Who can see your credit report

Your credit report is a record of your financial history that lenders look at when you apply for credit, and access to it is limited. It can only be seen by you, or by someone with your permission, which you grant to lenders when you apply for a loan¹. Not everything about you is on it: no one will see your criminal history or your bank account balances, for example¹. The three credit reference agencies in the UK, Equifax, Experian and TransUnion, hold the information².

Who actually gets to look depends on who they are and why they are asking. Lenders you apply to, landlords and letting agents, some employers, utility and mobile phone firms and debt collectors each follow different rules about permission, and each type of search leaves a different mark on your file. This page sets out who can see what, and what your rights are when they do.

Only people with a legal reason or your permission can see your credit report

The starting point is simple: your credit report is your data, and the law treats it that way. A lender or landlord can only pass on information about your agreements with your consent, and failing to get that consent is a breach of the Data Protection Act 2018⁷. When you apply for credit, you grant permission for the lender to search your file; that permission is the legal basis for the search, not a general free-for-all.

Some people can see parts of your financial record without touching your credit report at all, because that information sits on public registers. Anyone can access the Individual Insolvency Register, though it is unlikely anyone except the people you owe money to will search it⁸. The Breathing Space register works differently: only creditors who have had a debt included in your breathing space can access it, and they can only view their own debt along with your details⁹. A proposed single register for statutory debt repayment plans would be accessible only to debt advice providers, creditors and debtors themselves¹⁰.

Debt collectors are bound by privacy rules too. The people you owe money to cannot discuss your debt with anyone but you, unless you give permission or the debt is in joint names¹¹. So a creditor or collector cannot ring your family, your employer or your landlord and talk about what you owe.

Employers and landlords can also check your credit report, although they will usually only see public record information, such as electoral register information, insolvency records and County Court Judgments, or Decrees in Scotland¹². Potential employers, mainly only those within the financial sector, must have your written consent before they look².

One thing that does not happen: checking your own credit file is private. The only people who see when you check your own file is the credit reference agency⁶.

Lenders, banks and mortgage providers

Lenders are the most common users of credit reports. A credit report consists of information about your financial history, which lenders look at to judge your suitability for their credit products¹. When you apply for a credit card, the provider will check your credit record with a credit reference agency to see if you are credit worthy¹³. Mortgage lenders go further: a lender will look at your bank statements and pay slips as well when it assesses your mortgage application¹⁴.

Joint applications widen what a lender sees. If you apply for a joint mortgage, lenders run a credit check on each applicant, and one party's poor credit score could affect the decision. A missed mortgage payment will show up on both credit reports, regardless of whose fault it was¹⁵. The same principle applies to joint accounts: if you are financially linked to a partner, the lender can have full access to your credit file in the same way it could if it were you applying for credit¹⁶. More generally, if you have a financial connection with someone, like a joint account or joint mortgage, lenders may look at that person's report when judging your application for a new loan¹⁷.

Buy now pay later firms are now part of this picture too. BNPL lenders are now sharing information with credit reference agencies, including details of purchases, late payments and unpaid purchases¹⁸. Some providers leave more of a trace than others: while some BNPL providers, such as Klarna and Clearpay, did not leave any trace of interest-free borrowing on your credit report, others, such as OpenPay and Laybuy, did¹⁹.

Lenders also look at your file after they have lent to you. FCA rules on monitoring a customer's repayment record apply to firms doing this, though the rule does not apply in relation to a credit card unless the card is a business credit card²⁰. If a lender refuses you credit because it worked out your credit score just by using a computer, you can ask it to review the decision by an employee of the lender²¹.

Utility and mobile phone firms

Anything that involves paying for something over time can involve a credit check. A bad credit rating can affect your ability to rent a home, get a mobile phone contract or anything else that requires a credit check²². Utility firms and mobile phone companies are effectively lending you the service in advance, so they want to know how you have managed credit before.

Not every account with a bank involves a full check, though. If you open a basic bank account, which has no credit check, you need to give permission for a soft search of your credit file. This is to check your identity and does not affect your credit score²³. So the type of account or contract you are signing up for determines the depth of the search, not just the type of company.

Soft or hard search: what each one leaves on your file

The distinction that matters most to your score is between soft and hard searches. Hard checks involve a full search of your credit report and leave a footprint on your credit file that is visible to other lenders for at least 12 months, and they can impact your credit report and score⁵. The more hard searches you have recorded on your file, the more detrimental it is to your overall credit score¹.

Soft searches are different. Whilst soft searches are noted on your report, lenders generally cannot see them¹. Soft searches do not leave any trace on your credit history, unlike the hard searches conducted when you apply²⁴. That is why eligibility checkers and identity checks use soft searches: they let a firm, or you, look without changing what future lenders see.

The practical effect is that a cluster of hard searches in a short period can make you look desperate for credit to the next lender, while soft searches, however many, leave the picture unchanged. The dedicated guide to hard and soft credit searches covers this in more detail, and eligibility checkers explains how to use soft-search tools before committing to an application.

Landlords and letting agents: permission and soft searches only

Landlords and letting agents are among the most common non-lenders to look at your file, and the rules around them are strict. They can only do a credit check if you agree³. Landlords and agents can only do a soft search⁴, which means they only see information that is already public, for example if you have County Court Judgments, an IVA or bankruptcy⁴. In Scotland, they can only check your credit rating if you give them written permission²⁵.

What a landlord's search does not show matters as much as what it does. Credit searches do not show if you have missed rent payments in the past, but they usually show if you are bankrupt or have County Court Judgments²⁶. The credit check does not tell landlords if you have missed rent payments, though some landlords might check on landlord websites⁴. And a credit check does not affect your credit score⁴, because it is a soft search.

