our credit rating is affected by any past financial agreements you have held. Like most scoring systems, for anything positive you will get points and for anything negative you will lose points. Credit ratings will usually range from between 300 to 900, and the higher your score the better.

• Paying any bills on time and in full
• Using 25% or less of any existing credit you have. Carry a balance of £2500 or less if you have a credit limit of £10,000.
• A consistent employment history

• Late or missed payments
• Using more than 80% of any available credit
• Bankruptcy
• CCJ (County Court Judgements)
• Periods of unemployment
• Applying for credit too frequently

Your Payment History - Have you paid your previous/recent bills in full and on time?

Your Outstanding Debts - Try to keep any credit balances at 25% or less of your limits.

Your Credit Profile - The length of time you have been building credit, the longer you have shown good behaviour, the better.

The Number of Enquiries on your Credit Report - Each time you apply for credit, the lender will take a look at your credit report in an attempt to predict your behaviour. A high amount of enquiries in a short amount of time may indicate that you are struggling financially or have a lot of debt.

Final Note

There is a very important point to make,

Sometimes, even a good risk will be rejected. Simply because they wont make the lender any money!

Lenders choose customer for their own good, NOT yours. They are not obliged to grant you credit, even f you have a good credit history. Lenders are in the credit game to make a profit. Bad risks are a threat to profit because it is sometimes likely that they wont repay. Yet even the best of us will be rejected because we are likely to act in a way that will not generate profit for the lender.