'Individual' policies on credit card applications

Credit card providers do not rely exclusively on scores from reference agencies in deciding whether to accept a customer application, a personal finance expert has pointed out.

Writing in the Observer newspaper, consumer affairs specialist Margaret Dibben said that card firms rely on their own "individual scoring systems", as UK providers are not covered by any "universal credit rating system".

Reference agencies allow consumers to check how likely they are to be accepted for new credit cards, loans and mortgages by analysing their repayment histories.

Ms Dibben gave the advice in response to a query from reader "GW", who had received differing credit reports when checking their record with three agencies.

Call Credit gave the reader a score of 562, while Equifax and Experian returned scores of 556 and 883 respectively.

The expert pointed out that these results offered only a "general indication" of credit-worthiness to providers.

She added: "Lenders do not take a credit score from the agencies but instead put information from one agency into their own individual scoring systems with other details, such as age, as they choose.

"Not all lenders supply information to all three agencies, so the agencies' information is not identical."