And what you can do to improve score

before, or perhaps haven’t checked it for some time, then it does no harm to obtain references from all three agencies. How much does it cost? All credit reference agencies have a statutory obligation to provide you with your credit report for a fixed fee of £2.

You can either access your report online or ask for a written copy.

Be aware of credit agencies that ask you to pay a regular monthly amount for unlimited checks.

You might be paying more than you need to pay. What is my credit score? Some credit agencies may offer to provide you with a credit “score”, the thinking being that the higher the score, the better chance you have of being accepted for loans and mortgages.

Just be wary of spending money on something that is subjective since different lenders interpret the information they receive from credit agencies in different ways. When should you check your report? If you are applying for a mortgage, loan or credit card, then it doesn’t do any harm to check your credit report, especially if you haven’t done it for a while.

You can check it as many times as you like and it won’t affect your credit rating. Will every application produce a note on my file? There are lots of urban myths about the consequences of applying for too many, or too few, loans. Some people reckon too few applications mean you will be refused credit because you have no history, while others reckon that too many will lead to refusal because you are applying for too much credit.

The truth is probably somewhere in the middle. It’s also the case that if you’re only getting a quote for a loan, you can ask the lender to do a “quotation search” as this won’t show up on your report.

Email your problems to Or post them to The Money Doctor, Daily Record, One Central Quay, Glasgow, G3 8DA Unfortunately Fergus can’t reply to every question in person.