What is considered a good credit score?

Last Modified 16th of February 2021

A good credit score depends on which credit score you have in mind. You don’t have just one credit score; in fact you probably have several and they will all vary. Every credit reference agency will track your credit history and many of them will give you a score based on their own algorithms.

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There are three main agencies in the UK, so it is most useful to look at your credit score with each one. Fortunately they all offer a guide as to how good or bad your credit score is.

What is important to remember though is that your credit score is only an indicator. No creditor will ever look simply at your score; they will look at the entire file (as well as considering other factors) and decide for themselves whether you are credit worthy.

Experian credit score

With that said, Experian are the biggest and most commonly used credit reference agency, so most people will seek a credit report from them.

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With Experian you can in theory have a credit score anywhere from 0 to 999. The higher the better of course.

Experian describe a score anywhere between 881 and 960 as good, anything above that is ‘Excellent’ and anything below is either fair, poor or very poor. Of course it’s easiest just to sign up with Experian and find out your score and assessment directly from them.

Credit score in context

Of course a ‘good’ credit score really depends on what credit you are applying for. The higher the score the better, but if you are just applying for a small credit card then you might not have any problems even if your credit is only ‘fair’. On the other hand, some people struggle to get a mortgage even when their credit score is ‘Excellent’.

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So try to take your credit score with a  pinch of salt, always try to improve it but also consider what other factors might affect your credit worthiness (such as income or job stability).