Why might your credit score change?

Credit scores can change for a variety of reasons.

As information is added, removed from, or updated on your credit file, your credit history and risk profile will change.

As this happens, your credit score will be recalculated to reflect these changes and depending on what information is added, removed, or updated, your credit score may go up or down.

Credit score movement could be expected with a change in any of the key elements such as credit enquiries, reapyment history, account information, defaults, reported credit relationships, serious credit infringements, court judgments or bankruptcies.

Time is also a factor with the information held on your credit file. The more recent an entry on your credit file, the greater impact it is likely to have on your score. Furthermore, each type of information has a set time period that it can held on file. Enquiries for example, are held on file for a maximum of 5 years.

Most credit scoring algorithms utilise a great number of variables and are adjusted to reflect changes in these variables. This means that the exact reason for credit score movement is not always immediately apparent.

In the future, as more providers opt into the comprehensive credit reporting scheme, it is likely that credit scores will change more frequently. This is because more data will be used by the credit bureaus in their credit score calculation and that data will update with greater regularity.

With Credit Savvy, our Credit Report Summary provides the detail behind the score, summarising the important elements of your Experian credit file so you can see how you’re going on these and what you might want to focus on. If your score changes you can first check the information contained there.

Obtaining a full copy of your credit report from a credit reporting body can also help.

Next you might like to read about ’How are credit scores calculated?’ or read up about ’Positive or Comprehensive Credit Reporting’.