Improve your credit score

Laura Whateley, author of Money: A User’s Guide

How to boost your credit score is one of the questions I’m most frequently asked, especially as the property market is more competitive than ever. If you’re stretching yourself to get a mortgage, you need the shiniest credit file possible. The problem is, however good you are at paying bills on time, sometimes your credit record doesn’t have enough information on it to be deemed ‘excellent’.

There’s a tricky chicken-andegg situation where, to get the best credit score to borrow money, you need to have borrowed money before (eg, used a credit card regularly). Banks want to see that you know how to pay debts on time. If you haven’t used credit, show that you’re good at repaying rent.

If you are a council or socialhousing tenant, or your landlord has over 500 properties, you can ask your landlord to report your rental payment to the Rental Exchange, which means it’ll show up on your credit file at

Experian, one of the three UK credit-reference agencies. Or report your rent yourself through Credit Ladder or Canopy. Both now work with Experian and, as of last month, Equifax, another credit-reference agency.

The third agency is Transunion, and it’s best to check your record with them all. Banks don’t let on which they use and sometimes they use their own data, so it’s all a bit of a mystery. But having as much great data on each credit file as possible will cover all bases. Warning: obviously this is only for those who are never late with their rent.