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How Much Does Your Credit Score Matter? · Merryn Talks Money

• 0:02
  Speaker 1: Bloomberg Audio Studios, Podcasts, Radio News. Welcome to Meren Talk's
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: Your Money, the personal finance edition of Merin Talks Money.
• 0:21
  Speaker 1: In these bonus podcasts, we talk about the best strategies
• 0:24
  Speaker 1: for making the most of your money. I'm Merrin Sumset
• 0:27
  Speaker 1: Web and with me senior reporter and Money Distilled offer
• 0:29
  Speaker 1: John's Effect. Hi John, Hi mel Right. This week we
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  Speaker 1: are tackling a topic suggested by Tala, an apprentice here
• 0:35
  Speaker 1: at Bloomberg who's been working on our team the last
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  Speaker 1: few months. Tala is in her early twenties and says
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  Speaker 1: the surprisingly frequent topic among her friends is credit scores.
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  Speaker 1: I don't really have a credit history yet, how would
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  Speaker 1: my credit score be determined? What fuck does go into
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  Speaker 1: determining my credit score?
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  Speaker 2: And how do I even check my credit score? I've
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  Speaker 2: noticed that when I check my credit score on different websites,
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  Speaker 2: they vary.
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  Speaker 1: Why is that I'm a bit lost by this when
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  Speaker 1: I literally do not remember ever talking about credit schools
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  Speaker 1: in my twenties.
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  Speaker 3: John, No, but then we were plevileaged. Because the nineties
• 1:08
  Speaker 3: one a much better him for young people in general.
• 1:11
  Speaker 3: We don't have to worry about money really, because someone
• 1:14
  Speaker 3: was so cheap.
• 1:15
  Speaker 1: Yeah, we could buy houses.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, we could buy hosts.
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  Speaker 1: Aside the fact that the taller and everyonends are caring
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  Speaker 1: about credit school maybe they're looking out mortgages. We'll talk
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  Speaker 1: about that later anyway. So the question is how do
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  Speaker 1: credit schools work? What are they? Do I have one?
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  Speaker 1: Do I have several? How important is it? What does
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  Speaker 1: it mean, what affects it the most? And how do
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  Speaker 1: I make it good? So lots of questions here, some
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  Speaker 1: of which John and I could answer alone, some of
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  Speaker 1: which we quite clearly couldn't. So we've bought an expert
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  Speaker 1: to help uts go through all the basics of this subject,
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  Speaker 1: John Webb. John is the senior consumer refairs manager at Experience. John,
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  Speaker 1: thank you so much for joining us today.
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  Speaker 2: Oh glad to join.
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  Speaker 1: So right back in the beginning, what is a credit school?
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  Speaker 2: There is not one credit score. So your credit score
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  Speaker 2: is a number that is given to you by credit
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  Speaker 2: reference agency like Experience, and there are others as well.
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  Speaker 2: Equifax and TransUnion are the other two. So there's three
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  Speaker 2: main credit reference agencies, and we will all give you
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  Speaker 2: a number and it's a summary of the performance of
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  Speaker 2: your credit report. So all the information that's on there,
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  Speaker 2: how you've managed credit in the past six years or so,
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  Speaker 2: and how much debt you are in, for example, right now,
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  Speaker 2: and the number gives you a good indication of how
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  Speaker 2: a lender will judge the information on your credit report
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  Speaker 2: when you apply for credit.
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  Speaker 1: Okay, so this is a number. What is a good
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  Speaker 1: number and what is a bad number?
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  Speaker 2: Well, that's an interesting question because there is not one
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  Speaker 2: credit score. Don't judge the numbers side by side. Each
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  Speaker 2: credit reference agency will give you their own experience. Is
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  Speaker 2: out of nine hundred and ninety nine, So we will
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  Speaker 2: give you a banding to say, you know, somewhere along
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  Speaker 2: the lines of you're somewhere in the good or very
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  Speaker 2: good or excellent category, for example, and your number just
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  Speaker 2: summarizes it gives you a really good indicator of where
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  Speaker 2: you sit on that banding. And you know, that's how
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  Speaker 2: a lender will really look at that information say okay,
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  Speaker 2: you know what we do. Think that's good and that's
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  Speaker 2: how we base that number.
