Experian Q&A


Questions on Credit History Reporting


My mortgage does not appear on my credit history. Is this normal?
| Stooz |

Most lenders share full customer details, but because some only share information about customers who are behind with their repayments, if you are managing your credit commitments well, some of your accounts may not currently appear on your credit report. However, more and more lenders are beginning to share full customer information, where they have consent to do so, of course. But accounts that were opened before full data sharing was envisaged, and before consent to share full data was routinely obtained, won't appear until the consent issue is resolved. The DTI is about to consult on a possible legislative fix so this may change in the future.

I would assume that a mortgage level of "debt" would affect my credit rating, so how does this sort of information get to the card companies if it is not on my report?
| Stooz |

Although the information may not be on your credit report, lenders often gather additional information from their credit application forms. So you would be providing this detail. If they don't ask, and it's not on your credit report, the card company won't have it.

Are positive credit balances (such as Egg Money) reported to the CRAs and how do lenders react to them?
| Galdana |

No, if you are in credit it will just show that you owe nothing.

Will any changes be made to credit reports to show when customers have paid off their card in full? Will extra credit (no pun intended) be given to customers who do so on a regular basis?
| Mr Hoegaarden |

Prolonged zero balances are already shown on credit reports, but if you are referring to card accounts that are being spent on each month, there is currently nothing to differentiate between accounts that are cleared in full each month and those where customers are just repaying the absolute minimum. This will change in the future, however, following an announcement by a small group of card providers to pilot the sharing of this sort of data.

How will the changes regarding sharing of information about repayments be done? Will it be, for example

  • Is this customer paying more than the minimum payment each month? Yes/No
  • Will it show the last payment as a percentage of the outstanding balance?
  • Will it just list the last X payment amounts?

| sly_dog_jonah |

Nothing has yet been confirmed.

Will this payment information be visible on the statutory £2 credit reports?
| sly_dog_jonah |

Yes, your statutory £2 credit report has to include all the information we provide to lenders about you.


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