The UK credit reference agencies: Experian, Equifax and TransUnion

Credit reference agencies are companies that keep records of how adults in the UK borrow and repay money. There are three main ones: Experian, Equifax and TransUnion, the last formerly known as Callcredit¹. They hold certain information about most adults in the UK, and lenders look at it when you apply for a credit card, loan, mortgage or sometimes a bank account or a tenancy³.

What they do not do is decide whether you get credit. That decision belongs to the lender. The agencies supply the information; each lender scores it against its own rules and makes its own choice⁴. There is no blacklist of people who should not be lent to², and being refused by one lender does not put you on a list that others will see.

What credit reference agencies do, and what they do not decide

The Consumer Credit Act 1974 defines a credit reference agency as "a person carrying on a business comprising the furnishing of persons with information relevant to the financial standing of individuals, collected by the agency for that purpose"⁸. In plain terms, they gather facts about borrowing and repayment and sell access to those facts to lenders and other organisations.

The information is used for more than lending decisions. The Information Commissioner's Office (ICO), the regulator for data protection, explains that it is also used to verify people's identity, age and residency, to identify and track fraud, to combat money laundering and to help recover payment of debts⁹. So a credit reference agency may be checked when you open a current account, take out a phone contract or rent a home, not only when you borrow.

Two common misconceptions are worth clearing up. First, the agencies do not have a "blacklist" of people who should not get credit². They hold records of accounts, payments and public entries, and each lender interprets them in its own way. Second, the agencies do not need your permission to hold this data. The ICO states that data protection law does not require the CRAs, or any other organisation, to have your consent before processing your personal data⁹. What the law does give you is the right to see it, to challenge it and to have mistakes corrected, covered later on this page.

If you are refused credit, the lender will not show you the score it gave you, but if you ask it must tell you which credit reference agency it used to get information about you⁴. That tells you which file to check first.

Experian, Equifax and TransUnion: why each holds a different file

The UK's three main consumer credit reference agencies are Experian, Equifax and TransUnion⁹. Around 25 firms in total are approved by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) to offer credit reference services, but the three big ones dominate consumer lending, and free score services such as Credit Karma and ClearScore are built on data from these agencies rather than being agencies themselves⁷.

The reason your file can look different at each one is simple: lenders choose who to report to. The ICO states that there is no requirement under data protection law for lenders to report data to all the CRAs; it is up to the lender to decide which CRA it wishes to use, if any⁹. Each agency gets different information from lenders, which means your credit file may not look the same from one to the next¹¹.

That has a practical consequence. If you are checking your file before applying for something important, such as a mortgage, checking with all three agencies covers the different records they keep, because a missed payment recorded at only one agency will be invisible to you if that is the only file you never look at¹². Not all lenders report to credit reference agencies, and some may only report to one or two of them, so a single file can never show the whole picture.

The agencies also generate some information themselves. The ICO notes that the information the CRAs are responsible for includes financial links between people, linked addresses and alias information⁹. Public records, covered next, reach all three through shared registers.

What goes on your credit file, and where it comes from

If you have ever had a credit card, a loan or a mortgage, at least one of the three main agencies holds a file on you¹³. The file is built from three broad sources.

• Lenders: banks, card issuers and loan companies report accounts, balances, credit limits and your record of payments, including missed ones¹².
• Public records: the electoral roll, county court judgments, and bankruptcy and insolvency data⁹. In Northern Ireland the agencies also pick up information from sources such as the Insolvency Register, advertisements of bankruptcies in newspapers, the Belfast Gazette and the Belfast Telegraph, and the Enforcement of Judgements Office¹⁴.
• The agencies themselves: financial links, linked addresses and aliases⁹.

Just as important is what does not go on it. A credit report does not include the amount of money in your current account, your salary, savings accounts, student loans, criminal record, medical history, parking or driving fines, or council tax arrears⁷. Council tax debts are not kept by credit reference agencies², and information for a new-style student loan taken out for courses that started on or after September 1998 is not generally passed to them⁶.

The detail of what each entry means is covered in what is on your credit report, and the wider picture of how scores are built from it in how lenders decide.

How long information stays: usually six years

Most information stays on your credit report for six years⁴. That single rule covers most of what people worry about, but the six years are counted from different starting points depending on the entry.

A default usually follows after you have missed between three and six months of payments⁶, and the Financial Ombudsman Service's payday lending report notes that a default will stay on the consumer's credit file for six years¹⁶. Lenders should notify consumers of their intention to register a default at least 28 days before doing so¹⁶.

The six-year rule is not an absolute. One debt charity notes that most information stays on your report for six years, "but this is not always the case"¹⁷. The full detail, including how long searches and fraud markers last, is in how long information stays on your credit file.

Checking your statutory credit report for free

You do not have to pay to see your credit file. You have a statutory right to request a copy of your credit reference report from the three main agencies, and making this request is free of charge⁹. Citizens Advice puts it plainly: a credit reference agency must give it to you for free if you ask for it⁴. This right comes from the Data Protection Act 2018².