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  Speaker 1: Okay, So you're out of nine hundred and ninety nine.
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  Speaker 1: Equifax and TransUnion are out of different numbers. So Eqfacts
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  Speaker 1: I think is out of one thousand and TransUnion it's
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  Speaker 1: slightly lower out of seven hundred and ten.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, well, don't compare them side by side. It's good
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  Speaker 2: to check them all and you can do it for free,
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  Speaker 2: so you know, please do, but don't compare them side
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  Speaker 2: by side and say, right, my experience score is this?
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  Speaker 2: Why is my TransUnion score so low? Just view them
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  Speaker 2: individually and see how you sit on the banding with
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  Speaker 2: those credit reference agencies.
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  Speaker 1: Okay, And do any other organizations have credit scores for us?
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  Speaker 1: I mean, for example, does my bank have a credit
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  Speaker 1: score for me? Does my mortgage holder I have a
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  Speaker 1: credit score for me? Are there other numbers around the
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  Speaker 1: place that aren't with these three main unions?
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  Speaker 2: Yes? Well, just to make this, you know, even easier
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  Speaker 2: for you, there are different numbers, but you will not
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  Speaker 2: ever see those numbers. The only time the other number
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  Speaker 2: is generated for you is when you apply for something.
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  Speaker 2: So you'll apply, they will check the information on your
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  Speaker 2: credit report plus your application form information, so really your affordability, salary, dependents,
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  Speaker 2: other expenses and so on, and perhaps if you bank
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  Speaker 2: with them already their own information and at that point
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  Speaker 2: you apply, they'll generate a score for you. That's the
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  Speaker 2: score that determines do you get accepted or not? What's
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  Speaker 2: the interest rate going to be? What's the limit going
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  Speaker 2: to be? But they don't tell you what that number is,
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  Speaker 2: so you know, you'll know you were good enough if
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  Speaker 2: you get accepted and get the good rates, you'll know
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  Speaker 2: you are borderline if maybe the interest rate goes up
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  Speaker 2: a bit at the end, or you don't quite get
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  Speaker 2: the limit you want.
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  Speaker 1: Okay, all right, very useful, and I suppose the next
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  Speaker 1: obvious question to ask is how are those scores built.
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  Speaker 1: What goes into the building of the score. What are
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  Speaker 1: the agencies looking at?
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  Speaker 2: The score is built on lender feedback, so they tell
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  Speaker 2: us the credit reference agencies what's important, so you know
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  Speaker 2: what's important in terms of your payment history if you've
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  Speaker 2: made them on time, or in terms of the amount
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  Speaker 2: of debt you have missed payments, court judgments. There's lots
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  Speaker 2: of information that goes into calculating the score, but it's
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  Speaker 2: based primarily on how we work with and experience hundreds
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  Speaker 2: of lenders to figure out exactly what's important and how
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  Speaker 2: we build that score.
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  Speaker 1: Okay, so your school will be good if you have
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  Speaker 1: borrowed money always paid it back on time effectively.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, A good track record of managing credit. So you've
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  Speaker 2: had some sort of credit agreements in the past, you've
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  Speaker 2: paid them on time, and possibly in an ideal world,
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  Speaker 2: you have paid them off and closed them successfully. And
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  Speaker 2: then that's kind of how you build your track record
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  Speaker 2: of managing credit well, and that leads to generally a
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  Speaker 2: good score. There are other things that obviously impact it,
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  Speaker 2: so you know not just that, but how much current
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  Speaker 2: debt you are in, for example, will have a big influence.
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  Speaker 2: If you've got credit cards, how much you're borrowing on
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  Speaker 2: those and how close you are to the limit and
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  Speaker 2: so on. So your current debt levels have a big
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  Speaker 2: impact on your score as well. But the history is
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  Speaker 2: really important.
