Experian launches national credit score for consumers

This is the first service to provide UK consumers with access to their credit score – an at-a-glance summary of their credit status based on information held on their full Experian credit report.

Consumers in the UK have an average of five active lines of credit and the national consumer debt has now surpassed the £1 trillion mark so credit management and understanding has never been more important.

Jill Stevens, Director of Consumer Relations at Experian, comments: “The National Credit Score is an important addition to our popular online service CreditExpert. It enables people who want to monitor their credit information to better understand how lenders may view their credit history when they apply for credit.

“We conducted extensive consumer research which revealed that there is a great demand for this service. Using credit is a way of life for most of us, which is why it is important to make sure we have the knowledge that can empower us to take a more informed approach to borrowing.

“Most people are aware that lenders score credit applications, but they are not sure what this means and what information is used.”

The new service is a unique online tool that instantly calculates an individual’s personal credit score based on their Experian credit report and is provided in an easy-to-read online format showing:

Your National Credit Score as a number ranging from 0-1000 – a higher score generally indicates that lenders will consider it less risky to grant you credit

Your National Credit Score category which will be excellent, good, fair, poor or very poor

How your National Credit Score compares to the UK average score

Guidance on what may be affecting your score and an indication of how your credit history may influence a lending decision

Experian is the leading provider of credit information and scores to UK credit grantors. The Experian National Credit Score is the best guide available to UK consumers as to how their information will affect a lender’s decision and whether or not they are likely to be granted credit. However, an individual lender’s interpretation of scores and the consequent credit decision will always vary based on their own credit risk policies and systems.

The National Credit Score is available at www.creditexpert.co.uk

for an introductory price of £4.99 to existing CreditExpert members and for consumers taking advantage of the 30-day free trial of CreditExpert, the UK’s first credit monitoring and alert service.