Your credit file

Before lending you money, banks, loan companies and shops want to be confident that you can pay the money back.

To help them make these decisions, they look at the information held by companies called credit reference agencies.

These agencies hold lots of information about most adults in the UK. About which financial products you have now, ones you’ve had in the past and how well you managed the repayments on those products.

Credit reference agencies hold lots of information, including:

• your name and address
• whether you are on the electoral roll at your current address
• how much you currently owe lenders
• details of any financial products in your name
• any missed or late payments on existing or past credit card or loan accounts
• any County Court Judgments (CCJs) made against you

Your credit report provides these facts about you, but it doesn’t advise lenders whether they should lend money to you or not. Lenders will usually have their own ‘credit scoring system’ to make decisions about lending money, which uses information from your credit report.