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  Speaker 1: Okay, I think there's an obvious question that comes out
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  Speaker 1: of that. I want to ask the obvious question first
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  Speaker 1: and then move on to asking you what makes your
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  Speaker 1: credit rating bad. The first question is if you are teller,
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  Speaker 1: for example, you asked us this question and you're in
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  Speaker 1: your early twenties and you have never borrowed money before,
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  Speaker 1: that means you don't have a credit score at all,
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  Speaker 1: or it means you have a bad credit score.
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  Speaker 2: It's no, it doesn't necessarily mean you have a bad
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  Speaker 2: credit score, So they're kind of what we call a
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  Speaker 2: thin file, so where you just have very limited information,
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  Speaker 2: which means the lender can make very little judgment about
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  Speaker 2: how well you'll manage credit. So you know, we always
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  Speaker 2: kind of talk then about the process of building your
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  Speaker 2: credit history, and it's kind of step by step process
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  Speaker 2: of getting some sort of information onto your credit report,
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  Speaker 2: managing it well through those credits, and then building it
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  Speaker 2: over time.
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  Speaker 3: There's anything you can do to boost the law, I mean,
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  Speaker 3: it's something that obviously had about is make sure you're
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  Speaker 3: in the electoral register or the voters roll and exactly.
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  Speaker 3: You know, because as far as the first thing you
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  Speaker 3: get crear that you don't like to be going for
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  Speaker 3: a mortgage, I mean to having a mobile phone contract,
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  Speaker 3: help all of these sorts of things.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, it does, actually, and it's a good point because
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  Speaker 2: in terms of building it, let's say, almost from scratch,
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  Speaker 2: getting on the electoral role is probably the first thing
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  Speaker 2: that I would suggest people do. So wherever they can,
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  Speaker 2: of course, get registered on the electoral role. That's your
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  Speaker 2: first bit. Your next bit is having a bank account.
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  Speaker 2: It doesn't matter if it's got an overdraft, but as
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  Speaker 2: long as you've got a bank account, it'll add some
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  Speaker 2: information on there, but don't have any problems with it
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  Speaker 2: if you can, so try not to go into unarranged
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  Speaker 2: borrowing and so on that can cause an issue. And
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  Speaker 2: then the next stage would kind of be thinking about
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  Speaker 2: getting a credit card. And that's because if you use
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  Speaker 2: that in the right way, and perhaps we'll talk about
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  Speaker 2: that in a moment, is they're quite easy to get
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  Speaker 2: and if you use them in the right way and
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  Speaker 2: pay them off in full, you don't pay the interest
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  Speaker 2: on it, and suddenly you've got a couple of accounts
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  Speaker 2: plus electoral role, you're building up some positive information on
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  Speaker 2: your credit reports. That's a great way to start that process.
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  Speaker 1: I think we had better go straight into what is
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  Speaker 1: using a credit card the right way? I mean, I
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  Speaker 1: think we would think using a credit card the right
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  Speaker 1: way is buying stuff with it, you know, of not
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  Speaker 1: being any interest. But you said that already. Is there
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  Speaker 1: something else involved in the right way?
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  Speaker 2: Well, it's just to do with the balance and how
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  Speaker 2: you use it on there. And of course this is
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  Speaker 2: the right way for you know, me as a credit
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  Speaker 2: reference agency, let's say, because what we want to see
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  Speaker 2: and what a lender likes to see is a very
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  Speaker 2: low balance but an active account. So the way to
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  Speaker 2: do that is spending a few pounds every month on
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  Speaker 2: something you would have bought anyway. So try not to
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  Speaker 2: buy something that you wouldn't have wanted to buy normally.
