What actually is on a credit report?

Neil Munroe for credit reference agency Experian explains:

"Well some people actually think there's other things that should be on there that aren't, other people think there's probably too much on there, but let's take it factually. There is information about you as a person, whether you're registered to vote, there's information about whether you've had any debts through the court; the vast majority of data on there is obviously information about your borrowings from lenders and I think what people aren't necessarily aware of is that there is quite a broad range of lenders now.

Most people will think well my mortgage, my credit card, my bank loan - what people may not understand is that there will be a record on there to show that you've got a current account, there will be a mobile phone agreement if you're on a contract (a prepaid wouldn't be on there), a mail order account for example if you may be running one of those. So it's quite broad and I think in the current climate some people have been a bit surprised to see that when they've looked at their file for the first time."

What does it say about black marks and black lists and things that people talk about? I'm sure you're going to say they don't exist, but you do get marks against you for every late payment or every missed payment?

Neil Munroe responds:
"Yes, what we will do is for the information supplied by the lender we will actually show a history and we will show whether you've made that payment on time. Now for a credit card for example, that will be whether you've made the minimum payment or more, for a loan it will obviously be the agreed amount and for a mortgage as well. For the mobile phone company it will be whether you've paid that monthly bill that's due, so if you miss one of those payments then you will be recorded as being one month behind. If you miss the subsequent one, that will be two behind and it goes on like that."

Can even a late payment actually cause a bank or another lender to say no thanks?

Owen Roberts, head of Callcredit Check, part of Callcredit responds:

"This has been a significant change in lending of late. It used to be that one late payment was seen as a sort of minor indiscretion and banks would look fairly lightly on that. As lending has become more strict, those criteria have gone up, so a lot of people who were quite happily ticking along with one missed payment are now finding it harder to get credit."


As featured on BBC Money Box Live April 2009.