We partner with Equifax, our partner credit reference agency, to provide you your credit score and report each month.
These updates can be seen on your Equifax report now, but will only be reflected in your ClearScore report when it’s next updated. If you apply for credit now, lenders will see this update on your Equifax credit file.
These updates can be seen on your Equifax report now, but will only be reflected in your ClearScore report when it’s next updated. If you apply for credit now, lenders will see this update on your Equifax credit file.
Understanding what each update means:
Please refer to the below table for further information on what each upcoming update is, and what this means.
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Update area:
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What does this mean?
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Address
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Added: This might be because you've recently moved house and have updated your credit accounts to this new address. Or it could be that one of your old providers has just shared this address with us.
Removed: This could be because you had data linked to a previous address which has been closed for 6 years and is now invalid.
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CCJ/Bankruptcy/
Debt relief
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What does this mean?
Added: This is because you have been served a County Court Judgment (CCJ). A CCJ is an order from the County Court instructing you to repay a debt. A lender can apply to the County Court if you don't repay a debt. So, if you receive a Summons, or County Court Claim Form, it means a lender has decided to take legal action against you to recover the money.
Removed: This means that your County Court Judgment (CCJ) has expired. A CCJ will stay on your report for six years from the date of judgment/decree, so if you were served one longer than six years ago, it might have expired now.
Changed: This means a piece of information on your CCJ, Bankruptcy, or Debt relief has changed. There might be a change because you’ve paid this off and so the judge has marked it as satisfied.
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CIFAS
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What does this mean?
Added: This means that you've either purchased CIFAS protective registration, or a company has placed a fraud warning on your report to indicate that fraudulent activity may have occurred.
Removed: This means that CIFAS information which was previously on your report is no longer present. Fraud warnings generally stay on your report for 13 months and protective registration is about two years.
Changed: This means that some information on your CIFAS record has changed. A CIFAS record is either protective registration you have purchased, or a fraud warning from a company which has been placed on your report. This information relates to impersonation and protective registration, rather than fraud committed by you.
CIFAS is a fraud prevention service working to reduce fraud in the UK.
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Electoral roll
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What does this mean?
Added: This means that you have registered for the electoral roll at a new address, perhaps because you've moved house. Or it could be that the council is now sharing with us an old address of yours.
Removed: This means that an address that previously appeared on your report is no longer being shared by the council. This could be because the information is now considered quite old.
Changed: This means that something has changed on your electoral roll record.
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Credit agreement
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What does this mean?
Added: This could mean that you've recently opened a new account, or it might be because a lender has just shared some information relating to an old account.
Removed: This means that you've closed an account. Maybe you've changed your phone contract so the phone loan has been removed from your report
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Dormant account activity
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What does this mean?
Dormant: This means that one of your accounts that was previously unused, has been used again. Maybe you didn't pay with your credit card for a few months, and have recently started using it again.
In default: This means that one of your accounts has been reported as in default. This could have happened because you've missed a number of payments and your lender will want the debt to be paid back.
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Account status change
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What does this mean?
Improved: This means that the payment status on one of your accounts has been updated. This could happen if you had a payment in arrears last month, but you're up to date this month.
Worsen: This means that the payment status on one of your accounts has been updated, and is worse than what it was last month.
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Credit limit change
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What does this mean?
This means that the credit limit on one of your accounts has changed from what it was before. Maybe you've requested a higher or lower credit limit from your bank on one of your credit cards.
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Utilisation rate change
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What does this mean?
This means that the credit utilisation of one of your accounts has changed. A credit utilisation rate is the amount of money you owe, divided by your total credit limit. A high utilisation rate could be caused by spending on your credit card and paying it off. A high utilisation rate could be a sign that you're struggling to manage your finances and lenders would be more likely to consider you a risk.
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Credit card limit exceeded
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What does this mean?
This means that you have gone over your credit limit on one of your accounts. This will only happen if the total outstanding balance on your credit card newly exceeds the limit.
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Search
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What does this mean?
Added: This means that a new type of search has been run against you, and added to your report. This could be a soft search when searching for credit, or a hard search when applying for credit.
Removed: A search will be removed from your report either because it expired (which happens after 12 months for a normal credit search), or because the lender removed the search.
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Notice of correction
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What does this mean?
Added or changed: A notice of correction has been added or removed from your credit report, this is a note of up to 200 words that you can add to your credit report to clarify anything on your report (e.g. late payments or defaults on a debt that were caused by illness/redundancy).
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Alias / Other Name
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What does this mean?
Added: A new name is appearing on your report. This could be because you have recently changed your name, for example if you got married.
Removed: This means a name will be removed from your report. This could have happened because a name was registered at one of your linked addresses, and now it doesn't match your records.
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Financial Connection or Associate
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What does this mean?
Added: This means an associate record will be added to your report. This could happen if you jointly applied for credit with someone else, if you took out a joint credit agreement with someone else, or if you've become a guarantor on someone's loan application.
Removed: This means a financial association will be removed from your report. This could happen if you had joint finances with your partner, but then separated from your partner and removed your financial links.
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Missed Payment
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What does this mean?
Added: This means one of your lenders has reported a missed payment on one of your financial accounts and this will be added to your next credit report. If this is incorrect or you don't recognise this information you should speak to your lender first so that they can look into this for you. |