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  Speaker 2: That's how you kind of get into problems. But spend
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  Speaker 2: it on something the food shop once a month, something
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  Speaker 2: like that, pay it off in full every month, so
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  Speaker 2: you don't pay the interest on it. And so if
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  Speaker 2: you keep the balance slow, you keep it active, you
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  Speaker 2: don't pay the interest. That's a great way to keep
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  Speaker 2: your credit card running. Of course, there are people who
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  Speaker 2: use credit cards to do their normal spend on that's
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  Speaker 2: because they might get rewards points things like that on it,
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  Speaker 2: and there's nothing wrong with that. But if you're spending
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  Speaker 2: a large amount or getting very close to the limit
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  Speaker 2: every month, then that can show on your credit report
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  Speaker 2: and that could affect your credit score. So you probably
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  Speaker 2: want to avoid that right before you apply for something important.
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  Speaker 3: That's interesting because this is another thing of read about,
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  Speaker 3: this idea of not wanting to do too many things,
• 9:44
  Speaker 3: Like if you go to the personal finance websites, then
• 9:47
  Speaker 3: people often talk about who you apply for the new
• 9:49
  Speaker 3: buying account so you can get the sweach in bonuses
• 9:52
  Speaker 3: every six months or something like that. But then they
• 9:54
  Speaker 3: sort of say they don't do that. If you're about
• 9:57
  Speaker 3: to apply for either a mortgage or a personal loan,
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  Speaker 3: the big condity, can you give us an idea of
• 10:01
  Speaker 3: what the kind of lee we as and that sort
• 10:03
  Speaker 3: of stuff? Is there any sort of gay is there's
• 10:05
  Speaker 3: a less less of a big deal and what's more
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  Speaker 3: important to avoid?
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, so there's lots to that question. But the first
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  Speaker 2: part is we generally say, because when you apply for credit,
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  Speaker 2: it pops up on your credit report and it could
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  Speaker 2: lower your credit score, and so we say keep those
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  Speaker 2: two a minimum where you can. So probably a couple
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  Speaker 2: every few months is a good idea. And so you know,
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  Speaker 2: that's why we say probably a couple of months, two
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  Speaker 2: three months before you apply for something bigger like the mortgage,
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  Speaker 2: for example, you want to avoid applying for other types
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  Speaker 2: of credit just so you don't have those applications pop on.
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  Speaker 2: But the other part to your question is if you're
• 10:43
  Speaker 2: applying for something that you know has a value to it.
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  Speaker 2: So let's say you're taking out a loan or potentially
• 10:52
  Speaker 2: even using buy now Pay later, or something that would
• 10:54
  Speaker 2: add a balance of debt to your credit report. You
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  Speaker 2: again might want to avoid that before applying for something big,
• 11:02
  Speaker 2: just because of that will then impact into your affordability
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  Speaker 2: how much you're currently borrowing those kinds of things.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, one quick thing that you mentioned by an ope later,
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  Speaker 3: what is this theatis of that at the moment? And
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  Speaker 3: because I've not stayed fully abreast of this, and I
• 11:17
  Speaker 3: remember the sort of clown that stale stuff wasn't really
• 11:21
  Speaker 3: been clipt an eye And how's that change in or
• 11:24
  Speaker 3: what's going on with that?
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, that's an interesting question. But that there are by
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  Speaker 2: now pay later lenders who are sharing with credit reference agencies,
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  Speaker 2: now Klana being one of them. They share their information
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  Speaker 2: with us, and some of the others do with the
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  Speaker 2: other credit reference agencies as well. It doesn't factor into
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  Speaker 2: the credit score we give you yet because the sharing
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  Speaker 2: is so new, and there is regulation that is kind
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  Speaker 2: of proposed and coming down the line, which may mean
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  Speaker 2: that possibly next year twenty twenty six, they will be
• 11:56
  Speaker 2: regulated to share or by now pay later accounts with
• 11:59
  Speaker 2: credit reference agencies, So that might come down the line.
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  Speaker 2: But it may be that if you use certain ones
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  Speaker 2: they will share with a credit reference agency at the moment,
• 12:05
  Speaker 2: so you'll see those accounts pop onto your credit report.
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  Speaker 1: So let's talk about what makes your credit reading bad.
