What credit score do you need for a mortgage?

Written by David BourneMortgage & Protection Adviser · Firm reference 988277

The score you see is not the score they see

Experian, Equifax and TransUnion each show you a score on their own scale. Lenders do not use those numbers. They pull the report itself — your accounts, the months you paid on time and the months you did not, any defaults or CCJs — and run it through their own scoring, alongside what you tell them on the application.

That is why a "fair" score can be accepted by one lender and a "good" one declined by another. It is also why chasing a higher number in an app is the wrong project.

What actually moves a lender

The entries, not the score. How recent any problems are, whether they are settled, what kind of account they were on, and how the last year or two looks. Beyond the file: your deposit, your income and how it is paid, and what you are trying to borrow.

A low score with nothing serious behind it — a thin file, a lot of recent applications, not being on the electoral roll — is often quicker to fix than people expect. A low score caused by recent missed payments on a mortgage is a different conversation.

Things worth doing before you apply

Check all three reports, not just one, because lenders do not all use the same agency. Make sure you are on the electoral roll at your current address. Avoid new credit applications in the run-up to a mortgage. And look for anything you do not recognise, or an old phone or broadband account you forgot to close.

What I would do

Read the report with you rather than the score. Then match what is actually there to lenders whose rules allow for it. If the honest answer is "not yet", I will tell you that, and what would change it.