Your credit report consists of all your credit and loan applications, payment history, debts and other vital financial information that helps lenders judge if you’re a good or bad candidate for credit when you apply for it.
Credit reports are produced by specialist credit reference agencies (CRAs), and each agency has its own scoring system and method of calculating your credit score. There are free versions, free trials and paid-for credit reports, so we’ve compared what you get to help you decide which is right for you.
There are several companies offering a free credit report, though some may only provide limited information in the free report or only offer a free report during a trial of a paid-for service. Under data protection rules, you also have the legal right to request your credit report data for free from any credit rating agency. However, this free “statutory report” only offers a limited version of your full credit history and won’t tell you your credit score.
Most credit rating agencies will let you access your comprehensive report and credit score in return for a fee or monthly subscription. There are three main credit reference agencies in the UK, Equifax, Experian and TransUnion (formerly Callcredit), and each of these offers a free statutory version of your credit report and a free trial as well as a monthly paid version.
There are three main types of credit report available:
Most credit reference agencies, including the three major CRAs, will let you access the free version of your credit report online. You’ll just need to apply via the agency’s website by providing personal details such as your name and address and bank card details.
You’ll generally be able to access your credit report online for free for up to 30 days on a trial basis. After the trial ends, your card will be charged a monthly fee for ongoing access to your report, but you can cancel this at any time during the trial period.
You can also request a paper copy of your credit report be sent to your address.
You can get free access to your Experian credit report and CreditExpert service by using a 30-day trial. Once your trial ends, you’ll still be able to view your Experian credit score, but you won’t have access to your full credit report.
As with Experian, you can also get your Equifax credit report through a 30-day free trial. However, you can also continue to get free ongoing access to both your Equifax credit score and credit report through the ClearScore service.
TransUnion offers free access to its credit score and report through its Credit Karma service, which also lets you check which loans and credit cards you’re likely to be approved for based on your current credit score.
As explained above, the three major credit reference agencies all offer free trials on their credit reports, and are also legally required to offer ongoing access to your free statutory credit report.
However, you can also get a credit report that includes data from all three agencies by applying for the checkmyfile credit report. As with the other agencies, checkmyfile offers a free trial period on its credit report service, which means you can get free access to the data from all three major agencies for up to 30 days.
To be across your finances, you should know what’s on your credit report. A yearly check and amending any mistakes can help improve your chance of getting loans, including a mortgage, and getting credit card applications approved.
Each major credit reference agency has its own unique credit scoring system, so what constitutes a good credit score will depend on the agency you’re using.
| Credit rating agency | Credit score ratings |
|---|---|
| Experian | Very poor: 0-560 Poor: 561-720 Fair: 721-880 Good: 881-960 Excellent: 961-999 |
| Equifax | Poor: 0–438 Fair: 439–530 Good: 531–670 Very good: 671–810 Excellent: 811–1,000 |
| TransUnion | Very poor: 0-550 Poor: 551-565 Fair: 566-603 Good: 604-627 Excellent: 628-710 |
The major credit reference agencies will only let you access your credit report for free during a limited trial period, which is usually 30 days. You can view and access your free credit report as often as you want during that time, but once your trial period has ended, you’ll need to pay a monthly fee in order to keep access to your report.
Under GDPR law, you can request your free statutory credit report whenever you like in the UK, but this version of your report will not contain your credit score.
Credit reference agencies may updated your credit file with new information at any time, for example, when you apply for a new loan or credit card and the lender reports this to the agency, and this means your credit score can also change frequently.
However, in most circumstances, your credit report is generally updated once per month (or once every 30 days). You are free to check your credit report at any time, and can request your free statutory credit report once per week, and many agencies will also send you an alert when your credit file has been updated.
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