What is on your credit file and how to check it for free

Every time you apply for a mortgage, a phone contract or a credit card, the lender looks at your credit file. Most people never see theirs. Checking it is free, takes a few minutes, and is the only reliable way to spot mistakes before they cost you.

This is general information about how credit files work, not financial advice.

Who holds the information

Three main credit reference agencies operate in the UK: Experian, Equifax and TransUnion. Lenders share information with them about the accounts you hold and how you repay. Not every lender reports to all three, so your file can look slightly different at each one.

Each agency is regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority, and the way they handle your data is covered by UK data protection law, overseen by the Information Commissioner's Office.

What a credit file contains

A typical file includes:

• Your accounts. Credit cards, loans, mortgages, overdrafts, mobile phone contracts, some utility accounts and buy now pay later agreements where the provider reports them. For each, it shows the balance, limit and a month-by-month payment history.
• Missed payments, defaults and arrangements to pay. These usually stay on the file for six years from the date they were recorded, even once the debt is paid off.
• Public records. County court judgments in England and Wales, bankruptcies and individual voluntary arrangements, along with their equivalents in Scotland and Northern Ireland.
• The electoral register. Being registered to vote at your current address helps lenders confirm your identity.
• Financial associates. If you have a joint account or joint loan with someone, their file can be linked to yours.
• Searches. A record of who has looked at your file and why.

Your file does not include your salary, savings, criminal record, medical history or, despite a common myth, information about other people who have lived at your address with whom you have no financial link.

Hard and soft searches

When you formally apply for credit, the lender carries out a hard search, which is visible to other lenders. Several hard searches in a short period can suggest you are urgently seeking credit, which some lenders treat as a warning sign.

Soft searches, such as eligibility checks on comparison sites or you checking your own file, are visible only to you and do not affect applications. Where possible, use an eligibility checker before applying.

Credit scores shown by the agencies and apps are a guide only. Lenders do not see that number. They apply their own criteria to the underlying data and to what you put on the application form.

Checking your file and fixing errors

You have a legal right to see the data an agency holds on you. Each of the three offers a free statutory report, and all three can also be viewed free through various apps and websites, some of which are run by the agencies themselves. It is worth checking all three, as they do not hold identical information.

Look for accounts you do not recognise, addresses you have never lived at, late payments you believe were made on time and financial links to people you no longer share finances with.

If something is wrong, contact the agency. It will check with the lender that supplied the data and must correct anything found to be inaccurate. For links to former partners, you can ask for a notice of disassociation once you no longer share any financial products.

If information is accurate but there is context a lender should know, such as a missed payment during a serious illness, you can add a notice of correction, a short statement that lenders reading your file will see.

Unrecognised accounts may be a sign of identity fraud. In that case, contact the lender involved and report it to Action Fraud. If a dispute is not resolved, you can complain to the Financial Ombudsman Service, which is free to use.