What your credit score really means

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What credit scores really mean guide.

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Best answers:

• Avoid the obvious question of if its worth paying for
• Makes things quite clear I think.
  Quote:
• I've got no idea!!! I know what's on the report urgh and that only occurred by devine intervention!! never wanted to know my "score"
  As long as there are no strange goings on y'know letters arriving that you don't understand, then I could feel top of the score board! I'm sure someone will burst my bubble one day!
• Yes, lenders look for different things and have their own scoring methods. But very often we don't know what they're looking for until we jump into their swimming pool. We can at least assume that if they allow us to jump into their swimming pool in the first place we at least fulfil their initial criteria which I firmly believe to be the potential to make a profit from us as opposed to a loss.
  Say for example a credit card company loves us to keep a balance so they can charge us interest (which one doesn't?) and bases limits on the amount of a regular payment relating that payment to a minimum payment. Then to possibly ensure limit increases we might keep a balance and make a payment of the same amount every month which is considerably higher than the minimum.
  I agree it's an art form within which is an element of social psychology.
  I love the article. It clears up some fallacies about credit scoring.
• Or when people with a recent bankruptcy or IVA get a score of 999. Proves how worthless they are.
• Well, how interesting...wish I'd known all this yesterday as I've been bullied into paying for our credit scores even though both myself and my husbands credit reports (which we paid Ј2 each for) were perfect! We are hoping to buy our flat under the Bight to buy and are taking advice from the RTB Co-operative, for a month we've been at loggerheads over this damn credit score, as we've been refusing to sign up for something we don't need and are worried whether it's going to be difficult to cancel. My husband and I are both careful with money and are proud to say that we have NO debt whatsoever and avoid anything which tells you it's 'free for 30 days, cancel any time' don't trust them at all! But that's what we've had to do just to get this so called credit score and I'm not happy one bit after reading this!
• Who has been bullying you into getting your score?
  It seems rather odd to be honest since lenders don't give a fig about external scoring mechanisms.
• The Right to buy Co-operative, they give advice on buying your Council/housing association property, find you a mortgage etc. Maybe bullying is a bit strong a word, but for the last few weeks I've been asked again and again for our credit score, which you can only get by signing up for something we don't want, I've argued that our credit reports are excellent which they are, so why do we have to have a score, just to be told 'that's what companies want' the score not the report!
• I would have thought that if the Co-op wanted your score they would be able to get it themselves rather than asking you.
• on my credit report my only 'negative' is having no settled accounts, but they say a catalogue settled account doesn't count, so what on earth can i settle in order to remove this negative? I have a redundant RBS account, should i close that? Would that count as settled?
• p.s it says I have no successfully settled accounts, not sure what it wants
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