What a credit file is, how you can get a copy and how debt affects your credit file
Your credit file is a collection of information about you, which is held by a credit reference agency (CRA). It usually includes details of how much money you’ve borrowed, how much you’ve paid back, and whether you’ve missed any payments.
If you don’t keep up with payments for an account (this could be a bank account, a mobile phone contract or a utility supply), your creditor may tell you that the agreement has been broken and the account will default. This default will be recorded on your credit file. For more information, please visit Experian’s website.
Companies use the information in your credit file to decide whether to lend you money. If your account has not yet defaulted and you miss payments, this could cause your account to default which could have a negative impact on your credit file. By getting in touch with your creditors and making payments towards your debt, you will show creditors that you're taking steps to clear your debt. This may help to improve your credit rating.
If you’re worried that Lowell has added a mistake to your credit file, please get in touch with us and we’ll make sure we get to the bottom of what’s happened.
If the account is showing on your credit file, we’ll tell the credit reference agencies once you've paid off your debt, who will update your credit file. If your account has already defaulted and you paid your debt off without a discount, your credit file will be marked as ‘satisfied.’ If you paid your debt off with a discount, the default will be marked as ‘partially satisfied'.
If the account hasn't defaulted yet and you clear the debt in full, the status of the account will show as 'settled' on your credit file, which shows that you cleared the balance and closed the account before it defaulted. In all scenarios, the update of your credit file shows future creditors that you took responsibility and cleared your debt.
If the account is showing on your credit file we’ll update credit reference agencies when you start making payments. Once you’ve paid off your debt, we’ll tell the credit reference agencies who will update your credit file to show the balance has been paid.
If your account defaults it will be recorded on your credit file, which could make it difficult to borrow money in the future. But, there are things you can do to reduce its negative impact, such as setting up a repayment plan and adding a note to your credit report. For more information, please visit Experian’s website.
We’ll update credit reference agencies every 30 days with details of each of your payments. However, it can take up to 50 days for your credit file to be updated.
We use the information on your credit file to help us understand your situation. We use Experian for most our searches, who are a trusted credit reference agency. When we review your credit file it will show as a 'soft search', so will not negatively impact your credit score. Your privacy is important to us and we only ever use your information to help us manage your debt.