Jeez, was that for something within the finance sector or government related?
I’ve heard from US colleagues that background checks are pretty standard there, I didn’t think they were really a thing here.
If you need a government clearance, they do credit checks for SC and above. For DV they even follow you for a bit… National security vetting: clearance levels - GOV.UK
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Anyone who works within law enforcement will be checked. Particularly if you have access to systems and databases that could be used potentially to access people’s information.
Even a basic 999 call handler has access to police databases and can run checks on names, addresses, vehicles etc. I could place markers on a vehicle that would have it stopped by armed police within a minute.
Basically we are potentially able to be asked to do illegal things for money. If you can’t manage your finances you can’t enter law enforcement.
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Ah yeah that makes a lot of sense.
The strange thing is that he’s a civil servant. Changes how you think of a civil service job, eh?
What gets me us that you can apply directly for both MI5 and MI6 these days.
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Thanks guys for the experiences, no it’s not anything secret squirrel/government related so shouldn’t need any of the indepth ones that are alluded to in some of the posts. Although I’m aware of them through my applications for positions,a lot of civil service depending on what the position/department is requires NSV of varying degrees.
Hi, I’ve had checks for both private and public sector and none of them showed, as hard searches.
Experian state this:
Does a credit check for employment appear on my credit report?
Technically yes, but only you will be able to see it. Companies can’t see if your report has been checked by an employer, so your credit score won’t be affected.
In terms of what they can see, I’m not sure as they don’t share it with you, but interesting Experian US do say, so expect it might be similar-
What Can Employers See When They Check Your Credit? Why Do Employers Check Credit? Shows a table with exactly what it covers.
Employers see a modified and limited version of your credit report. It contains information about debt you’ve incurred, including credit cards, student loans and mortgages, as well as your history of making payments on your debts.
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So…I know asking for financial advice on an internet forum is generally not a Good Idea but…
My credit rating is staying stubbornly low.
I do have quite a few ‘credit building’ credit cards which were, at one point, all maxed out but I’ve been working on getting those clear but checking the usual credit check apps (Clearscore, Credit Karma etc) it’s still showing as poor or very poor.
The issue I’ve got right now is that I’m trying to move but because of that, whenever a letting agency see my credit rating, the immediately just drop my application for anywhere. The downside of the new rules on what agencies can charge potential tenants is that they used to actually like to have an excuse to ask for a guarantor so they can charge for an extra credit check on them - but now that they can’t charge for that, they don’t want anyone who doesn’t already have a good credit rating…
My question is at the moment when I’ve cleared a particular card, I’ve still been keeping it open and ‘ticking over’ (generally with something like a Netflix or Disney+ sub) so that the total amount of credit available is kept high but my utilisation drops. I’m around 70% utilisation of total credit now (I was literally at 100% not that long ago) but it does mean I’ve also got 11 different credit products (Monzo Flex + credit cards) with a limit of between £400 - £2000 on them all.
So, what has the bigger (negative) impact? The total number of different credit products I have, or the % utilisation of credit used? If I actually cancel some of the cleared cards, my total utilisation of remaining credit would go back up (at least in the short-ish term).
Also, are all credit cards treated equal or if you’ve got a lot of ‘credit builder’ cards do they get treated more negative than someone with ‘premium’ cards?
Oh - side question, Experian keep suggesting that I sign up to their £13 a month ‘Credit Expert’ service and claim that people see ‘real change in months’. I’m assuming that’s no different from the free Clear Score/Credit Karma/Totally Money/Money Savings Expert services so is a waste of money?
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I don’t know how to advice you mate but what I can tell you is your score is meaningless the only person who see it is you. So don’t spend more money on raising a meaningless number
When you say you’ve been working to clear your cards, does it mean you’ve cleared them already or are you still paying credit card interest? Latter would indeed be bad for any credit “score”.
It’s also wild that you need to have a credit check for renting 
I think it’s 50% they like but 30% is better 
Although, as people have said, the score itself is meaningless, the things that go to make it up aren’t.
The number of credit cards shouldn’t matter (within reason) and who they are issued by is only seen by you.
The utilisation does matter. There are several bands that seem to matter: over 70%, over 50%, over 25%, and over 10%. These are applied to individual cards and to the total available credit limit. So, an individual card over 70% would affect you, more than one more so, and if you’re over 70% overall that will affect things even more so. On that basis, you don’t want to be closing accounts.
I had one card over 70% (0% balance transfer one) and when it dropped below that, my score jumped up. Yes, the actual score doesn’t matter but it’s an indication of how you’re doing.
Being over 70% total utilisation is going to be a problem in renting for you. They don’t see your score, but they do see that 70% utilisation. You probably need to get that down to 50%.
The credit builder subscription is just a rip off. It won’t help you and is just a way for them to sell you more products.
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The score moving is based on the credit scoring websites criteria though. The lender might have entirely different criteria.
For sure, but a landlord seeing 70% utilisation isn’t going to like it and these days they can be very selective. Worth noting that they are not professional lenders, so probably go by what they’ve read.
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The MSE credit club’s data provider used to be Experian, however, they have switched it to use Transunion data instead. If you have a Noodle/Credit Karma account this shows the Transunion file, so if you already are signed up to the MSE credit club don’t bother with CK if you haven’t done so already
Also to follow up for the above query I had for the credit check for employment, it was done it showed up as a soft credit search from the background verfication company and appeared as the purpose of “Employee check” in my Transunion file, I haven’t checked the others.
Why? As a landlord you’re renting a product ultimately, you need to know they are good for it.
The best advice I could give @qwango_uk is to go and see the citizens advice bureau or national debt line.
Credit cards are ultimately debt and they are probably best placed to offer proper advice.
If it was me, and this isn’t advice, I would be looking to close down as much credit I didn’t need and keep cards paid fully each month for as long as possible.
Lenders won’t look at your credit score, it’s a made up thing to sell stuff such as credit building products. They will look at your risk across a number of areas however, the score is useful but not the end all of how they might view you.
Good luck with the journey ahead
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It won’t be total number or overall limit otherwise I’d be scr*wed. It’ll be utilisation primarily. However sounds weird to be showing that low a score purely for that.
There’s definitely nothing else on the report? Are you on the electoral roll? Or is it a case of all the credit products still have high utilisation?
Yes, keep thing fully paid if you can, but OP doesn’t sound like they can do this right now.
If you’re at 70% usage and you close cards you don’t need, that would take the utilisation up, which you don’t want to do. It would make the situation worse e.g. if closing them took you to, say, 80% usage.
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Whilst they don’t see who issued your cards, they will see the limits. So, £400 limit is an indication that it’s a credit builder card.
Crazy as this idea would normally be, and it’s strictly assuming that you don’t use the limit, one way to improve your utilisation is to apply for another card, preferably a normal one. If you get a sensible limit (few thousand), you could then see about closing the lowest limit card. In an ideal world, a 0% balance transfer card would likely reduce your interest payments quite a bit, but they can be picky about issuing those.
Keeping below 70% is a must but a utilisation between 1-25% is optimal.
You get extra brownie points for above £15k limit too.
I don’t believe the number of cards has a factor but I only have Amex so can’t say for sure.
If you go on the Credit Karma app it tells you the factors to help improve your desirability to a lender like length of accounts, not opening too many in a short timeframe, electoral role etc
