Your credit report consists of all your credit and loan applications, payment history, debts and other vital financial information that helps lenders judge if you’re a good or bad candidate for credit when you apply for it.
Credit reports are produced by specialist credit reference agencies (CRAs), and each agency has its own scoring system and method of calculating your credit score. There are free versions, free trials and paid-for credit reports, so we’ve compared what you get to help you decide which is right for you.
How can I get my credit report for free?
There are several companies offering a free credit report, though some may only provide limited information in the free report or only offer a free report during a trial of a paid-for service. Under data protection rules, you also have the legal right to request your credit report data for free from any credit rating agency. However, this free “statutory report” only offers a limited version of your full credit history and won’t tell you your credit score.
Most credit rating agencies will let you access your comprehensive report and credit score in return for a fee or monthly subscription. There are three main credit reference agencies in the UK, Equifax, Experian and TransUnion (formerly Callcredit), and each of these offers a free statutory version of your credit report and a free trial as well as a monthly paid version.
Types of credit report
There are three main types of credit report available:
Statutory credit report. As part of the General Data Protection Regulation, credit reference agencies have to give you a version of your credit report for free. This type of credit report doesn’t include your credit score but can be useful if you want to see what activity has appeared on your credit history.
Free trial credit report. Most of the leading credit rating agencies will let you access your full credit report on a free trial basis – generally for up to 30 days, after which you’ll need to pay a monthly fee to keep accessing your credit report. Some CRAs will continue to let you check your credit score for free once your trial has ended, while others may give you free ongoing access through another service.
Paid credit report. This is the premium credit report that you can get from the major credit rating agencies: Experian, Equifax and TransUnion. To have access to your premium credit report, you’ll generally need to pay a monthly subscription of around £7-£15.
Who offers a free credit report?
Experian
Equifax
TransUnion
UK Credit Ratings
checkmyfile
ClearScore
Endole
Credit Karma
MoneySuperMarket
TotallyMoney – Credit Score
Student Credit Checker
CreditWise – CapitalOne
Creditsafe
Credit Angel
How can I get a free credit report online?
Most credit reference agencies, including the three major CRAs, will let you access the free version of your credit report online. You’ll just need to apply via the agency’s website by providing personal details such as your name and address and bank card details.
You’ll generally be able to access your credit report online for free for up to 30 days on a trial basis. After the trial ends, your card will be charged a monthly fee for ongoing access to your report, but you can cancel this at any time during the trial period.
You can also request a paper copy of your credit report be sent to your address.
How to get a free Experian credit report
You can get free access to your Experian credit report and CreditExpert service by using a 30-day trial. Once your trial ends, you’ll still be able to view your Experian credit score, but you won’t have access to your full credit report.
How to get a free Equifax credit report
As with Experian, you can also get your Equifax credit report through a 30-day free trial. However, you can also continue to get free ongoing access to both your Equifax credit score and credit report through the ClearScore service.
How to get a free TransUnion credit report
TransUnion offers free access to its credit score and report through its Credit Karma service, which also lets you check which loans and credit cards you’re likely to be approved for based on your current credit score.
How can I get a free credit report from all three agencies?
As explained above, the three major credit reference agencies all offer free trials on their credit reports, and are also legally required to offer ongoing access to your free statutory credit report.
However, you can also get a credit report that includes data from all three agencies by applying for the checkmyfile credit report. As with the other agencies, checkmyfile offers a free trial period on its credit report service, which means you can get free access to the data from all three major agencies for up to 30 days.
Why is it important to check your credit report?
To be across your finances, you should know what’s on your credit report. A yearly check and amending any mistakes can help improve your chance of getting loans, including a mortgage, and getting credit card applications approved.
Spotting incorrect personal information. Details of your current address, employment information and other personal details need to be accurate when applying for credit.
Checking for incorrect negative information. Negative information may include past due or unpaid debts, collections, bankruptcy, court judgements and repossessions, all of which make your credit history look bad to lenders. Any incorrect information needs to be disputed and fixed so your credit report remains healthy.
Protecting your identity. It’s possible that there’s an account listed on your credit report that’s not yours. This needs to be addressed with the credit reporting agencies as soon as possible so your credit score isn’t affected.
Accessing credit. Lenders are more likely to approve your credit application if you currently have little to no debt, have a history of making payments on time and have a stable job and address.
What is a good credit score?
Each major credit reference agency has its own unique credit scoring system, so what constitutes a good credit score will depend on the agency you’re using.
Credit rating agency
Credit score ratings
Experian
Very poor: 0-560
Poor: 561-720
Fair: 721-880
Good: 881-960
Excellent: 961-999
Equifax
Poor: 0–438
Fair: 439–530
Good: 531–670
Very good: 671–810
Excellent: 811–1,000
TransUnion
Very poor: 0-550
Poor: 551-565
Fair: 566-603
Good: 604-627
Excellent: 628-710
What is included in my credit report?
Personal information. Your credit report will contain personal details including your name and date of birth, your current address, where you work, your driver’s licence details and your gender.
Default notes. This is information on any overdue debts you might have, payments you’ve missed on loans and utility bills and other serious credit infringements.
Information that is public record. This section will contain any information that is held in the public record, including bankruptcy notes, county court judgments, personal insolvency agreements and directorship or proprietorship information.
Consumer credit information. This includes credit applications you’ve made over the past six years (whether they were approved or not); the type of credit accounts, such as credit card or personal loans; account open and close dates; the credit limit of the accounts; your monthly repayment history on credit accounts and details on overdue accounts. If you’ve been rejected for a loan or other credit product, this will still be listed on your report and will have a negative impact on your credit score.
Commercial credit information. Details of credit enquiries you have made for commercial purposes and overdue commercial credit accounts are included in this section.
Joint applicants. If you’ve applied for any loans or credit cards as a joint borrower, this will be listed on your report.
How often can I get a free credit report?
The major credit reference agencies will only let you access your credit report for free during a limited trial period, which is usually 30 days. You can view and access your free credit report as often as you want during that time, but once your trial period has ended, you’ll need to pay a monthly fee in order to keep access to your report.
Under GDPR law, you can request your free statutory credit report whenever you like in the UK, but this version of your report will not contain your credit score.
How often is my credit report updated?
Credit reference agencies may updated your credit file with new information at any time, for example, when you apply for a new loan or credit card and the lender reports this to the agency, and this means your credit score can also change frequently.
However, in most circumstances, your credit report is generally updated once per month (or once every 30 days). You are free to check your credit report at any time, and can request your free statutory credit report once per week, and many agencies will also send you an alert when your credit file has been updated.
Frequently asked questions
Yes, even if you have never applied for a credit product with a bank or standalone lender, you may still have a credit report. If you’ve had a mobile phone contract or held a utility contract in your name, this is a form of credit. You may have also had interest-free store finance, which is a type of credit card and is listed on your credit file.
Yes. All credit enquiries are listed on your file and any refused applications may be a red flag to lenders. Avoid making too many applications in a short space of time or you’ll have a hard time being approved for credit.
No, each credit rating agency uses its own scoring system, and there’s no universal credit score or credit report rating system.
Tom Stelzer is a writer for Finder specialising in personal finance, including loans and credit, as well as small business and business loans. He has previously worked as a freelance writer covering entertainment, culture and football for publications like FourFourTwo and Man of Many. He has a Master of Media Arts and Production and Bachelor of Communications in Journalism from the University of Technology Sydney.
Learn the facts about loan applications and your credit score plus what you can do to minimise the impact.
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