Credit Assessment
What is a credit file?
A credit file is a collection of information obtained from credit card providers, banks, mortgage providers and utility service providers. The financial information in your file is used by lenders to assess your ability to repay debt and manage loans.
Lenders and service providers look at credit files to avoid the risk of giving credit to known defaulters or people with bankruptcy or insolvency issues, or, if they are offering credit to those borrowers, they may usually charge a higher rate.
What information is in my credit report?
Your credit file contains all your financial information, including repayment history, current debt, commercial and personal loans applied for and other details to help lenders assess risk when giving you credit. Here are the details contained in a credit report:
- Personal information. Your name and date of birth, your current address, where you work, your driver’s license details and your gender are listed in your credit file.
- Default notes. This is information on any overdue debts you might have, payments you’ve missed on loans and utility bills and other serious credit infringements.
- Information that is public record. This section will contain any information that is held in the public record including bankruptcy notes, court writs and judgments, personal insolvency agreements and directorship or proprietorship information.
- Consumer credit information. This includes credit applications you’ve made in the last five years (whether they were approved or not), the type of those credit accounts, such as credit card or personal loans, account open and close dates, the credit limit of the accounts, your monthly repayment history on credit accounts and details on overdue accounts.
- Commercial credit information. Details of credit enquiries you may have made for commercial purposes and overdue commercial credit accounts are included in this section.
- Joint applicants. If you’ve applied for any loans or credit cards as a joint borrower this will be listed on your report.
How do lenders use my credit file information?
Lenders and service providers look at credit files to avoid the risk of giving credit to known defaulters or people with bankruptcy or insolvency issues, or, if they are offering credit to those borrowers, they may usually charge a higher rate.
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