Credit card companies, mobile phone companies, banks and building societies are just a few of the common examples of organisations that will check your credit report before making a decision on which of their services (if any) they are prepared to offer you.
Insurance companies, landlords and even employers have also known to check credit records to see how financially responsible applicants are before making a decision on whether to offer an insurance policy, renting out a property apartment or offering you a job.
In this article, we will highlight warning signs that can indicate that your credit rating is taking a hit.
Sign No. 1: Are You Missing Scheduled Payments?
One of the most important aspects of a credit report relates to the details regarding personal payment histories.
For example:
- Do you pay your bills on time and in full each month? – Failure to do so will negatively impact your credit score.
- If you are late with your repayments, how late are they? – Essentially, the later you make your repayments, the worse it will be for your credit score.
- Have any of your missed payments resulted in CCJs or bankruptcies? – These are some of the worst things to have on your credit report from a lender’s perspective and will act as a big red flag for any applications.
Sign No. 2: Is Debt Beginning to Build?
Another critical component of a credit record in the eyes of many people is the amount of overall debt that a particular person has built up.
Your credit score will reflect the following information:
- The total amount of your personal credit level that you have used – Whilst less is always better, owing a small amount can actually be a good thing (assuming you make your payments on time) because this will help to provide an accurate demonstration to lenders that you responsible and financially stable enough to repay outstanding debts.
- How has your debt built up? – There are many ways to accrue debt. Having a mortgage taking up a significant portion of your credit limit is highly unlikely to be viewed as a negative. However, having 10 different credit cards, all of which are close to their limit, will be viewed as a red flag.
Sign No. 3: Are you being rejected by lenders?
Your credit rating can be affected simply by lenders searching your credit file. Each time it is done they leave a “footprint”. This tells other lenders that you are on the hunt for credit. If there are lots of footprints on your file in a relatively short space of time then a new lender may get suspicious. So, take care of making too many applications for credit.
Don’t Worry Too Much
Although your credit rating plays an undeniably important role when it comes to successfully applying for the cheapest loans available, a poor credit rating will not result in all loans being unavailable to you.
Specialist bad credit lenders, such as us, offer a variety of loans created specifically for borrowers who cannot turn to their bank or building society.