Improving your Credit Score for a Loan Application

Applying for a loan should be a carefully considered process. Every time you apply for a loan, it leaves a mark on your credit file. This credit file is important for lenders to see how trustworthy you can be with repaying their money. So, to get it looking good, you might want to do the following:

⦁ Get on the electoral roll – To register on the electoral roll go to aboutmyvote.co. uk. One great sign of stability is whether you’re registered on the electoral roll. This is because most “good citizens” are – (even if they don’t vote).

⦁ Borrow more money. Your credit file will look good if you have more credit accounts appearing on your credit file. If you flood your credit file with lots of positive repayment ticks, it will tell the lender that you’re good at repaying loans. This only works if you REPAY EVERYTHING ON TIME. Make sure you read all the small print in regards to the interest rates and repayment periods.

⦁ Get a copy of your credit report. Wonga recently blogged that more and more people are beginning to see the benefits of getting a look at their credit file. By applying online through various companies, you could see exactly what the lenders do. In fact this is a service the payday loan giant plans to offer its customers for free next year. You will likely be given a ‘score’ and will get to see how the lenders would view you. This is highly beneficial as it gives you a chance to hold off on an application if your file looks negative in one area – until you’ve fixed the problem.

⦁ Use credit cards more. Spending money using your debit card will never improve your credit history because debit cards don’t offer credit, or the ability to borrow money. So choose to make small purchases on credit cards instead.

⦁ Be patient. It can take time to improve your credit file (see more tips here). Sometimes it can take a year to reverse the effects of a negative point on your file.

Some other things to avoid: Moving home a lot, applying for lots of credit at once, CCJs, late payments, or being tied to someone with a poor credit history.