Jasmine Birtles
Your money-making expert. Financial journalist, TV and radio personality.
15 Easy Ways to Improve Your Credit Score
MoneyMagpie team
20th May 2024
Updated 21st May 2024
Loans are hard to get if your credit score isn’t perfect. Many of the best credit card deals that we mention are also not available to you if you don’t have the best credit record. But fear not! Even if you have a credit record that makes you want to weep, there are ways of cleaning it up over time.
- What affects your credit file?
- 10 easy ways to improve your credit record
- Should you pay to access your credit file?
What Affects Your Credit File?
All sorts of things can affect your ability to get a loan or set up a credit agreement (such as a mobile phone contract):
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If you have been rejected for a credit application in recent weeks.
- Several applications for credit and loans at the same time make you look like you’re in a desperate financial situation.
- County Court Judgments (CCJs) against you.
- You’ve regularly been delayed with mortgage or loan payments.
- If you miss a payment on your phone or broadband bill, this is considered a big black mark.
- Your age affects your points score. Too young can be as bad as being too old.
- If you’re single it can be a problem – being married gives the impression that you’re stable and have a potential second income to rely on.
- Moving address every year or two. Financial companies like at least three years at the same address.
- If you are not on the electoral roll you can be rejected.
Still, though, all lenders are different and you would be surprised who will lend to you and who won’t. Some lenders actively seek customers like students with lots of debt, for example. Others won’t touch them and only go for homeowners with established jobs.
Amazingly, if you’ve never borrowed in your life, never owed money and don’t own any credit cards, many lenders will view you with immense suspicion. Sometimes it seems that you just can’t win!
15 easy ways to improve your credit record
1. Make sure you are on the electoral roll
There are two electorial registers: public and private. You can opt out of the public register (and we usually suggest you do to avoid spam). You cannot opt out of the private register – this is what local councils use for elections etc. You can only be contacted from the private register for things of public interest, like a General Election.
Contact your local authority to request to be put on the electoral roll. If you’re already registered, it won’t hurt to have your information updated anyway!
2. Pay bills on time
Every missed payment knocks off points on your credit file.
If you cannot pay on time, contact the supplier, credit card provider, or bank as soon as possible to discuss what options are available to you. You may be able to change your repayment schedule, or make a minimum repayment instead.
3. Check your credit record for CCJs
Check your credit record through the credit reference agencies like Experian. Make a note of any unusual activity that you don’t recognise and contact the credit agencies to investigate.
Most importantly, check for County Court Judgements (CCJs). These can be issued and missed if you’ve recently moved house, for example, and didn’t receive the summons. It’s really detrimental to your score, so resolve this as soon as you can.
4. Check any resolved bankruptcies
If you’ve paid off your debts or have been discharged from your bankruptcy, check your record with Experian, TransUnion (formerly Call Credit), and Equifax. Settled or discharged debts can take up to four months to show on your record – if they aren’t listed after that time, contact the credit agencies and the lender.
5. Look at closed accounts as well as open ones
Any line of credit – even a mobile phone bill – that you’ve paid off should show as closed and settled on your credit record. If it’s not showing as settled – or worse, as a default – contact the lender or organisation immediately to sort it.
6. Work on building your credit history
Companies such as *Creditspring offer affordable ways to borrow and increase your credit score. Whilst rebuilding your credit score can seem complicated, Creditspring offer a set repayment plan (much like a subscription), with each repayment made on time increasing your score.
7. Let your rent improve your credit
Tenants can use Credit Ladder to prove they’re responsible to lenders. It’s a free service for tenants to use, too. You pay your monthly rent via Credit Ladder. They report each month to credit reference agencies that your rent – a large sum – has been repaid in full, on time. Over time, this rebuilds your score as a responsible borrower.
8. Use a credit improver
Similar to using your rent – an everyday expense – to rebuild your credit, you can use small savings to help, too. A credit improver service like Loqbox gives you a small loan.
You don’t get the cash, though! It’s locked into an account for you. Every month, you make agreed ‘repayments’ to this loan. At the end of it, the money you paid is released into a new bank account for you. It’s a great two-fer: you get to rebuild your credit score AND finish up with savings!
9. Stop at the first rejection
If you’re rejected for any type of credit or bank account, STOP! Research your credit record with each of the three credit reference agencies. Don’t just keep applying, assuming you made a mistake on the form. Multiple rejections in a short space of time can take YEARS to knock off your credit record – so avoid it at all costs!
10. Seek help for debt ASAP
If you’re already spiralling into debt, don’t apply for credit. Especially avoid things like payday loans – they’re expensive and look really bad to lenders looking at your credit record. Instead, take a deep breath and seek help.
Contact the National Debtline or Stepchange to talk through your finances and set up a repayment plan. You can also look up your local Community Money Advice centre for help, too. Jasmine is a patron of this financial education charity: they’ll help you manage your debts and finances and help you get back on track.
Should you pay to access your credit report?
If you have never paid for an in-depth look at your credit file, it is worth doing with each of the three providers. This will give you a full overview of your file, and help you spot mistakes that may have been scuppering your score.
However, every credit agency also offers a free credit report with regular updates sent to you by email. CreditKarma, for example, will send an email whenever your credit score changes which gives you a real-time look at your score so you can tackle any surprises as quickly as possible.
Sign up to each credit agency’s free platform to make sure you stay alert to new changes on your credit file. If you’ve never checked your report, or you want to investigate what might be stopping you from getting credit, pay for access to the premium service.
[…] The only other requirement is that applicants must be on the electoral roll – if you’re not, you really should be. Not being on the electoral roll can damage your credit rating! […]
[…] The one different requirement is that candidates have to be on the electoral roll – if you happen to’re not, you actually must be. Not being on the electoral roll can harm your credit standing! […]
REALLY HIGH INFORMATIVE ARTICLE!!!
EVERYONE OF US HAVE TO TAKE THAT IN ACCOUNT!!!
KIND REGARDS,
TEODORA
22.4.2023
SOFIA
Useful info.
Job well done guys,
quality information.
Its a good point about being declined potentially giving you problems. Its better to use a website which checks your rating first and then matches you to the most appropriate lender. That way you have a much better chance of being accepted – you probably wont get the cheapest loan on the market but only about 5% of people do!
tremendous read, I merely passed this onto a colleague who was doing a little research on that. And he actually bought me lunch because I found it for him smile So let me rephrase that: Thanks for lunch!
Don’t ever ring an 0870 number again. Look up the saynoto0870 website and you’ll get alternative numbers, some even freephone .. so they can pay for the call themselves, then YOU can keep THEM talking all day!
i signed up to experian for a free 30day trial. They sent me my password in the post and i tried to access my account but was unable. I emailed them explaining the problem to which i got a standard email reply about canceling my subscription. I said yes i wanted to cancel it as obviously i was not getting anywhere with access, only to find when my bank statement had come through that they had charged my account! Outrageous!! I had to spend about 10mins on the phone at extra cost to me to get them to do anything!… Read more »