Not every landlord checks at all. Landlords who do not use letting agents are less likely to carry out credit checks²⁷. In Wales, many private landlords run credit checks on prospective contract-holders²⁸. If you are on a debt solution, landlords get a limited view of your credit score and your debt solution on a public register²⁹.

If you are worried about what a landlord will find, the guides on renting with a poor credit history, tenant credit checks and rent payments and your credit file go into the detail.

What landlords can ask for instead of a credit check

A credit check is only one part of tenant referencing. Landlords or agents usually check that you are a reliable tenant and that you can afford the rent, and they must also check your immigration status before they rent to you⁴. Most landlords and letting agents will check what they think you can afford by looking at your income and credit score³.

For the parts a credit search cannot answer, landlords turn to people and documents:

• References from a current or previous landlord, or your employer⁴
• Bank statements or proof of income³
• A guarantor³
• Rent in advance³
• Other proof you can afford the rent³

In Scotland, your landlord can ask for a copy of your passport or driving licence to prove your identity, copies of payslips or bank statements to prove you can afford the rent, and contact details for previous landlords for a reference²⁵.

If you pay a holding deposit, the checks it covers are your references, whether you can pay the rent, and your credit history³⁰. That deposit has rules of its own, and the checks must be finished within the agreed timeframe or the deposit returned.

Your rights when a landlord checks you

You have rights at every stage of the process. Landlords can only access your credit file with your consent³¹, and they need your permission to check your credit history when you apply to rent³². They cannot charge you for it: landlords and agents cannot charge fees for these checks⁴, and in England they cannot charge you for credit checks or other reference checks³. In Scotland, they should not charge a fee for doing a credit check for you or your guarantor; these are illegal fees and you can claim them back²⁵.

You also have rights against unfair refusals:

• A landlord or agent should not refuse to rent to you just because you claim benefits³, and provided you can afford the rent, landlords cannot discriminate against you for receiving benefits³³.
• It is against the law for landlords and agents to say they will not rent to you because you claim benefits²⁶.
• From 1 May 2026, the law makes it illegal for a private landlord to discriminate against you because you claim benefits or because you have children who live with you or visit you³⁴.
• It is against the law to discriminate because of race, ethnicity or nationality⁴.

The limits of the rules are worth knowing too. Some landlords and rental companies do credit checks and may not rent to you if you have bad credit²⁹. Many private landlords and letting agencies will insist on credit checks when you apply for a tenancy, and because a debt relief order will show up on your credit report, you may be turned down or charged higher fees³⁵. If you believe a landlord has refused you unfairly, Citizens Advice and Shelter can help you challenge it, and the guide to what to do if you are refused credit covers the wider picture.

When your file changes: notices and corrections

You can add a note to your file to explain information on it. A notice of correction is a short statement you can ask a credit reference agency to add, and only organisations that are actively checking your credit reference file will see the notice³⁶. This can be useful if, for example, a debt on your file relates to a period of illness or to economic abuse by a former partner.

Lenders can also change what is on your file. Each of the credit reference agencies provides lenders with the facilities to make their own changes to the information you see on your credit file¹⁶. When an entry is amended, the agency will also send the details to any lender that has searched your credit reference file in the last six months²¹, so a correction can reach firms that saw the old version.

If something on your file is wrong, the guides on correcting your credit report, the notice of correction and your data rights set out the process step by step.

Checking your own report with TransUnion, Equifax and Experian

You have the legal right to check your report for free with all three main agencies³⁷. There are three credit reference agencies in the UK that store information about your credit history: Equifax, Experian and TransUnion². Experian's report and score are free via the Experian app, and you can also access your TransUnion credit report for free via the Money Saving Expert Credit Club³⁷.

You can apply for your credit report either online or through a statutory application from the three main credit reference agencies¹². You can view it online for free with adverts, or ask an agency to post a copy to you³⁸. You can also contact a credit reference agency and ask for a free copy of your credit report under the Data Protection Act 2018³⁹. A paper copy may carry a one-off small fee⁴⁰, and some routes charge a small fee¹³, so check before you use a service.

Do not expect the three reports to match. Lenders do not always choose to share the same information with all three agencies, so the report you get from each might be slightly different⁴⁰. Each CRA gets different information from lenders, which means your credit file may not look the same across them³⁸. The guide to why your score differs between agencies explains this in full.

Checking your own file costs you nothing beyond a few minutes, and it is worth doing before any big application. The guides on how to check your credit report for free and how often to check it cover the practical steps.

Where to get free help

If you are worried about who has seen your file, or about what is on it, free and impartial help is available:

• Citizens Advice can help with credit records, refusals and County Court Judgments, including getting a free copy of your report to check for a CCJ⁷.
• Shelter (England) and Shelter Cymru (Wales) advise on credit checks, referencing and renting with a poor credit history³.
• StepChange Debt Charity, National Debtline and Business Debtline give free debt advice and explain how debt solutions appear on your file⁶.
• MoneyHelper offers free guidance on rent arrears and your rights as a tenant³³.
• Surviving Economic Abuse supports people whose credit file has been damaged by an abusive partner¹².
• The Information Commissioner's Office is the regulator to contact if you believe your data has been shared without your consent¹⁶.

If a lender or credit reference agency will not correct something wrong on your file, you can complain to the Financial Ombudsman Service after giving the firm a chance to resolve it. The guide to consumer protection in UK financial services explains how the complaints process works.