Can you achieve the highest credit score?

What is a credit score?

It’s a number that credit reference agencies use to gauge how creditworthy a lender may find you. It’s based on a number of factors, including your credit history and whether you’re on the electoral register. Your score can go up or down according to your circumstances.

What’s the highest score you can get?

Credit reference agencies use different credit score ranges, so there’s no universal score. This means that there’s no one absolute highest score that you need to achieve. The lender may also take other things into account when assessing your application that aren’t included in your credit report, like your salary. And the score that they assign you might also differ from those provided by credit reference agencies.

Why check your credit score?

You may still find it useful to check your score before applying for credit, as it could give you an indication of how creditworthy a lender may find you. When you make an application for credit, a lender will check your history to see if your borrowing habits suggest that you’ll be able to make the repayments. These checks are recorded as credit searches, and leave a footprint on your credit history. ‘Hard’ searches can be viewed by other lenders.

The more applications you make, the more searches could be recorded on your borrowing history. Too many could suggest to a lender that you’re financially overstretched and may not be able to pay them back. Checking your credit score before you apply can help indicate how creditworthy a lender may find you. This way, you can also take steps to try to improve your score before making an application for credit. This could help to minimise the number of unnecessary searches that appear on your report.

Your Equifax Credit Report & Score is free for the first 30 days, then £14.95 monthly. It gives you unlimited online access to your borrowing history and credit score.