The Solution to a Low Credit Score

It is crucial to have a good credit score to be creditworthy for mortgages and other loans but what happens if you find you rank poorly?

I covered in my previous blog post that in order to actually track down your credit score and get a FREE credit report on demand, you do not have to pay the credit agencies themselves.

Free credit report

By signing up to each individual website below, these subsidiary companies give you access to the credit file that particular credit agency has on you for free!

Transunion – credit karma

Equifax – clearscore

Experian – money expert credit club

Crediva – (unknown)

Now remember, different lenders approach different credit agencies when they do a credit check on you so it is wise to have a solid credit file with each credit agency, so you’ve covered all bases.

Therefore, I would like to take this opportunity to reiterate the importance of making yourself known to all the credit agencies (via the subsidiaries).

Now signing up with these websites is a little more tricky than it first may appear.

As you can imagine, there are millions of us on their records so in order to make sure they assign you your correct credit history, you need to pass their security questions to prove it is in fact you.

I hope you have a good memory because these questions are very specific and go way back into your past. For example…

I have moved 22 times in my life and I am not even 30 yet (and look about 16 years old), so you can imagine the struggle I had passing these security questions when they asked me my previous address history!

They also asked me what the credit card limit was of my first student credit card that I had when I was 16…WTF?! Like I can remember that!!!

So as you can see, that is a taster of what you might face, however, your credit history may not be as complicated as mine.

If you do fail the security questions (like I did, numerous times!) then you have to wait a few weeks before you can try again….I know, incredibly frustrating.

That was how I spent half my COVID 20 summer and it was such a bore so I asked myself: “surely there must be another way?”. Guess what? There is.

A faster way

CheckMyFile.

‘Check My File’ is an excellent service that gives you access to all 4 credit agencies under one roof – amazing.

If you create an account with them, you can log in to see your FULL credit report and what information different credit agencies have on you.

On their well-presented ‘summary page’ they show your credit score and how you rank against others.

But wait, what happens if you find you have a low credit score?! 

The Solution

First of all, you need to find out why you have a poor credit score and the superb thing about Check My File is that as well as telling you what info each credit agency has on you…

It also shows you what information each credit agency does NOT have on you – it flags it up.

When I combed through my credit report, areas were highlighted to me what needed addressing and what holes I had in my credit file.

I then contacted the customer support of Check My File, told them what information was missing and they then contacted the credit agencies on my behalf to correct each one.

Magic. It could not have been more simple.

Now, efficiency pays; I got my summer back.

For the sake of convenience, humans will happily pay for things to be easier or get done faster – just take Uber as a perfect example of that.

Check My File is free for the 1st 30 days and then will cost you £14.99 each month thereafter.

What you can do is sign up to Check My File, identify the pitfalls in your credit report that are dragging your score down and ask the team to correct it.

Then close your account before day 30 is up: simples.

Another thing you can do to boost your credit score is follow these extra few tricks that I have outlined in this blog post.

So, to finish then…

TO DO LIST

The 1 thing you can do today is:

Sign up to ‘CheckMyFile’ and have a jolly, good look at your credit report to find out what could be improved.

Then cancel your account before your 30 day free trial is up! 

FYI – I paid £14.99 for a few months to get everything sorted and it was well worth the money.

HEALTH FACT

To end on a lighter note, my weekly health fact that this doctor would like to share with you all today is:

If one is trying to lose weight or become more lean then men should exercise before breakfast and women should exercise after breakfast.

The theory being that women are designed to store fat more easily to optimise the environment for creating a baby so if they exercise before food then the body will go into ‘store mode’ because it does not know when it’ll next be fed and needs to keep its reserves.

Do not ask me for the link or reference because I read it ages ago and it’s somewhere in the ether but it should be taken with a pinch of salt, like everything.

I only exercise before brekkie and I still managed to lean up so anything is possible as long as you stick by the principles of eating less than you burn.

DISCLAIMER

I am a doctor and not a financial advisor so this blog is for educational purposes only and does not make any recommendations. Happy Sunday everyone!