What is a credit report?

Your credit report details your personal financial history – it holds information about any money you have borrowed and how reliable you are in terms of repayments. Your credit report also contains data about any outstanding court judgments you may have, and other personal facts and figures, including whether you are registered to vote.

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Many people have never actually seen their own credit report, but it is important to keep track of it, because lenders will use it to help them decide:

Whether or not to lend you money
How much money to lend you
What rate of interest to set

It is therefore very important to check your report before you apply for a new financial product so you know what's on it and more importantly, whether that information is correct or not. The details your credit report holds are key to whether or not you are accepted for the loan, credit card or mortgage for which you are applying, so it is imperative that the details are accurate, because false or out-of-date information may affect your eligibility to get credit.

Your credit report can affect your credit scoring and also your ability to:

Secure a mortgage
Get a credit card
Obtain a loan

You can check your credit report for free, online at CreditExpert, the credit monitoring and identity fraud protection service from Experian, the UK’s largest credit reference agency. Click here for your free report.

Get your FREE Credit Report