Credit Scoring

When you apply for a credit card, the credit card company will use a Credit Reference Agency to determine your credit worthiness. These agencies hold information on about nearly every adult in the UK and will provide a report to the credit card outlining your credit history.

Credit Reference Agencies do not offer an opinion on your credit worthiness and it is the card issuer who either approves or declines the application for a credit card based on the information provided. The type of information held includes details of previous credit agreements you have entered into and details of how these accounts were conducted, any County Court Judgements (CCJ) registered against your name will be shown together with any mortgage arrears. The record will also show details of every person registered at a particular address and any credit problems they may have encountered.

You can do the simple quiz below to give yourself an idea what your credit score (also known as credit rating) is likely to be.

Just answer the questions below and see how you score and what that result means.

THE TEST

1 Are you registered to vote at your present address? Yes/No

2 Do you have at least two active credit accounts, such as a credit card, store card or loan? Yes/No

3 Are all your credit account payments up to date? Yes/No

4 Have you missed any payments on your credit accounts in the last two years? Yes/No

5 Do you have any County Court Judgments or have you been declared bankrupt? Yes/No

6 Have you ever defaulted on a credit agreement? Yes/No

7 Have you applied for more than two items of credit in the last six months? Yes/No

YOUR SCORE

1 Yes = 10. No = 0.

2 Yes = 10. No = 0.

3 Yes = 15. No = 0.

4 Yes = 0. No = 10.

5 Yes = 0. No = 25.

6 Yes = 0. No = 25.

7 Yes = 0. No = 5.

WHAT IT MEANS

90-100: Excellent. Your score shows that you would be a strong candidate for credit.

70-85: Good. Your score shows that you have a good chance of being granted credit.

50-65: Fair. Your score shows you may have some problems obtaining credit.

0-45: Poor. Your score shows you may have considerable difficulties in obtaining credit.