It is highly recommended by organizations such as the Home Office, Citizens Advice Bureau and Anti Fraud Agencies to check your credit file every six months, or annually at the very least. Checking your Credit Report enables you to check that all accounts in your name are legitimate, that they are still registered to the correct address and that the reporting of your financial situation is correct.
Inaccuracies on your Credit File can mean you being unfairly refused for credit, or indeed paying higher rates of interest on your mortgage, loans and credit cards than you need to. An inaccuracy on your credit file which harms your profile can be amazingly expensive. Look at the following example on a typical Mortgage of £200,000 where the Mortgage providers score card qualifies you for a rate of 4.5% due to an error on your Credit File rather than 3.5% which you should legitimately be entitled to:
| Mortgage Value | £200,000 | £200,000 |
|---|---|---|
| Interest Rate | 4.5% | 3.5% |
| Monthly Interest Only Repayment | £750 | £583.33 |
| Overpayment (£) | £166.67 | £0 |
| Overpayment (%) | 28.6% | 0% |
Imagine what you could do with an extra £166.67 per month of disposable income, thanks to simply checking your Credit File and correcting an error. Obviously this is an example to highlight the possible effects of an error, but the same situation could be caused simply by not making the most of your Credit File.
Different lending organisations make their decisions based on risk and the potential profitability of a new customer. By making the most of the way your Credit File is presented can have just as dramatic effect as correcting an error. For More information on this, see the Credit Score Section.
To view independent reviews of the reports and services available to you click on the section titles at the top of the page.