Do you have a credit history?

[Workingman]

If not you could be barred from all sorts of things.

The aricle was an eye opener, especially the bit where the checking agency refused to explain the criteria for exclusion.

The woman concerned is on the electoral register and has a bank account and utility bills and obviously a passport, though an Australian one. What she doesn't have is a loan, a mobile phone contract or a credit card, and the lack of those got her excluded from getting a home Covid test.

Apparently some 6 million of us are in the same position. I know I am.

I have all the official bits and bobs - driving licence, passport, NHS number, NI number etc. - but no credit history. The last loan I had was paid off over a decade ago, my "credit card" is a pre-pay version and my brick of a phone is on PAYG.

I have just tried to get free credit scores from Equifax and TransUnion and despite filling in their lengthy registration forms they cannot register me and I have to phone - next week because both are closed.

I am not bothered about the score but I do wonder what a credit history has to do with getting a Covid test and also what other official services I am losing out on.

[TheOstrich]

I've been "aware" for some time that it's a useful thing to have a credit history, and as we finished paying off loans / mortgages about 10 years or so ago, I deliberately kept a bank credit card going, at a low ebb - I use it perhaps two or three times a month rather than a debit card when shopping (especially now cash is discouraged), and if I buy anything over the phone (i.e renew a magazine subscription), again that's the card I use. I have a ridiculously low credit limit on it compared with most people, I guess, (which was set back in the mists of time) and I automatically pay it off in full by monthly direct debit.

I had to register for online access this year with a building society, because said building society ceased sending out annual interest statements through the post, necessary information for yer tax return, and with the Covid, I couldn't get up to the nearest branch to get the passbook made up. Now one of the hoops I had to jump through to register for online was to answer a series of personal questions, the answers for many of which could only have come from a credit agency ......

Might be worth you thinking about getting a standard bank credit card and deliberately using it just once a month to keep it in play, WM, if you feel not having one is going to severely disadvantage you.

The business about that lady being barred from a Covid test is ridiculous given she was on the electoral roll.

[Kaz]

Yes, we both do, but always clear the cc at the end of the month, and have advised B to do the same. Sadly, these days a credit history is a must

[saundra]

Yes I have a credit card but pay it of in full every month
Things can get awkward tho because I don't have a mobile phone but if got one last week but have put it together yet
Can't get the back of people want to much info,these days

[Workingman]

We...have advised B to do the same. Sadly, these days a credit history is a must

So true. I did a bit of digging and if I was in the right age range I would have difficulty getting a mortgage and employment, and in general problems with goods on tick, direct debits or standing orders for services and utilities. Madness!

Might be worth you thinking about getting a standard bank credit card and deliberately using it just once a month to keep it in play, WM, if you feel not having one is going to severely disadvantage you.

That is what I am reading, Ossie. I apparently have a "thin" file i.e. little history, so to make it "fatter" I have to take on debt and then pay it off regularly (your CC idea) so the lenders can see that I am a safe bet. Borrowing doesn't bother me as I am way past that type of living, but it does concern me that having no credit history could make life difficult when trying to obtain government or council services. What the hell does a credit history have to do with those?

Living within your means is a very bad thing - it goes against you - but living on credit is excellent.

Saundra, did you get a SIM card? They can be a bit of a fiddle to fit so you might need someone with nimble fingers.

[victor]

When we returned to Uk after 11 years abroad we had this problem -the fact we had cash was almost frowned on .
when we were looking for somewhere to live 1 financial actually said ,having cash is a problem whereas if you had CCJ's against your name we could do more to help you .
One place we enquired about was part rent part buy--
1st question -can you get a mortgage?
i replied -we don't need one we have cash

2nd question -but could you get one if you needed one?

answer-we have returned to UK after 11 years abroad
to which we were told--forget it you have no credit history

So we got a bl++dy CC and we spend about £50 p/m on it-now they ask if we want to increase our limit !!

[JanB]

Never had a credit card and the only loan I've ever had was the mortgage.

So I'd fail too

[saundra]

Now I can remember when a married woman couldn't even buy on hire purchase unless her husband signed the paper work the
Wm I can't get the back of the phone to start with with

[JanB]

Dreadful, wasn't it Saundra

[saundra]

When you think about it yes it was very restrictive
And ow everything is so very different and it isent always for the best me feeling a bit nostalgic
H o for the swinging 60/70 even the 50s