Questions about your credit score?

Your credit score is just an indication of how lenders might view you. Each lender will have its own criteria, including factors that aren’t on your credit file - like affordability. So, if you’ve got a perfect credit history, with a good track record of payments, but you don’t have much disposable income they still might not give you a new credit card.  

It’s possible you might see some inaccurate information. Mistakes you might see include: 

• Closed accounts showing as open 
• Inaccurate payment history  
• Incorrect personal information 
• Previous partners or housemates still linked to you 

It’s worth noting that there is a lag in reporting between the lender and credit reference agencies like Equifax. Once the lender has passed on the information to Equifax, Snoop will update your information in the Snoop app on a monthly basis. 

If you do see something you need to rectify, drop an email to hello@snoop.app and we’ll work with Equifax to help you resolve it.

Checking your credit file doesn’t affect your credit score. But to give you your Equifax credit score we need to do a soft search on your credit file. A soft search is one that only you see on your file, not lenders. A hard search is one that lenders also see and they might use it when deciding whether to give you credit or not. When you sign up to see your credit score in Snoop you’ll see a soft search appear on your credit file as ‘Snoop’. 

A credit score or rating is a number that indicates how good a borrower you are. The higher your score, the better a lender is likely to view you.     Your credit score is created from your 'credit file' which shows things like how much debt you have and if you make repayments on time.     The key thing to understand is you don’t have just one, single credit score. Each lender assesses you in a different way depending on the product you’re applying for, what it sees on your file and the type of customer it wants to attract. Each lender will calculate a score for you when you apply for one of their products – and you won’t get to see it 👀    The score you can see in Snoop is based on information from Equifax – one of the three credit reference agencies.      Your score is useful as a ballpark idea of how a lender might view and score you, but remember it isn’t the be all and end all.     Lenders will usually work out their own score for you and look at other factors when they make a decision (like whether you can afford a mortgage based on your income and outgoings).     Each of the credit reference agencies has a different scale but for all of them, the higher the score, the less of a risk you’re considered to be. But it’s very possible you could have a perfect score and still not get credit because a lender is looking at other factors or you’re not the type of customer it wants 😕    For info, here are the score ranges for each of the agencies:    • Experian: 0-999  • Equifax: 0-1,000  • TransUnion (previously Callcredit): 0-710

There are a couple of reasons why this might happen. Your Snoop credit score updates every month, but your Equifax score updates more frequently. So, it’s possible your Equifax score has changed based on new info it’s received from organisations you’re linked to. If you’ve entered different information on one service versus another, that might impact how easy it is to identify you it might lead to different information too. 

We don’t yet offer the functionality to see your full credit file in Snoop yet, but we are considering adding this. If you want to see your full file, you can try: 

• Equifax 
• Experian 
• TransUnion 
• Check My File 

No, but lenders will use the info that sits behind your credit score.  

Lenders will put this together with other info they have from your application – like your salary or length of employment – to make a judgement on what kind of customer you’ll be and whether you can make repayments. 

Each lender will have their own criteria for making lending decisions.  

There’s a difference between ‘hard’ and ‘soft’ credit searches. 

‘Soft’ searches help you see if you’re eligible before you apply for a credit product – they can only be seen by you, not lenders, and don’t impact your credit score.  

Lenders do ‘hard’ searches when you actually apply for a credit product (e.g. loan, credit card, mortgage) or sometimes when you switch to a new utility company. If your debt is passed to a collection agency, the agency can also do a hard search.  

These hard searches can be used by lenders when they’re deciding whether to give you credit or not. Lots of searches in the last six months may make lenders think you’re taking on a lot of debt quickly. 

Each lender has their own criteria for making lending decisions. They’ll use the info that sits behind your credit report, plus any info you’ve given on the application form (e.g. your salary) and then make a judgement on whether to lend money to you. Your income and expenditure are important factors that help lenders decide whether or not you can afford to take on new credit.  

My credit score breakdown will give you an idea of which factors are impacting your Equifax credit score and which ones are boosting it, depending on how you’re doing.  

But different lenders will give different weight to each of those factors when deciding whether to accept your application or decline it. 

As a general rule of thumb, the more evidence you have on your credit file that you’ve got a track record of making payments and managing your credit, the more attractive you’ll be to a lender. 

Lenders are looking for proof that you’re a safe bet to lend to. 

As a general rule of thumb, the more evidence you have on your credit file that you’ve got a track record of making payments and managing your credit, the more attractive you’ll be to a lender. 

If you don’t have borrowing history, lenders have nothing to go on. They find it tougher to make a call on your ‘credit worthiness’ – whether you’ll be able to keep up with payments and repaying the money back.  

So having less info and evidence in your credit file can lower your score and cause you problems when it comes to getting credit. 

Equifax, which provides your score in Snoop, gets regular updates from different organisations, including lenders. This feeds into your credit score. 

If you’ve taken action (e.g. paying off a loan), it may not be reflected on your credit file yet. Or it may not be a big enough change to affect your score (e.g. a small reduction in your outstanding balance). 

It can take time to build up the evidence needed to improve your credit score. 

It’s about how many credit applications you make in a short space of time – and whether lenders are making ‘soft’ or ‘hard’ credit searches. 

‘Soft’ searches help you see if you’re eligible before you apply for a credit product – they can only be seen by you, not lenders, and don’t impact your credit score.  

Lenders do ‘hard’ searches when you actually apply for a credit product (e.g. loan, credit card, mortgage). 

These hard searches can have a small, temporary negative impact on your credit score. Lots of searches in the last six months may make lenders think you’re taking on a lot of debt quickly. 

So, try to avoid making multiple applications in a short period. 

Using comparison sites which give you your chances of being approved can be sensible too. Sometimes they show offers you’re more likely to get based on the info in your credit report before you apply, so you can reduce the chances of getting declined. The Snoop credit card comparison and loans comparison let you see your chances of being accepted before you apply.  

Go to your credit score in Snoop to see the specific areas you need to look at. Basic things to focus on include… 

• Keep making your repayments on time. Late or missed payments can have a negative effect on your score.  
• Set up direct debits to help you stay on track.  
• Set budgets in Snoop to help control your spending and use my bill protector to warn you when you may not have enough money to cover your bills. 
• Make sure you’re on the electoral roll at your current address. 
• Keeping under 70% of your available credit – this sends the right message to lenders and shows you’re on top of things. Avoid maxing out or going close to your credit limit. 
• Avoid using your credit card to withdraw cash. 
• Limit the number of ‘hard’ credit searches companies do on your credit file. Don’t apply for a credit product unless you actually need it. 
• Check your credit score and credit file regularly to make sure you’re aware of any factors impacting your score or inaccuracies. While you can’t check your full credit file in Snoop (yet) you can see the key things impacting your score.   

It may be that your lender doesn't share its information with Equifax. Not all lenders report to all three of the main credit reference agencies. Some just report to one or two.

If your lender doesn't share its information with Equifax, we can't show this in your credit score report in Snoop.