Checking your credit file for free

Many people only think about their credit file when they apply for a loan, a phone contract or a mortgage. Lenders often look at it before they decide. You have a legal right to see what it says, and that copy is free. This page explains how to ask for it and what to do if something on it is wrong.

Who holds your credit file

Companies called credit reference agencies hold information about most adults in the UK. The Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) names the three main ones as Equifax, Experian and TransUnion. The Financial Conduct Authority licenses them.

Most of the information is about how you have kept up with credit and with accounts such as utilities. It also includes past addresses, the electoral roll, county court judgments and insolvency records. A lender does not have to report to all three agencies. It decides which ones to use.

Your free statutory copy

You have the right to ask any credit reference agency for a copy of the information it holds about your financial standing. There is no fee. You can ask by speaking to the agency or in writing, and the agencies usually offer an online form too.

The ICO says you do not have to sign up to a monthly subscription to see your file. It suggests looking for the phrase "statutory report" on each agency's website.

A written request should give your full name and any other names used in the last six years. It should also give your current address, any other addresses from the last six years, and your date of birth. The agency usually has one month to reply. It may ask for proof of your name and address first.

If you have been refused credit

You can ask a lender to explain the main reason it turned you down, and to review its decision. For most regulated credit agreements, if a lender turns you down because of information from a credit reference agency, the Consumer Credit Act 1974 says it must tell you so. It must also give you that agency's name, address and phone number.

When something on the file is wrong

You can raise a mistake with the agency that supplied the file. The ICO explains that the error may sit with the lender or company that sent in the information. If an entry carries a company's name, that company is usually responsible for it.

Under section 159 of the Consumer Credit Act 1974, you can give an agency notice to remove or amend an entry you think is wrong. The agency then has 28 days to tell you what it has done. If it does not remove the entry, you can ask it to add a notice of correction of up to 200 words. Anyone who later looks at that entry sees your statement.

If the problem is not put right

If the agency and the lender will not correct an obvious mistake, you can complain to the ICO. The ICO does not decide financial disputes. A complaint about how a financial business treated you can go to the Financial Ombudsman Service, which is free to use, after you have complained to the business itself.

Useful links