Credit Score Basics > How to check your UK credit score

How to check your UK credit score

4 minute read · Updated 18th April 2024

If you want to check your credit score, you should know that you actually have three of them.

This is because there are three main credit reference agencies (CRAs) in the UK: Experian, Equifax and TransUnion (which used to be known as Callcredit).

Each of these CRAs calculate your credit score using slightly different scoring systems (although using similar criteria).

CRAs also collect and hold information about your credit history – but don't worry, your information is safe, as they are bound by the Data Protection Act.

How do I get my Experian credit score?

You have a few options, both free and paid:

Experian's CreditExpert is a paid subscription that costs £14.99, although it does have a 30-day trial. It offers real-time access and updates to your credit score. It also provides an eligibility checker to see which credit cards, loans, and mortgages you qualify for. It also tells you exactly what's pulling your score up or down.
Experian's free Credit Score subscription. The good news is that you can see your credit score for free, but the information only updates once a month, and you can't see anything more detailed than that.
Experian's statutory credit report. This is a free, basic credit report to which you're entitled by the law. You can get it online once a year, but it's not as thorough as your full credit report and doesn't contain a credit score.

How do I get my Equifax credit score?

Equifax is the second most used credit reference agency, but you still might want to check their score. Just like Experian, you can check it either through free or paid options:

Equifax Credit Report & Score: a paid subscription which costs £14.95 a month and also offers a 30-day free trial. It also includes a very useful Identity Protection service, which alerts you if it finds anything about you on websites used by fraudsters.
ClearScore Credit Score & Report: ClearScore offers free Equifax credit scores and reports, which are updated once a month, as well as an eligibility checker. In return, they will send you promotional materials from its marketplace partners. If you sign up for any of these (for example, you get a credit card), ClearScore will earn a small commission.
Equifax's statutory credit report: Equifax, like Experian, has to provide you with a free, basic credit report – it's your legal right. Again, this is not as thorough as your full credit report and doesn't contain a credit score.

How do I get my TransUnion credit score?

TransUnion, the UK's newest credit reference agency, tends to be less widely used than the two agencies above. It's still worth checking to get a full picture of how lenders see you.

TransUnion offers no free or paid option to view your credit score. The good news is that you can check your TransUnion score for free through:

Credit Karma: offers free access to your TransUnion credit score, updated every seven days. It also has an eligibility checker and a mobile app.
MoneySupermarket Credit Monitor is a similar option that gives you free access to your TransUnion credit report and score. The main difference is that Credit Monitor updates your details monthly, while Credit Karma updates weekly.

Also, just like Experian and Equifax, TransUnion offers a statutory credit report. They have to.

How do I check all three credit scores in one go?

If you want to check all three credit scores at once, the best option is to sign up for CheckMyFile.

CheckMyFile is a paid service that costs £14.99 a month, and it lets you see your Experian, TransUnion, and Equifax reports all in one place. If you're not sure if that's worth your money, it does have a 30-day free trial during which time you can try it out.

What does my credit score mean?

Here's a simple guideline for reading your credit score:

Experian scores range from 0 to 999. A score of 881-960 is considered good.
Equifax scores range from 0 to 1000. A score of 670-739 is considered good.
TransUnion's credit scores range from 0 to 710. A credit score of 604-627 is good.

But bear in mind that your credit score is not the only thing that matters when you apply for a loan. Banks and other lenders will look at the whole picture: your income, whether you have ever had a CCJ, how many loans you have, and so on.

If you get your full credit report, and not just the basic credit score, you'll notice that it also shows things like:

your name, address and date of birth
if you're registered to vote
how much you owe banks and lenders, including any joint loans, mortgages or overdrafts
any missed or late payments
any County Court Judgements (CCJs) you have had
whether your home has been repossessed
if you've ever been declared bankrupt
and, of course, your credit score.

Your credit report will not show:

your income;
the amount of money and savings you have;
student loans;
criminal record;
medical history;
fines;
or missed council tax payments.

Does checking my credit report affect my credit score?

Your own checks aren't recorded on the report, so don't worry about them. In fact, you should check every detail regularly before making any big credit applications.

The only checks that impact your credit score are hard credit checks, which usually happen when you apply for credit, not when checking your credit score.

What's the first thing to do after getting my UK credit report?

What you need to do after getting your credit report depends on what you find on it. Here's a common list of things to look for.

First, check addresses on old accounts.

A wrong address can have a huge impact. The worst part is that you can get rejected and won't even know why. This is because it can make ID checks hard for credit reference agencies. One way you can quickly fix this is to see if you have an old mobile phone contract or credit card that you don't use anymore but is still active and listed at an old address.

Second, check for financial links.

If you used to have a joint account with someone but you've since split up, make sure you write to all three credit reference agencies and ask for a Notice of Disassociation. This will stop their credit history from affecting yours in the future. Of course, you'll need to close that joint account first. Make sure to do this even if you used to share a flat with someone – flat-sharing can actually impact your score. Who knew, right?

Third, cancel any unused credit cards, even store cards – and keep only the ones you actually use.

Other things might need to be corrected, too – sometimes, a low credit score could be explained by something as simple as the CRAs collecting the wrong information. If something is incorrect, you can and should let them know. To do this, you'll need to contact each credit reference agency directly. They'll tell you what you need to do next.

Lastly, take some steps to improve your credit score. Some basic steps are making payments on time, keeping credit card balances to a minimum, or registering to vote.

But you can also go the extra mile and use a credit-building tool like Wollit to improve your credit history or ensure that your rent payments, for example, are recorded in your full credit report.