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  Speaker 1: What are the things that actively make it bad? I mean,
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  Speaker 1: I'm assuming things like coming account of good judgment against you,
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  Speaker 1: a bankruptcy and iva, that kind of thing. But is
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  Speaker 1: there anything else that will actively make it bad that
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  Speaker 1: might not be immediately obvious to people like that.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, of course, so these obviously are the things to
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  Speaker 2: try and avoid where possible. We've talked about applying for credits,
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  Speaker 2: so you know, lots of applications in a short space
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  Speaker 2: of time, that's likely to drop your credit score if
• 12:40
  Speaker 2: you've got lots of new accounts as well, so we
• 12:43
  Speaker 2: calculate the average age of your accounts. So really what
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  Speaker 2: we're saying is long running accounts are good. Loads of
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  Speaker 2: new accounts can kind of impact your credit score quite significantly,
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  Speaker 2: especially if they're under a year old. And then the
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  Speaker 2: next part is payment history. It's a really big part
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  Speaker 2: of your score, so missed payments, even one of them,
• 13:03
  Speaker 2: could impact your credit score by quite a lot. So
• 13:06
  Speaker 2: you know, really important to have the direct debits set up,
• 13:09
  Speaker 2: make sure things are paid on time, even the mobile
• 13:11
  Speaker 2: phone contract, you know, the smaller bills that you think, actually,
• 13:14
  Speaker 2: you know what, that's not going to have much of
• 13:16
  Speaker 2: an impact. It will still impact your credit report if
• 13:19
  Speaker 2: you miss it.
• 13:19
  Speaker 1: Does that include your electricity bill and your water bill
• 13:22
  Speaker 1: and all that sort of thing.
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  Speaker 2: Yes, they are shared with credit reference agencies as well,
• 13:27
  Speaker 2: so you know, if you're missing those payments and also
• 13:29
  Speaker 2: incurring debt for missing those payments, yes, that will show
• 13:32
  Speaker 2: on the credit report as well. You talked about county
• 13:35
  Speaker 2: court judgments, so court judgments, anything to do with insolvency
• 13:38
  Speaker 2: like an IVA or bankruptcy will obviously have a significant
• 13:42
  Speaker 2: impact on your credit score. But the biggest thing that
• 13:45
  Speaker 2: actually does have an impact on your score is what
• 13:48
  Speaker 2: we call a defaulted account. So that's an account where
• 13:51
  Speaker 2: you haven't paid it in probably somewhere around three to
• 13:55
  Speaker 2: six months, and the lender has then closed the account
• 13:58
  Speaker 2: with an outstanding set as a default stays on your
• 14:02
  Speaker 2: report for six years from that point, and that has
• 14:05
  Speaker 2: a really big impact on getting credit. So, you know,
• 14:07
  Speaker 2: my biggest advice actually in that scenario is if you're
• 14:11
  Speaker 2: missing payments or you're going to miss payments and you're
• 14:14
  Speaker 2: in that place where you will go on the road
• 14:17
  Speaker 2: to potentially a default is speak to the lender straight away,
• 14:21
  Speaker 2: try and set some sort of payment arrangement up that
• 14:24
  Speaker 2: at least stops it going to a default. Or as
• 14:26
  Speaker 2: well as that, speak to a free debt advice provider,
• 14:29
  Speaker 2: your step change pay plan, someone like that who can
• 14:32
  Speaker 2: really help sort out you know, your kind of finances
• 14:35
  Speaker 2: and budget and so on, and find the right solution
• 14:36
  Speaker 2: for you.
• 14:37
  Speaker 1: Let's say I'm playing for a mortgage and my credit
• 14:41
  Speaker 1: score with experience with all of them is not excellent
• 14:44
  Speaker 1: but very good. What's the difference in the interest rate
• 14:48
  Speaker 1: that I'm likely to get offered for a mortgage?
• 14:50
  Speaker 2: That's a that's a very difficult question to answer, so well,
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  Speaker 2: let's don't focus on that too much. And the reason
• 14:55
  Speaker 2: I say that is, like I explained earlier, what happens
• 14:58
  Speaker 2: is the lender doesn't see the score we give you.
