Credit Ratings - page 2
Loan terms vary according to your credit rating.
When you have got your report the first thing to do is check the detail. Do not file it away and ignore it because you could find that errors have affected the final rating. If you feel that this is the case you should contact the agency who supplied the report and discuss it with them.
However you need to avoid being misled by the established procedure. If you have for example made a number of applications for credit in the past and these have necessitated a check on your rating, then these 'footprints' will show on your report. Whether or not you took out a loan is likely to be irrelevant - any search will show up and is likely to have a negative effect. Too many searches and you will be seen as tending towards financial irresponsibility with little serious control over your balance of income versus expenditure.
Any history of missed payments, however slight, will also pull your rating down, and you need to ensure that any disputed payment which was resolved in your favour does not throw its weight on the wrong side of the balance. Surprisingly, a blank record will also not help your case; if you have not taken out a loan before, then no one can know how reliable you will be in making prompt payments.
A credit rating is your personal financial reputation and needs to be guarded jealously. It is easy to lose a reputation but can be very difficult to rebuild it, so it would be advisable to do nothing that could have an adverse effect. You need to check your rating, not just once but at intervals of a few years to ensure that any movement is in the desired direction.
