Check, protect and improve your credit score

More than half of us have never checked our credit score* or report, even though it plays a vital role in determining what financial products we have access to and how much we’ll pay for them.

Whether you’re looking for a mortgage, credit card, a new mobile phone contract, or insurance, knowing your score and making it as strong as possible can help you get the best deal. Our money expert Kalpana Fitzpatrick explains how to look after your score and improve it.

WHY DOES YOUR SCORE MATTER?

Here’s the thing. When you apply for credit or financial products, such as a mortgage, the lender wants to check that it can trust you and that you’re a responsible borrower. To determine this, one of the things it looks at is your credit rating. If your credit score is low, you could get rejected or just be offered a poorer interest rate, which will cost you more in the long run.

HOW TO CHECK YOUR SCORE

If you have never checked your score, then it is easy to track it down for free at any one of the three main credit reference agencies (CRAS): Experian (experian.co.uk), Equifax (equifax.co.uk) and Transunion (transunion.co.uk).

Each of the CRAS may hold different information about your financial history (known as a credit report), which they use to generate your credit score. With this in mind, it’s worth checking with all three agencies.

Your score is a three-digit number and often colour coded (usually coloured green, amber or red). If it’s green, then you’re on the excellent end.

IMPROVE YOUR SCORE

If your credit core is too low or you want to make it better, then there are some really simple steps that will help:

Register to vote. Make sure that you’re on the electoral register. This tells the credit reference agency you are who you say you are and that your address is where you really live.

If you move house, make sure your records are updated. Register to vote at gov.uk.

Don’t miss payments. Late or missed mortgage and bill payments will show up on your report and damage your score.

Check for inaccuracies. If you spot anything on your credit report that is wrong, call the CRA up and ask for it to be corrected.

MAKE YOUR RENT AND SUBSCRIPTIONS COUNT

If you’re renting, then make your rental payments count towards your score. Check out free schemes such as Rental Exchange (via Experian) or Credit Ladder (creditladder.co.uk) to help you boost your score. And if you subscribe to any services that involve regular payments, like Netflix or Spotify, then use Experian Boost for free to immediately push up your score.

Remember,klarna reports buy now, pay later transactions to credit reference agencies