Credit Agencies Lower Great Britain’s Credit Rating (2024)

FAQs

What is Great Britain's credit rating? ›

S&P cut Britain's credit rating by two notches from 'AAA' to 'AA' after the 2016 Brexit referendum decision and warned of another possible downgrade following former Prime Minister Liz Truss's 'mini budget' huge tax cut programme announced in 2022.

There are 3 main UK credit rating agencies that offer credit scores. They are Experian, Equifax and TransUnion. Each CRA uses a slightly different method, but they all consider similar factors to generate your score.

The lower the credit score number the worse your credit is. In the UK, having bad credit can impact how many lenders are willing to give you a credit card, mortgage or bank loan. A bad credit score with Equifax is under 379. A 'Poor' credit score with Equifax is 280-379, and a 'Very Poor' credit score is under 279.

A score of 881-960 is considered good. A score of 961-999 is considered excellent (reference: https://www.experian.co.uk/consumer/guides/good-credit-score.html). TransUnion (formerly Callcredit) is the UK's second largest CRA, and has scores ranging from 0-710. A credit score of 566-603 is considered fair.

Moody's, the first of the major agencies to remove the UK from the elite club of AAA countries, blamed "subdued growth" and a "high and rising debt burden" for the decision to cut the rating by one notch to AA1.

S&P, the other major global rating agency, also rates China A+, the equivalent of Moody's current A1 rating.

You can cancel your UK Credit Ratings membership at any time by calling the customer service team on 0161 250 7700, emailing info@UKCreditratings.com, by mail or by clicking on the chat icon on the UK Credit Ratings website.

Who are the main credit reference agencies in the UK? ›

The three main consumer CRAs in the UK are Equifax, Experian and TransUnion. Most of the information held by the CRAs relates to how you have maintained your credit and service/utility accounts.

Standard & Poor's (S&P) Moody's and Fitch are the three most significant rating agencies in the world. These agencies rate the creditworthiness of countries and private enterprises. “AAA” or “Aaa” is the highest rating across all three rating agencies and indicates the highest level of creditworthiness.

Which lenders use Experian only? There are some lenders in the UK who only check for information with Experian only. These include; Co-operative Bank, Nationwide, Vanquis, Virgin Money and Yorkshire Bank & Clydesdale Bank.

The higher the credit rating, the easier it is to get a loan or credit with a good interest rate. So in simple terms, the UK is now no longer seen as such a safe bet. Britain has held a AAA rating since 1978. Our rating is now AA which is the same as France but worse than Germany.

Credit scores aren't shared between countries, partly because data protection laws vary.

Equifax score

The highest-ranking areas tended to be in the south of England. Kingston upon Thames in London was in the top spot for the second year in a row, with an average credit score of 400.16. Residents in Lerwick were second with an average credit score of 395.96.