Looking at this, I found this article, which said (in part, emphasis mine):
If a US lender did that to determine credit-worthiness, they could be sued.
Here’s what Wiki has to say about credit ratings in the UK:
Yeah… I prefer our system better.
This.
The generic, unqualified term “pie” generally means a sweet pie. If you want a different kind of pie, you need to be more specific, such as asking for a “chicken pot pie”. This is the same thing that is going on in the military with the difference between “officer” and “non-commissioned officer”. Technically, an NCO is an officer, but the term “officer”, standing alone, is understood to mean “commissioned officer”.
In some places in the northeast, pizzas may be called “pies” or “pizza pies”. Certainly, if you walk into an Italian restaurant in Newark, NJ and ask for a “pie” as the entree, you’re going to get a pizza.
The important distinction here is between “pie” and “a pie.”
The lack of a definite article will get a dessert tray brought out in the States.
The cynic in me says that our consumer-based mindset here in the US means that your credit score is how you’re valued by ‘the powers that be’; how much can you afford and why affects how much they’ll profit so nothing else matters, as profit is all that matters. As a great man once said, “Bollocks! Not compared to how people matter.”; but there it is.
Your credit score affects the interest rate on loans - the lower the score, the higher the rate. It’s like a bond rating. Also, credit ratings affect more than bank loans. Companies will look at credit ratings when making hiring decisions, for example. Landlords look at the credit scores of potential renters. Insurance companies look at the scores of their policy holders.
Banks have always looked at the creditworthiness of people who apply for loans. With the credit score system, three companies have taken over a lot of the work of evaluating creditworthiness from the banks. These companies don’t just calculate the credit scores of people when they apply for loans - they keep them for everyone all the time, and update them regularly. The fact that these numbers exist all the time (instead of just on demand) has helped them take on a life of their own.
Because you may want to refinance, buy another house, or acquire another credit product, such as a car loan or credit card. Your credit score (which is just a numerical summary of the statistics in your credit report) affects what products are available to you and at what interest rate.
Sounds too complicated for my liking but then I’ve always lived within my means so that might explain why I’ve never worried about whether my rating is “good” or “bad” andlooking at the info upthread it sounds like no-one is obliged to tell me how I score anyway.
As for varying interest rates according to credit scores, that again is something I’ve never heard of.
In the UK I was under the impression that loans and mortgages were sold as specific “products” and that is the company accepts you for it then you pay the interest rate as advertised, not a sliding scale dictated by a “credit score”.
I stand to be corrected of course as I am fairly clueless about money (thankfully as long as there is about enough it has never really interested me)
I can understand the landlords checking out the credit-rating of prospective tenants, but I fail to see what interest a company looking to hire staff should have in my ability to pay bills etc. Maybe I’ve been unemployed and broke for a while, which is why I desperately need a job! If I’m otherwise qualified and considered for the position, I suggest it should be grounds for a discrimination case if I’m knocked back because I was late on a gas bill 12 months ago. :dubious:
And as far as insurance goes, again, why does it matter? If I don’t pay my premium, the policy lapses: simple! The insurance companies will suffer no consequences if I fail to pay on time.
It could very well be that way. However, just because you are unaware of your credit score does not mean you don’t have one and that it doesn’t affect you - you do have one, you just don’t know about it. It’s used on you and, as mentioned earlier in this thread, the company that is giving you this credit score (Experian) is headquartered in your country, not ours.
They don’t care whether you voted or not (and how could they know anyway?), but being on the electoral roll is a factor. I guess it helps establish identity, length of residence at current address etc. I’ve no idea how big a factor it is though.
In the US, most adults establish identity via drivers licenses and social security numbers. I don’t think I ever had somebody ask for my voter ID card in order to establish credit.
The credit rating agencies in the UK are obliged to give you the information they hold on you - things like loan applications, defaults etc. It occasionally happens that there is something in error on your file, say, a default by a family member at the same address. It’s worth checking at least once in a while, and definitely after a big life event like a divorce.
However, the financial institutions that use the credit agencies raw data to evaluate you as a risk are not obliged to tell you how they do it.
perhaps, still It seems to me that given a similar group of professional people in the USA it would be unusual for all of them to be clueless about the intricacies of a “credit score” yes?
I’m surprised that a group of professional people in the UK don’t know about credit ratings.
The Credit score fanaticism in the US is really only about 15 years old. They used them before that but nobody really knew what was going on. Then around that time the Government actually decided to do something useful, and started forcing the system to become more transparent and accountable. Any time you apply for a loan they have to give you a copy of what they received from the bureau, and the requirement that the report must be available for free at least once a year.
According to the Wiki cite, no, it wouldn’t be unusual. It doesn’t appear that there is much transparency in the UK system, and that credit scores are being used without your knowledge.
Indefinite artice.
So if I visit a bakery and ask if they sell pies, will they think I am refering to the dessert?
Yes, unless that bakery is also a pizzeria on the east coast. Out here in flyover country, I’ve never heard a pizza referred to as a pie.
Kind of like this (video starts immediately).
Not even when the sun hits your eye?
That’s amore.