Martin Lewis

Credit Reference Agencies - Who uses who?
 

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There are three main credit reference agencies compiling info on us; Equifax, Experian and Callcredit.  Apply for credit and lenders will ask one or two of them for information. 

As different agencies have different details, it's possible to increase your acceptability by picking a lender using the right agency.  
 The following table details which credit reference agency each lender uses.  Utilising this takes some patience.  If you've applied for credit with a lender and been turned down, it may be worth then choosing a lender working with a different agency.  This won't always work, but it helps.  

If you're a MoneySaving newbie, please only read this in conjunction with my ‘Your Credit Rating, How it works, How to beat it' article, which explains the system in its entirety.  Also you can discuss this table with other MoneySavers in the chat forum.

 


Lender Credit Reference Agency used for credit searches
Equifax Experian Callcredit
AA      
Abbey      
Alliance & Leicester      
American Express      
Bank of Ireland      
Bank of Scotland      
Barclaycard      
Birmingham Midshires      
Bristol and West      
Britannia BS      
Cahoot      
Cambridge BS      
Chelsea BS      
Citibank      
Co-op Bank      
Direct Line      
Egg      
First Direct      
Halifax      
HSBC      
ICICI      
Intelligent Finance      
Leeds BS      
Liverpool Victoria      
Lloyds TSB      
Lombard Direct      
Marks & Spencer      
MBNA      
Mint      
Morgan Stanley      
Nationwide      
Natwest      
Northern Rock      
Portman BS      
Post Office      
Prudential      
RBS      
Sainsburys Bank      
Scottish Widows      
Skipton BS      
Stroud + Swindon BS      
Virgin      
Yorkshire BS      
 
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Who Uses Who
 
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