Learn > Credit Scores

What is a credit score?

In simple terms, a credit score is a number that is applied to you indicating how financially responsible you are, particularly when it comes to repaying borrowed monies.

The numbers vary depending on where you view your credit score, but typically you will sit within a rating bracket of "excellent", "good", "fair", etc. You can see what these ratings mean here. The better your credit score, usually this means that you should be able to borrow more from lenders as you are seen as more reliable and responsible you are financially.

A higher score can also sometimes reduce the interest rate you pay as you are seen "less risky" by lenders and therefore they can often offer you more friendly rates. This would be the case because lenders typically like to cover themselves for more risky borrowers by charging them a higher interest rate. See this article explaining why.

Thinking about the ability to borrow more and at a lower interest rate, the best example to consider here is a mortgage when buying a house. You typically will want to be able to borrow large sums of cash from your bank or building society, with as low an interest rate as possible as the interest on mortgages really adds up! Therefore, having as good a credit score as possible can be invaluable.

How to view your credit score

There are lots of places online that allow you to look at your credit score with ease, but you can view your credit score for free* with Experian here. By having access to this online, you will also be able to see how this changes with your habits when your score gets updated every 30 days.

When viewing this you should also be able to see the “rating” you have been given that tells you where your score sits. For example, when viewing mine online I can see that I have a credit score of 989/999 and I am therefore in the “Excellent” category. You will also see that it shows what kind of credit cards I may be eligible for (see below).

Experian Ltd is a credit broker not a lender. Experian acts as a credit broker and not a lender in the provision of its credit cards and personal, car finance and guarantor loans comparison services, meaning it will show you products offered by lenders and other brokers.

How to improve your credit score

Looking at Experian again, they also offer a free product called Experian Boost* that allows you to connect your bank account to your credit score. This will then look through your bank transactions and will hopefully find some regular patterns of spending that show reliability (think regular subscriptions etc.) that show you are responsible and reliable when it comes to your finances.

If this kind of thing can be found, then there is a possibility that your credit score could get increased as a direct result. If you are concerned that your credit score isn’t as good as you were expecting, this may be worth exploring! You can check out Experian Boost here.

*Free Experian account linked to your current account is required to access Experian Boost. Score increase subject to status. Not all credit scores will increase with Boost and not all lenders us Boost.

This page is created in collaboration with Experian and contains affiliate links that may result in The Bank Engine earning a small commission. Thank you for supporting The Bank Engine.