• 15:00
  Speaker 2: They see the information on the credit report, but they
• 15:03
  Speaker 2: use that in conjunction with that your affordability information. So
• 15:08
  Speaker 2: you might have a huge deposit. I'm sure you've been
• 15:10
  Speaker 2: saving for a long time, so you've got that. Your
• 15:12
  Speaker 2: salary is great, your other expenses are minimal, and that
• 15:17
  Speaker 2: you know, together they calculate that and give you their
• 15:20
  Speaker 2: own score, and that might mean that you get, you know,
• 15:23
  Speaker 2: a very very good interest rate. If there is an
• 15:27
  Speaker 2: issue with affordability or with negative information on your credit report,
• 15:31
  Speaker 2: that's where you might start to see the interest rate
• 15:33
  Speaker 2: is getting a little bit higher when you apply. But
• 15:36
  Speaker 2: that's down to each individual lender, how they judge it,
• 15:39
  Speaker 2: how they you know, assess that score, and you know
• 15:42
  Speaker 2: what rate they give you. At the end, you're.
• 15:44
  Speaker 1: Saying that there may be no difference between the interest
• 15:46
  Speaker 1: rate I'm offered if I'm very good or excellence. Are
• 15:49
  Speaker 1: so subjective, isn't it?
• 15:51
  Speaker 2: It's well, I wouldn't say subjective because it's slightly so
• 15:57
  Speaker 2: I guess it's scientific in the sense that you know,
• 15:59
  Speaker 2: there's just it's a lot of data to look at
• 16:01
  Speaker 2: and judge, but each lender will be slightly different in
• 16:05
  Speaker 2: how they assess it. So I don't want people to
• 16:07
  Speaker 2: get hung up on the fact that they're twelve points
• 16:10
  Speaker 2: away from being in the excellent category, because that will
• 16:13
  Speaker 2: have very minimal impact on, you know, how the lender
• 16:17
  Speaker 2: judges the information. It's really about making sure your credit
• 16:20
  Speaker 2: reports in a good place and then obviously they factor
• 16:23
  Speaker 2: in the other information as well.
• 16:25
  Speaker 1: Yeah, it's a bit late for that, John Binnis, because
• 16:27
  Speaker 1: we had target driven people and John and now the
• 16:30
  Speaker 1: second we finish here will be going online and we'll
• 16:32
  Speaker 1: be trying to find out what our score is at
• 16:33
  Speaker 1: each one if where it doesn't matter how far up
• 16:35
  Speaker 1: we are off Eklanent, We're both going for it and
• 16:37
  Speaker 1: it will be a competition. I'm going to be age
• 16:39
  Speaker 1: long before right now. Well, absolutely absolutely, he's already. I
• 16:43
  Speaker 1: don't know. We'll be finding out in the next ten minutes.
• 16:46
  Speaker 3: And the all other thing I wanted to Johin was see,
• 16:48
  Speaker 3: if you do have buyed credit, how do you repeal that?
• 16:52
  Speaker 3: Like say, if i'd I don't know, a dodgy kind
• 16:55
  Speaker 3: of like yeah, you know in the twenties, but no,
• 16:57
  Speaker 3: you're a responsible adults. Should you start with?
• 17:01
  Speaker 2: Well, look, the good news I'd start with is that
• 17:04
  Speaker 2: generally information on your report stays for six years, so
• 17:07
  Speaker 2: there's always light at the end of the tunnel. If
• 17:09
  Speaker 2: there's something negative, the thing I would say is key
• 17:12
  Speaker 2: is just keeping on tracks. So you might have some
• 17:14
  Speaker 2: negative stuff, it's about okay, can that negative stuff be
• 17:19
  Speaker 2: brought up to date? If you've been missing payments and
• 17:21
  Speaker 2: kind of turn that into a positive, keep that running well,
• 17:25
  Speaker 2: and depending on what it is, it might mean that
• 17:27
  Speaker 2: you focus on other accounts. So those basics that we
• 17:31
  Speaker 2: talked about earlier, you know, having the bank account, maybe
• 17:33
  Speaker 2: having the credit card, and just focusing on those and
• 17:37
  Speaker 2: keeping them running well, on time, paid, on time, balance
• 17:41
  Speaker 2: is low, and then at some point the other negative
• 17:44
  Speaker 2: information might drop off the report and it has less
• 17:46
  Speaker 2: of a negative impact on your score over time. So
• 17:49
  Speaker 2: it's kind of just focusing on doing good things while
• 17:52
  Speaker 2: you can and with what you can, and then it
• 17:54
  Speaker 2: will start to improve over time. The other thing I
• 17:57
  Speaker 2: would say, as well, as you know kind of when
• 17:58
  Speaker 2: we're talking about the negative bit well and the applying
• 18:01
  Speaker 2: for credit process is actually there are lots of services
• 18:04
  Speaker 2: available to search for credits or primarily credit cards, loans,
• 18:09
  Speaker 2: car finance, and in a way for mortgages as well.
