To access the best mortgage deals it is important to have a good credit rating. You can check your credit score for free with one of the main three credit reference agencies in the UK: Experian, Equifax and TransUnion. You can use your report to identify areas that you need to improve.
There are numerous steps you can take to improve your own rating, plus ensuring that all of your debts are repaid on time and you will lowering your bills.
Read our ultimate guide to alter your credit rating for the full lowdown. We’ve also put together a 12-times package to a better credit score, which breaks it down into easy-to-follow steps.
5. Register in order to vote
Before you make a mortgage application, make sure you are on the electoral register as this can improve your credit score by around 50 issues. It also allows lenders to check that you are who you say you are and make sure the details on your application are accurate.
If you are not registered to vote, you can sign up online. It only takes about five minutes and you’ll need your National Insurance number to hand. Check the Government’s website to see if you are qualified.
6. Maintain your expenses repayments
Another important thing you can do to boost your credit rating and you can probability of having your application accepted is always to keep the bill payments.
Lenders will check your credit report to see how you’ve managed your finances in the past and use this data to predict your future behaviour. Missing just one payment can knock off around 130 facts from your credit score. But if you have a good credit score and a solid history of repaying your bills on time, this will work in your favour.
Ideally, you want to pay your credit card balance off in full each month to avoid all interest and charges. But if this is not possible, you need to pay at least the minimal percentage, so that your credit file isn’t affected. Consider setting up a direct debit so you never miss a payment.
For folks who check your credit history and find it is maybe not particular, try to get in touch with the financial institution to have it current. If not, completely wrong suggestions you are going to impact your credit score along with your ability to score home financing.
Make sure info like your term and you may target try demonstrating precisely, and you will conflict any problems (such as borrowing lookups, activities or economic associations) you don’t recognise. Keep in mind it can take several weeks for errors to-be current, according to financial as well as the borrowing resource agency, and so the sooner you look towards the which the higher.
8. Clean out any dated financial connections
If you’ve ever had a shared monetary device which have someone else, this may reveal on your credit report. It won’t apply to your credit score it make a difference how lenders see you. And if you are associated with the somebody who has a dismal credit history, it could be better to eradicate links together with them from the declaration which will not reflect defectively you.
To start with, ensure that the combined account might have been closed. After that get in touch with the appropriate borrowing reference providers so you can consult a great find out of disassociation‘ to get rid of any ties from your credit report.
nine. Raise your put
The higher your deposit, the lower the amount you’ll need to borrow from the bank. This is known as your financing to really worth‚ (or LTV). Saving a large deposit can boost your chances of getting your mortgage application accepted because the bank is likely to feel more comfortable if you can put a lot of money down upfront (usually over 10% of the value). If the house value was to drop, you would be less likely to go into negative guarantee with a large deposit behind you.