When you apply for personal loan, mortgage or credit card, lenders will look at your credit report and score to help them decide whether or not to offer you credit, how much to offer you and how much interest to charge you.
Equifax is one of three main credit reference agencies in the UK used by lenders when determining how much of a risk you are to lend money to and how much they can make from you. A number of factors detailed on your credit report make up your credit score, which ultimately places you in a rating group, ranging from “poor” to “excellent”.
What is an Equifax Score?
Equifax takes everything it knows about you (what’s in your credit file) and boils it down to a number. If you have a good score, you can usually get a loan, credit card or mortgage.
It’s important to know, while lenders will look at your credit score, they also have their own criteria for potential customers.
What does a Equifax credit score look like?
Each credit reference agency has its own scoring system. Equifax scores range from 0 to 1,000: the higher your score the better your chances of obtaining credit.
Equifax: 0–1,000 (formerly 0-700)
Experian: 0–999
TransUnion (formerly Callcredit): 0–710
Depending on your score, you’re said to have excellent, very good, good, fair or poor credit:
Equifax credit score
Equifax credit rating
What this means for you
0–438
Poor
It’s likely your credit application will be rejected.
439–530
Fair
You have a chance of being approved for credit, but are likely to be charged a high interest rate and have a low limit.
531–670
Good
You should be offered credit at reasonable interest rates, but may have a low initial credit limit.
671–810
Very good
You’re likely to be approved for credit, but won’t necessarily be offered the very best interest rates.
811–1,000
Excellent
You’re very likely to be approved for competitive credit offers.
If you want to find out your credit score, you can do so for free from all of the credit reference agencies. If you want to access your credit report, you’ll normally have to pay, although some offer a free one-month trial subscription.
You may have had a loan, credit card or mortgage application rejected because of a poor credit score.
If you’re struggling to borrow money because of your credit report, there are steps you can take to improve it. Be aware it takes time to build up a history of good financial decisions and hopefully improve your score.
Pay your bills on time and ideally with more than the minimum payment.
Close any unused credit accounts as these could be viewed negatively by some lenders.
Register on the electoral roll. Lenders can be wary if you’ve moved house a lot or haven’t registered your current address.
If you have no credit history at all, it may be worth looking into free credit building products like LOQBOX or opening a credit builder card to build up your score over time.
Check your credit report for errors. An administrative mistake could result in you wrongly being rejected for credit. Your partner or flatmate’s bad credit decisions could also impact on yours if you have any joint accounts.
How to apply for an Equifax statutory credit report
As part of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and Data Protection Act 2018, you’re legally able to request a free statutory copy of your credit report at any time from credit reference agencies like Equifax. However, this version of your Equifax credit report will not contain all the elements included in the paid version, such as your Equifax credit score. It is just intended to provide an overview of all your financial history and personal details that are included in your credit file.
You will be able to view your Equifax credit report online for 30 days, or have a paper copy sent to your address within seven working days. When you receive your statutory report, you should make sure to check that all information is correct, and if not, you should contact Equifax to update your file.
According to customer feedback site Trustpilot, Equifax currently has mixed-to-poor reviews from customers rated 3.2 out of 5 based on over 2,142 reviews (updated November 2023). Over 52% of Trustpilot customer reviews gave Equifax a “bad” rating, and many reported having bad experiences with customer service, as well as issues with getting information updated or corrected on their credit file.
Change in Equifax rating system
In April 2021, Equifax changed its scoring scale from 0–700 to 0–1,000, and adjusted its rating bands.
Old Equifax scale
0–278
279–366
367–419
420–466
467–700
Very poor
Poor
Fair
Good
Excellent
New scale
0–438
439–530
531–670
671–810
811–1,000
Poor
Fair
Good
Very good
Excellent
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Chris Lilly is Head of publishing at finder.com. He's a specialist in personal finance, from day-to-day banking to investing to borrowing, and is passionate about helping UK consumers make informed decisions about their money. In his spare time Chris likes forcing his kids to exercise more. See full bio
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Learn the facts about loan applications and your credit score plus what you can do to minimise the impact.
2 Responses
JackApril 23, 2019
I have a negative on my report(exceeding my credit limit) how long till that comes off my report, 6 years? or indefinitely as the credit card is still in use
Finder
nikkiangcoApril 24, 2019Finder
Hi Jack,
Thanks for getting in touch with Finder. Sorry to hear that there is a negative listing on your report. Most black marks disappear from your credit report after five years, so in some cases, it may be worth waiting it out. If a payment default was listed on your report more than three years ago, it may disappear soon. If you can hold off any card or loan application for a few more months, you can do away with the whole credit repair hassle.
Hope this helps!
Best,
Nikki
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I have a negative on my report(exceeding my credit limit) how long till that comes off my report, 6 years? or indefinitely as the credit card is still in use
Hi Jack,
Thanks for getting in touch with Finder. Sorry to hear that there is a negative listing on your report. Most black marks disappear from your credit report after five years, so in some cases, it may be worth waiting it out. If a payment default was listed on your report more than three years ago, it may disappear soon. If you can hold off any card or loan application for a few more months, you can do away with the whole credit repair hassle.
Hope this helps!
Best,
Nikki