• 18:13
  Speaker 2: But use comparison sites and eligibility services to check for
• 18:18
  Speaker 2: credits or we've got one. There are lots of them
• 18:21
  Speaker 2: out there, and the reason you use those is they
• 18:24
  Speaker 2: don't impact your credit score when you do the search.
• 18:26
  Speaker 2: It's a bit like searching for house insurance online. Their
• 18:29
  Speaker 2: soft searches don't impact your credit score, but they will
• 18:32
  Speaker 2: give you a very good idea of who will accept
• 18:35
  Speaker 2: you and what kind of deals you can get. And
• 18:37
  Speaker 2: you could even get pre approved as well, which is
• 18:39
  Speaker 2: always a delight to know before you actually apply, so
• 18:43
  Speaker 2: you know if anyone does, if anyone's looking for credit,
• 18:46
  Speaker 2: even if they're in a good place or they have
• 18:49
  Speaker 2: negative information, it's a great place to do your kind
• 18:51
  Speaker 2: of credit research. I know you said about ADMIN earlier.
• 18:53
  Speaker 2: It's more ADMIN, but it means that you know, you
• 18:56
  Speaker 2: get a really good idea of who you should approach,
• 18:58
  Speaker 2: rather than just applying to anyone who you've seen and
• 19:00
  Speaker 2: possibly getting refused.
• 19:02
  Speaker 1: If I can look up my credit score this easily,
• 19:05
  Speaker 1: can other people look at my credit score?
• 19:08
  Speaker 2: No?
• 19:08
  Speaker 1: Why not?
• 19:09
  Speaker 2: So when you say open an account with a credit
• 19:12
  Speaker 2: reference agency, we go through lots of checks to make
• 19:15
  Speaker 2: sure it's you that is setting up an account. To
• 19:19
  Speaker 2: check your credit report and score, we verify information across
• 19:23
  Speaker 2: public record information like electoral role account information to verify
• 19:27
  Speaker 2: that it's definitely you and if there's any issues with that.
• 19:30
  Speaker 2: We also go through further checks to check your ID
• 19:33
  Speaker 2: documents and possibly bills or statements as well to make
• 19:37
  Speaker 2: sure that we do not show anyone else your information.
• 19:41
  Speaker 1: Okay, good, I'm sttle nervous about my electricity bill now
• 19:44
  Speaker 1: and everyone else looking it up, so I think we're
• 19:47
  Speaker 1: all good. John, thank you so much for being with
• 19:51
  Speaker 1: us today.
• 19:51
  Speaker 2: We really appreciate it. Not glad to be here.
• 19:54
  Speaker 3: Yes, thank you.
• 20:00
  Speaker 1: Thanks for listening to this week's Marin Talks to Your Money.
• 20:02
  Speaker 1: If you like us show, rate, review, and subscribe wherever
• 20:05
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• 20:07
  Speaker 1: John on x or Twitter at marinasw and John Underscore
• 20:11
  Speaker 1: step Bax. This episode was produced by Somemasadi, tala Amadi
• 20:14
  Speaker 1: and Moses and Production of Sport and sound designed by
• 20:17
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• 20:20
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• 20:23
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