Each agency can post a copy to you, or you can view your report online for free¹¹. Your report should be sent to you within seven working days unless the agency needs you to send proof of your identity and address⁶. The report itself is free of charge, though the agency will ask for details such as your card number to help find your record¹².

A number of agencies also offer a free one-month trial through which you can access your credit score, and free score-checking services exist more widely¹⁹. These are optional extras: the statutory report is the underlying record and it is always free. Paid monitoring services, and what they add, are covered in credit monitoring and paid report services.

The process, and the traps in the paid services, are set out step by step in how to check your credit report for free.

Credit scores: each agency uses its own scale

Each credit reference agency uses a slightly different scale for credit scoring²¹. A score is a summary the agency or a score service produces from your file, not a universal grade: the same borrowing history can produce different numbers at Experian, Equifax and TransUnion, and even the same number can sit in a different band at each agency.

Because the scales differ, a score is only meaningful alongside its own agency's bands. What matters more to a lender is the underlying file, and many lenders run your file through their own scoring system rather than using the agency's number at all. Citizens Advice notes that lenders will not tell you what your score is, but if you ask they must tell you which credit reference agency they used⁴.

The ranges at each agency, and how to read them, are covered in credit score ranges at Experian, Equifax and TransUnion, and why the numbers differ in why your score differs between agencies.

Hard and soft searches: 12 to 24 months on your file

When a lender checks your file, the check itself is recorded. A hard search, made when you apply for credit, leaves a footprint visible to other lenders for at least 12 months⁷. How long the footprint lasts depends on the agency:

• Experian: 12 months⁶
• Equifax: 12 months⁶
• TransUnion: up to 24 months⁶

A soft search, used by eligibility checkers and quote tools, is visible only to you and does not affect how lenders see your file. The difference between the two, and how to use eligibility checkers without leaving footprints, is explained in hard and soft credit searches and credit eligibility checkers.

When a lender refuses you: what it must tell you

If a lender refuses you credit after checking your credit reference file, it must tell you why credit has been refused and give you the details of the credit reference agency it used⁴. This duty is written into law: section 157 of the Consumer Credit Act 1974 requires a creditor that decides not to proceed with an agreement on the basis of information from a credit reference agency to inform you of that fact and provide the agency's particulars, including its name, address and telephone number²².

You also have a right to ask whether a finance company used a credit reference agency, and it must give you the agency's name and address; it should also give you good reasons why you were turned down, including whether it used a credit-scoring system¹⁵.

One warning sign worth knowing: being refused credit, cards or a loan despite having a good credit rating is listed by the ICO as a possible sign of identity theft²³. If refusals make no sense, check your file for accounts you do not recognise. The next steps are in identity fraud and your credit file and what to do if you are refused credit.

Fixing mistakes and adding a notice of correction

Mistakes happen, and the law gives you a route to fix them. Under the Data Protection Act 2018, where a credit reference agency discloses your data to you it must tell you about your rights under section 159 of the Consumer Credit Act 1974 to have wrong information corrected¹⁸. The ICO's guidance on rectification says to state clearly what you believe is inaccurate or incomplete, explain how the organisation should correct it, and provide evidence of the inaccuracies where you can²⁴.

There is a limit to what an agency can do on its own. The ICO says CRAs cannot amend data on credit files provided by other companies without that company's permission²⁵. So a wrong balance reported by a lender usually has to be corrected at the lender, with the agency then updating its record. The agency should remove the information or explain why it will not within 28 days²⁵.

Where information is accurate but the circumstances were exceptional, such as redundancy leading to debt, you can ask the agency to add a "notice of correction": a note of up to 200 words explaining why you got into debt or why you think information on your report is wrong². The House of Commons Library notes that CRAs will not remove adverse information if it is correct, although consumers may ask to submit a notice of correction²⁵. The notice is seen by anyone who looks at that entry on your file and should be taken into consideration if you apply for credit⁹.

The step-by-step process is in how to correct wrong information on your credit report, and the notice itself in Notice of Correction on your credit report.

Complaints: the 28-day deadline and the Financial Ombudsman

If an agency will not correct something, or a lender has reported data you dispute, you can take it further. The route runs in three stages.

1. Raise the dispute with the agency or lender. The agency should correct the entry or explain why it will not within 28 days²⁵.
2. Make a formal complaint to the firm. A financial business should look into things and reply within eight weeks²⁶. If it does not send a final response within eight weeks, or you are unhappy with its response, you can take the complaint further²⁸.
3. Complain to the Financial Ombudsman Service. You must do this within 6 months of getting the final response from the business²⁹. The ombudsman can look at complaints about credit reference agencies, lenders and debt collectors, including unaffordable lending claims³⁰.

The ombudsman is free to use. Its decisions can include compensation, and if a business fails to pay an award by the deadline, interest can be added³¹. If you would rather talk the problem through first, free debt advice charities such as StepChange and Business DebtLine can help you check your file and challenge entries¹¹, and Citizens Advice explains the whole process of how lenders decide and what to do when they say no⁴.