Applying for credit cards? Check your full credit report online, for free, with Noddle

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• James says:

  16 Feb16 February 07:16

  Noddle is only one service. You could potentially have a very different score on Experian and that is used by most banks. It’s not as comprehensive.

• Kathryn says:

  16 Feb16 February 07:21

  Useful to know that these things are available for free. I tried to switch my electricity last year and got rejected on the credit check which seemed bizarre – I already pay for Experian and that said I had an excellent rating.

  So I found out that the electricity company used call credit and signed up with them too. Turned out that someone had recently opened a TSB bank account in my name, so had to get the identity fraud people involved.

  All the other credit stuff was consistent, but I still had a poor rating with one and an excellent rating with the other which I couldn’t get my head around!

• Pug106 says:

  16 Feb16 February 08:37

  OT, please, have spent the required amounts on Amex Prem and Gold cards to receive the miles and a 2-4-1. Would like to carry on using a credit card for rewards. Where should I go next please – Virgin cards? TIA

  • Genghis says:

    16 Feb16 February 08:45

    Depends what you want to earn. SPG? The Hilton card for free night weekend stay?

    • Pug106 says:

      16 Feb16 February 15:41

      Thank you. Yes, I’ve just received Hilton cards for OH and me.

      • Genghis says:

        16 Feb16 February 16:17

        Have you already recommended your OH for the BAPP and the Amex Gold/Plat? Playing referral ping pong with the OH can earn serious points.

  • Rob says:

    16 Feb16 February 09:41

    As you only have a few months, I assume, until your BA Amex 241 year re-starts for the next voucher, you might as well go for something which can give you a miles or bonus hit in a fairly short period. Virgin is OK but only if you think you’d earn enough miles for a good redemption. Otherwise, you might as well get, say, SPG Amex to trigger a bonus you can convert to Avios.

    • Pug106 says:

      16 Feb16 February 15:42

      Good idea, thanks. Will have a look.

• George says:

  16 Feb16 February 09:35

  Back in the days that I was going for a mortgage (dark days indeed – I didn’t have any credit cards at the time.. ) I signed up for Checkmyfile. It delivers reports on what Equifax, Experian and Callcredit have on you, so no stone left unturned. Very happy with their service and their comprehensive breakdown of accounts. Considering I have an aversion to credit scoring agencies, I’m happy to give my money elsewhere.

  On a seperate note, does anyone know if using a charge card on an everyday basis, has a smaller effect on your score (positive or negative), than if you were to use a credit card?

  Also, if you take out a credit card and cancel it within 15-20 days, (eg I took out the SPG card, hit the 2k, paid it in full, cancelled it before the statement even had the chance to show up) how does it affect your score? I’m asking because the SPG card that I took out and cancelled, never even made an appearance in my credit accounts.

  • The_Real_A says:

    16 Feb16 February 09:54

    A charge card appears as an open line of credit, and the amount of the “bill” is sent to the agency each month. This impacts:
    1) Number of credit searches in last 6 months
    2) Skews your rolling average of open credit for 36 months
    3) If you have multiple AMEX cards, each one shows as a new search and a seperate account on your file.

    I have tested with MBNA and AMEX – If you clear your balance before the date that the statement is produced then the “debt” does not appear on the credit file. Its the staement balance that is transferred across.

    • Talay says:

      16 Feb16 February 11:15

      This is true as I have large transactional balances each month but clear them monthly also. Yet for the purposes of someone viewing my file, it may look like I have a permanent debt of tens of thousands which goes up and down a little each month.

      The picture to the observer is quite different to the reality !

• David Douglas says:

  16 Feb16 February 10:31

  I would comment that I am not impressed with the Noddle website compared to other free products available. I signed up for it and Clear Score and the trial Experian product to identify errors that one financial institution had made, (and though the institution did compensate me, they did not tidy up the information they sent to credit agencies, so I had to do this).
  Experian and ClearScore (Equifax) corrected the information within a few days of being advised,after 1 e-mail,but Noddle seemed to do everything they could to avoid the correction, leading to protracted e-mail correspondence over a number of weeks.

• chaz says:

  16 Feb16 February 10:35

  You need a bionic memory to verify your ID. Having / had a heap of bank accounts and credit cards I just couldnt remember when so and so account was opened…and so Noodles said ‘non’ 🙁

  • Talay says:

    16 Feb16 February 11:17

    You can obtain a credit file from another provider to give you the information you need to bypass the Noddle Q&A nonsense.

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