Credit Rating Advice/Help

Help! So I decided to check my credit rating on a site called Noddle! I have a really bad rating of 549 and 1/5 rating but I have never had a bank loan (only student loan.) I have an overdraft? And there has been lots of unauthorised credit checks on my account? To be honest i'm quite worried and need some advice?

You could have a bad rating as you ve never used credit before ,you have to use credit to get a good rating rather than not having it. I ve gotten a credit card and used it responsibly to try improve mine.

You can look into further details of those searches they could be from companies you have bills with or comparison sites are a common one.

Lots of check would cause issues so I'd get in contact to ask when the checks were done to try to find out the issue

Also I would suggest using Experian over Noodle!

An overdraft is fine aslong as you have not missed payments

Have you missed direct debits?

Would you suggest getting a credit card and say spending £50 a month and then paying it back? Thanks for your reply! I don't currently pay bills because I live at home but think its possibly from car insurance? How would you suggest I get in touch?

I only used it because Money Saving Expert suggested it- but thanks for the heads up! And thank you for replying! I have not paid it back yet as its a student one until next year! I have a phone direct debit which is £35 i have paid on time for nearly two years in August! I know this sounds silly but what do the checks mean and how can I let them know it wasn't me?

Hm I would really say, as other have, that because of not using credit much your score isn't so good... It's a difficult thing to balance because if you don't do much with credit then the credit companies have no idea if you're good so you have a bad score, it you use it badly then you have a bad score too; really you need to do a lot of credit stuff well and then the companies see you a minimal risk.

Usually the credit checks or doing things (such as searching for car insurance) can sometimes invoke a credit check and if there are too many the credit company assumes there is an issue - I'm not sure what the logic behind this is because surely checking for good quotes is sensible but beyond a couple of times they see it negatively.

Seeing as you read Money Saving Expert, if you follow their advice I think you'll get your score up

Thanks for the reply (again!) you've been super helpful and reassuring! I don't need credit for the next couple of years I guess but just reassuring myself for the future!

Don't fret. Life is young and there is plenty of time. For authoritative and exhaustive advice on how to boost your credit rating, have a read of this:

http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/loans/credit-rating-credit-score

However, if you are a student, the things that are most likely to drag you down are:
- not being registered on the electoral role
- moving around loads
- not having a commercial credit history i.e. credit card etc.

But it isn't a bad thing. You need to remember that a good credit score is only really needed if you need to borrow money. If you don't need to borrow money it isn't a bad thing. Once you get a job, take out a credit card and use it once in a while but paying off in full at the end of each month. After a couple of years of being settled, things will improve dramatically.

Good luck!