How often does your credit score change?

Your credit score is very important; it’s essentially the first thing that any potential lenders are going to look at when deciding whether or not you’re a reliable person to lend money to. If you’ve got a good score, you’ll probably qualify for better interest rate deals on your mortgage if you’re applying for a house, or better deals on credit cards.

If you’ve got a poor credit score, then you might find that certain deals being offered by lenders aren’t available to you. You might not even be able to get a credit card at all if your score is considerably poor, and it might be the case that you need to turn to ‘bad’ or ‘sub-prime’ credit cards in order to obtain credit quickly.

Considering how much a credit score can affect your life, it’s understandable that you’d want to improve it as quickly as possible. But how often does your score change, and can you make it change quicker?

Does your credit score change daily?

No. Your credit report is a record of your borrowing behaviours, and how good your borrowing behaviour is will determine what you credit score ends up as. Information is held on your credit report for around 6 years, so anything that could affect your score badly (such as missed payments or arrears) will remain on there for a while.

It’s because of this that it can sometimes take time for your score to improve, even if the things making your score poorer happened a couple of years ago.

Having said this, however, new information is added to your credit report each month, so if your borrowing behaviour improves this will be reflected more and more in your credit score as each month goes by. There are also more steps you can take to improve your score if you want to get a better credit rating as quickly as possible.

It’s worth remembering, too, that for a score to improve your credit report needs to show a consistent financial reliability and strength. Lenders like to see a long-term pattern of reliable financial activity rather than just a couple of months’ worth of on-time payments, so you’ll need to keep it up if you want to get the credit rating you’re after.   

Diversity is key

Another important point in regards to improving your score is the diversity of your report. If you’ve only got one debit card to your name, it may take longer to improve your score. Adding a credit card in your name, for example, and making the full repayments on it when they’re due shows that you can handle additional lines of credit, and means that your score may improve quicker as a result.

If you’re worried about your finances, why not call our supportive, dedicated helpline team for a confidential chat about your circumstances? Our number is 0800 316 1833 , and our opening hours are 8am to 8pm, Monday to Friday, and 9am to 3pm on Saturdays.