A credit score is a number out of 1000, which we get from our data provider, which helps lenders decide whether to give you credit.
One way of thinking about this is to see it as a measure of risk to a prospective lender. The higher the score, the better you might have managed your debt in the past and built your credit history. This makes it more likely that you’ll be considered low-risk.
Lenders also look at your report to assess how affordable a new form of credit will be for you, and whether the credit you’ve applied for is the best option for you.
A higher score means that your application is more likely to be accepted. It also means that you could be eligible for better interest rates and better deals when borrowing money or taking out a home loan.
Remember, your score is not the only consideration a lender will have when you apply for credit, as lenders use their own internal checks, of which a credit rating is just one part of the criteria they use.
Checking your score regularly to monitor any trends and issues is important for building your score, and always making sure that any information is corrected if you don’t recognise it.