How to Improve Your Credit Score

Firstly, what Is a Credit score?

Every individual has a credit score, this is based on your previous levels of borrowing money and your own ability to be able to pay that borrowed money back. It tracks monthly payments, total amount borrowed, contract length and most importantly if there have been any missed payments.

Why is your credit report so important?

Your credit report will play a big factor in consideration for a mortgage product especially if you are a First Time Buyer. The higher the score, the greater chance you have of being approved for your mortgage application. The first steps you need to do is find out what your score is and see if your report requires any improvements.

The commonly used credit report to get is CheckmyFile, which combines all three credit agencies: Experian, TransUnion and Equifax all in one report. That’s important when going for a mortgage because each lender will check different credit references and credit agencies.

Manor Holmes has an affiliate relationship with Check My File, where you can get a 30-day free trial.

Check My File sees your data from all 4 credit agencies, not just one, and is consistently rated excellent on Trustpilot. Your trial, and the subscription, can be cancelled at any time. Beyond the 30-day free trial the service is charged at £14.99 per month.

Please use this link below:

https://www.checkmyfile.com/?ref=ryanholmes5&cbap=1

How to improve your credit score

1. Make sure you are registered on the electoral roll

2. Build you credit history, having little or no credit history can make it difficult for lenders to assess your risk

3. Consider getting a credit builder card to improve your score. These specialised credit cards will have a low spending cap but high interest rates

4. Make sure to stay up to date with your monthly commitments to pay back any existing credit and if possible, pay these back in full

5. Stay within 50% of your available maximum credit amount

6. Check for errors on your credit report and report any mistakes

2nd February 2023