Credit Report Basics: What’s on Yours and How to Check It

Whether you’re applying for a mortgage,credit card or mobile phone contract, the information on your credit report matters. This guide covers the basics: what a credit report is, how to get your free statutory credit report, what to check on it, and how long information stays there.

A credit report is a factual record of your personal identifiable information (names, age, date of birth and address) and your credit history. It includes information from different sources, such as banks, building societies, the electoral register, local authorities, courts, utilities and other sources.

If you’re over 18 years old and have a bank account or have taken out a loan, credit card or mobile phone contract, then you’ll probably have a credit report.

Credit reports are used for many reasons, including helping lenders to lend responsibly, meet anti-money laundering regulatory requirements and to help with fraud prevention.

It’s important to check your credit report regularly to keep an eye on your financial health.

TransUnion is one of the main credit reference agencies (‘CRAs’) in the UK. It collects and stores consumer information and produces credit reports in the UK. For more information on CRAs please see our guide to credit reference agencies.

Under the Consumer Credit Act 1974 and the General Data Protection Regulation 2018 (‘GDPR’) you have the right to access a copy of your credit report information produced by any of the CRAs. As one of the UK’s main CRAs, we do this with what is known as a statutory credit report. You can request a free copy of your statutory credit report either by post here, or online here.

Please note: A statutory credit report from TransUnion contains the credit report information that TransUnion holds about you, but it does not include a credit score.

If you would like to understand more about credit scores and how they work, visit our Credit Score page.

If you would like to access your credit report or learn more about the information it contains, visit our Credit Report page.

• Online — Access and download your statutory credit report online to see your latest credit information.
• Apply by post —If you’d prefer to apply by post, please download, print the application form and send it to us.
• Access our Your Credit File Explained to understand the data held within your statutory credit report.

If you’re applying for credit like a loan, credit card or even a mobile phone contract, lenders will be interested in your credit history. This will give them insight into your financial activity and help them decide if they think you’re reliable enough to lend to. In order to increase your chances of being accepted for credit, it’s advisable to pay attention to your credit behaviours.

What many people don’t realise is being on the electoral register can actually improve your credit rating. That’s because it provides proof of address and businesses use it to help reduce the risk of identity fraud. If you’re not sure how to get on the electoral register, here are the government guidelines.

When you access your credit report, you can see information about your past and present credit agreements from the last six years. This includes everything from mobile phone contracts and credit cards to car loans and mortgages. check each entry is correct and the agreement was opened by yourself and your payments are up to date.

A financial connection is anyone with whom you’ve held a joint financial agreement with, such as a bank account or joint mortgage. It’s important to check who your financial connections are because their credit status could negatively impact your ability to open new credit agreements. If you’re no longer financially linked with individuals, make sure they’re removed from your credit file. Read more in our guide to financial connections. 

Your credit history is confidential and it can only be seen by you, credit reference agencies,and lenders with which you’re applying for credit. Reviewing each section of your credit report is key to understanding what your credit history means when you apply for credit.

If anything on your credit report looks wrong, you can raise a dispute. Challenging information you believe is inaccurate is free, and TransUnion will investigate on your behalf.

You'll get a dispute reference number when you raise it, and TransUnion will email you the outcome within 28 days.

When an organisation requests to see a copy of your credit report from a UK credit reference agency (CRA), it's called a search. This most often happens when you apply for credit – a credit card, loan, mortgage or mobile phone contract, for example – but searches are also carried out for identity and anti-fraud checks.

Each search leaves a digital record (a footprint) on your report. Your TransUnion Statutory Credit Report will show a record of who has searched your TransUnion credit report and when.

A search on your credit report will confirm:

• Which organisation performed the search
• What personal information was used to search you
• When the search was made
• Why the search was done

There are two types of search – score impacting and non score impacting. A non score impacting search happens when you check your own credit report, or when an organisation checks your identity or your eligibility for a product without a full credit application. Non score impacting searches are only visible to you, so they have no impact on your credit score – no matter how many appear on your report.

A score impacting search happens when you apply for credit, such as a credit card, loan or mortgage – and sometimes when you take out a mobile phone contract or apply to a utility provider. Score impacting searches are recorded on your credit report and can be seen by lenders. Too many in a short space of time can affect your ability to get credit.

A search is completed by an organisation when your permission has been given. You may have given permission for some organisations to conduct searches at a later date, meaning several searches can appear on your credit report from this one organisation. Searches are not permanent and will be removed from your credit report automatically after 2 years.

If you see a search on your credit report that you don't recognise, it may be from an organisation that's part of a wider business group or umbrella organisation. For example, if you applied for a 'Very' credit account, this may appear as 'Shop Direct Finance Company Ltd' as that's the company that would be supplying the credit. Or it could be a sign that someone else is applying for credit with your details – so it's important to investigate any searches that you don't recognise.

To check a search you don't recognise, look the organisation up online or on the Companies House register to see who it is and whether it trades under another name.

If you still don't recognise it, contact the organisation directly to ask why it searched you, using the contact details published on its own official website.

TransUnion doesn’t hold any further details than what is shown on your credit report. Therefore, if you’d like to know more, you’ll need to contact the organisation that performed the search directly. If however you believe the information is inaccurate, please raise a dispute and TransUnion will investigate on your behalf.

Different types of information stay on your credit report for different lengths of time, as follows:

Open accounts that are not in default (where the agreed terms of credit lending agreement are being met i.e. making repayments on time) will show up to six years of financial history until settled and closed, financial histories older than six years will automatically disappear from your credit report. An account in default will show for six years from the date it defaulted, after which it will no longer appear on your credit report.

Electoral Register history will be visible to organisations performing a search against your credit report indefinitely as this information is used to help identify who you are. However, your TransUnion Credit Report will only show the most recent unbroken stretch of Electoral Register history from when it was last updated (for example, if you moved address or changed your name at your registered address).

All previous addresses and previous names you’ve been connected to financially will stay on your credit report for as long as is necessary and relevant as this information forms an important part of identifying who you are.

The names of any people you’re financially connected to will appear on your credit report until you request to be disassociated (disconnected) from them. This can be done by raising a dispute  against their name on your credit report when you no longer have any joint finances like a mortgage.

Judgments, bankruptcies and insolvencies show on your credit report for six years from the court order date, with some exceptions:

• Judgments that are paid off within one month from the date the order was issued will be ‘set aside’ and no longer appear on your credit report
• A Bankruptcy Restriction Order (BRO) or Bankruptcy Restriction Undertaking (BRU) can stay on your credit report for up to 15 years. 

Searches show on your credit report for two years.

Only Cifas 'victim of impersonation' and 'victim of takeover' markers are visible on your credit report. These markers stay on your credit report for 13 months. If you have paid Cifas for protective registration to be applied to your credit report, then this will be in place for 2 years. Cifas may hold other markers that do not show on your credit report — to find out more about these, please contact Cifas directly. 

A Notice of Correction statement will remain on your credit report for as long as the data item it refers to appears on your report or until you request for it to be removed. A Notice of Dispute marker will remain on your credit report for up to 28 days whilst the queried information is investigated via TransUnion’s dispute process.

TransUnion adheres to data retention rules in accordance with current UK data protection regulation and is registered with the Information Cofmmissioners Office (ICO). Find information about how we use and share personal data across TransUnion Information Group (TransUnion UK) here.

• Online — Access and download your statutory credit report online to see your latest credit information.
• Apply by post —If you’d prefer to apply by post, please download, print the application form and send it to us.
• Access our Your Credit File Explained to understand the data held within your statutory credit report.