The Importance of Your Address to Your Credit Score

If you are applying for any sort of credit it is important to have a clear understanding of your credit history. For many people, having adverse credit makes it really difficult to acquire a financial product or service through the traditional high street banks and loan lenders. There are reputable payday loan services out there, however, that can provide bad credit loans to those applicants who have a poor credit score or no credit history at all. There are a few different things that can have an impact on your credit score, including your address, but why is your address so important to your credit score?

Your address, and other important information about you, is important as it allows a company you are applying for credit through to identify you. From this point, a company can take a look into your credit history and your financial behaviour. It helps a person to have a fair and accurate application process, whilst also preventing identity fraud.

In many cases, when applying for credit of any form you’ll be asked to provide not only your current home address, but to also provide your previous addresses. For a credit agency (such as Experian or Equifax) your personal and financial information is only held for a period of six years. Before applying for any type of credit, ask for your credit file from credit agencies and check for any faults or missing information, such as previous addresses that fall into the last six years.

A company that you are applying for credit with will have access to this information, so any missing or incorrect details could impact on the decision on whether or not to award you credit. Lenders and other companies can utilise a Royal Mail search or the Electoral Role to find your address, so it is important that you update your address and register to vote at your current address.

In some cases you might not be able to find the details of your new home in order to register. This can often be the case with new-build homes or in buildings where previous office space or large homes have been converted into smaller, individual apartments and flats. You can report the address as missing to the Postcode Address Finder (PAF) in order for the accurate information to filter through to all companies where it is necessary, such as utility companies, local councils, and employers.

Although it is vital that you update all relevant authorities and companies about a home move, it is important to understand that companies generally like to see stability in all factors of a persons life when weighing up an application for credit. It could cause you some problems in finding credit should you have moved home several times throughout the last few years, but it will never be a primary concern when awarding or declining a credit application. You should also remember that there are plenty of reputable payday loan lenders and other credit facilities that can provide access to bad credit loans.

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