be kept on your file but it will show that it has been discharged.

Voluntary Arrangements

If you have any questions about a record of a voluntary arrangement you should contact the supervisor who dealt with your case. If you send documents from the supervisor to confirm that the information on your file needs to be changed, the agencies will change their records.

Credit Accounts

After carefully studying the credit account details (credit cards, loans, mortgages, etc.) on your file, if you believe any information needs to be changed you should write to the lender concerned and ask them to give the correct information to the credit reference agencies.

Searches

Credit reference agencies will delete searches only when they are instructed to do so by the company who searched your file. If you are concerned about the accuracy of a record of a search, you should contact the company which carried out that search.

Linked Addresses

Links between your previous addresses, or any addresses you may use for correspondence, may be listed on your credit file. The link will only be broken when the reference agencies are asked to do so by the organisation that created the link.

CIFAS

If you have any questions about a CIFAS record, write to the organisation concerned. If you disagree with that organisation over the information on your file, ask the organisation for details of the scheme for settling disputes.

Financial associations (shared financial responsibility)

If a financial association is shown, and you do not share a financial responsibility with the other person, or if that financial association no longer exists, you should write to the credit reference agencies. They will investigate the matter and make any necessary change to your file.

Aliases

If any names are shown on your credit report that you have never used, you should contact the company listed as providing the other name, or write to the credit reference agency and they will investigate the matter and make any necessary changes to your file.

Information About Other People

If you share no financial responsibility with any other person mentioned on your file you can ask the agencies to ‘create a disassociation’. This breaks any connection between your information and theirs and so makes sure their information is removed from your file, and that your information is removed from theirs. To do this you must give the agencies your, and the other person’s, full name and date of birth, details of your relationship and any shared addresses.

You can view your personal credit information, that lenders are currently basing their credit decisions on, by applying online for a credit report from Experian, the UK’s largest credit reference agency.

If you apply now, you will also receive a 30-day free trial to the CreditExpert Monitoring Service from Experian.

Being declined for a loan, overdraft, credit card or mobile phone can be frustrating, particularly when all the lender will tell you is that you have failed their credit score and nothing else.

Whilst each lender will ultimately score applications based on the services they offer and their own criteria, there are a number of factors which will impact your credit score and could lead to your application being accepted or declined. Knowing what those criteria are can help you improve your ability to get the credit you want.

These are the Six Top Credit Score Killers . . .

1. Not on the Electoral Roll

If you are not on the electoral roll at the address on the application there is a high probability of rejection.

2. Bad Credit History

Past credit history usually counts for 35% of your credit score. It is not just having County Court Judgements (CCJs) or defaults on your credit report that has a negative impact. Missed and late payments will also dent your score. But whilst negative entries will stay on your credit file for 6 years, the impact of missed and late payments diminishes over time. If you have been making payments on time for at least the last 12 months those negative entries will begin to influence your score less.

3. At Current Address Less Than 3 Years

Lenders like continuity. A score will be higher if you have been at the same address for 3 years or more. There may be some impact if you have had two addresses in the last 3 years, but probably less if you are a homeowner.

Multiple addresses in the last 3 years will have the greatest impact. Likewise, your credit score may be effected if you have been at your current address for less than 6 months. This means that tenants are most likely to fall foul of this scoring criterion.

4. New Job

As with residency, when it comes to employment continuity is also paramount. Ideally, lenders are looking for someone who has had the same job for a number of years. Such applicants will benefit from the maximum score for this.

Having had two employers in 3 years need not be that detrimental. Changing jobs so as to get more pay will usually not cause any problems, though you really want to have been in your new job for a few months before applying for new credit. Remember, lenders often ask to see the last couple of months pay slips when applying for a loan.

Since continuous employment is what they like to see, having 3 or more jobs in the last 3 years will adversely effect your credit score. As will having had bouts of unemployment between jobs.

5. No or New Bank Account

Lenders will award maximum points if you have been with your bank for a number of years. Having only recently opened your current account will reduce the score. Not having a bank or current account will be most detrimental to your credit score.

6. Too Many Credit Applications

Every time you submit a credit application a search is made and recorded on your credit file. This is called a hard footprint. Multiple credit applications in a short space of time will negatively impact your credit score. Such applications may be perceived as indicative of someone desperately trying to obtain credit.

It is commonly believed that making one credit application every month or two should not have too much impact on your credit file.

However, if you have recently made a number of applications and been declined, it is advisable not to make any new applications for at least six months so as to give a good breathing space before applying again. It also gives you time to review your credit file and determine if there is anything on there which shouldn’t be.