To access the best mortgage deals it is important to have a good credit rating. You can check your credit score for free with one of the main three credit reference agencies in the UK: Experian, Equifax and TransUnion. You can use your report to identify areas that you need to improve.
There are many things you can do to improve your own score, as well as making certain all your valuable expenses was paid off promptly and you can reducing your debts.
Read our ultimate guide to change your credit history for the full lowdown. We’ve also put together a 12-week plan to a better credit score, which breaks it down into easy-to-follow steps.
5. Register in order to vote
Before you make a mortgage application, make sure you are on the electoral register as this can improve your credit score by around fifty circumstances. It also allows lenders to check that you are who you say you are and make sure the details on your application are accurate.
If you are not registered to vote, you can sign up online. It only takes about five minutes and you’ll need your National Insurance number to hand. Check the Government’s website to see if you are qualified.
6. Keep expenses money
Another important action you can take to improve your credit score and you may odds of getting the software accepted is to maintain your costs payments.
Lenders will check your credit report to see how you’ve managed your finances in the past and use this data to predict your future behaviour. Missing just one payment can knock off around 130 affairs from your credit score. But if you have a good credit score and a solid history of repaying your bills on time, this will work in your favour.
Ideally, you want to pay your credit card balance off in full each month to avoid all interest and charges. But if this is not possible, you need to pay at least the minimum payment, so that your credit file isn’t affected. Consider setting up a direct debit so you never miss a payment.
For folks who look at the credit history and acquire it is maybe not precise, make an effort to get in touch with the lender to get it up-to-date. Or even, incorrect information you can expect to effect your credit rating along with your capability to get a mortgage.
Make sure that details like your label and target is actually appearing precisely, and disagreement one problems (such as for instance borrowing looks, factors or economic relationships) you do not acknowledge. Bear in mind that it will take weeks having mistakes to be updated, depending on the bank in addition to borrowing from the bank site company, therefore the fundamentally you appear to the which the better.
8. Reduce people dated economic connections
If you have ever got a shared financial tool which have another individual, this will show on the credit file. It’s not going to apply to your credit score but it can impact how lenders view you. And if you are for the someone who has a poor credit record, it will be far better eliminate links with these people of their report that it cannot mirror improperly you.
To begin with, ensure that the combined account has been finalized. Then get in touch with the 400 credit score loan appropriate credit source agencies so you can demand a observe away from disassociation’ to get rid of people connections from your own credit file.
nine. Improve your deposit
The higher your deposit, the lower the amount you’ll need to borrow from the bank. This is known as your mortgage to help you worthy of‘ (or LTV). Saving a large deposit can boost your chances of getting your mortgage application accepted because the bank is likely to feel more comfortable if you can put a lot of money down upfront (usually over 10% of the value). If the house value was to drop, you would be less likely to go into negative collateral with a large deposit behind you.