A £6 check that could help your credit application
Consumer watchdog, Which? warns that those applying for credit can do themselves a disservice by not first checking their credit reports. For just £6 potential borrowers can take a look at the records which banks, financial institutions and other businesses use to assess whether or not to lend to them.
A £6 check that could help your credit application
You can't afford not to check your credit files - its £6 well spent when you consider how costly and inconvenient a mistake on your files could be.”
Research by Which? shows that these reports sometimes contain errors and if these are left un-rectified they can make borrowing money more difficult.
A survey carried out by Which? revealed that 16% of all their members who had checked their credit report had found blatant errors or inaccuracies on them which might have affected their borrowing potential.
Senior researcher for Which? Martyn Saville said: “You can't afford not to check your credit files - its £6 well spent when you consider how costly and inconvenient a mistake on your files could be.”
Sometimes reports are also slow to update with your new borrowing details so you may need to contact your lender or report provider and ask them to update your report.
Other benefits
There are many other important reasons for checking a credit report, including identity theft. Fraudsters have been known to apply for credit in someone else’s name and divert the associated post for years while ringing up huge debts, without the victim even knowing about it.
By checking their report borrowers can see what accounts are open in their name and any associated addresses, meaning if someone is stealing their identity they’ll know about it sooner and be able to stop it more effectively.
It is also possible to catch ‘unlawful snoopers’ by checking your account regularly. By law you are required to give your express permission to anyone who accesses your account, so if a business, bank or finance company has left a ‘footprint’ in your account and you don’t recognise them, they could be a fraudster or simply an opportunistic company who are breaking the law.
The most obvious benefit to checking your report is that you’ll know how much borrowing power you have. It would be a waste of time and look bad on a credit report if a borrower’s credit score was low and they applied for a product which was aimed at people with a higher score than them, they’d also be certain to be turned down.
So, by checking your report and only applying for products which you stand a chance of being accepted for, you could increase your credit score gradually rather than decrease it suddenly.
Be Careful
Like all things financial a potential borrower must know the situation they’re in to save money and improve a credit score, that’s why checking your report is so important.
Fraud is everywhere on the Internet so it’s important to choose credit checking companies which are definitely genuine such as Experian and Equifax.
Other companies could claim to be able to provide you with a credit report but might really intend on stealing your details.
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