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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.

Lenders and the Credit Reference Agencies Used

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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