What is a credit check?
A credit check is a look at your credit file, the record of how you have managed borrowing and bills. Lenders use it to help decide whether to offer you credit and on what terms. Your file is held by credit reference agencies and includes things like your repayment history, current credit and whether you are on the electoral roll.
There are two types of check, and the difference between them matters a great deal for your score.
Soft search versus hard search
The two searches do very different things to your credit file:
Used for quotes and eligibility checks, including ours.
Used when you formally apply for credit.
This is why checking your eligibility with a soft search first is so useful. You get a realistic idea of what you could be offered with no impact on your credit score.
The three credit reference agencies
In the UK, three main credit reference agencies hold information about you: Experian, Equifax and TransUnion. Each has its own scoring scale, so the number you see can differ depending on which one you look at. There is no single national credit score that every lender shares.
Lenders do not all use the same agency, and many use their own scoring on top. That is why you can be accepted by one lender and declined by another with a similar looking score.
What affects your credit score
The details vary between agencies, but the things that tend to move your score are broadly the same:
- Whether you make payments on bills, loans and cards on time
- Defaults, County Court Judgments or an IVA on your record
- How much of your available credit you are using
- How many credit applications you have made recently
- Whether you are registered on the electoral roll
- How long your accounts have been open and well managed
How to improve your score for free
You never need to pay a company to improve your credit score. A few free habits make a real difference over time:
Why several applications can hurt
Every formal credit application usually leaves a hard search on your file. A few over a long period is normal. Several in a short space of time can make lenders think you are under financial pressure, which can count against you.
Using soft search quotes to check for a potential match first, and only formally applying where you have a realistic chance, is the simplest way to avoid a cluster of hard searches.
How to check your own credit file
You have a right to see the information the agencies hold about you, and checking it yourself is a soft search that never affects your score. You can get your statutory credit report from each of the three agencies, and free guidance on reading it from MoneyHelper.
It is worth checking before you apply for anything important, so you can fix any errors and know where you stand.
Sources and methodology
Every figure in this guide is drawn from an official or independent authority, listed below. We do not link to other lenders or brokers. Where a statistic could change, we note when we last checked it, in July 2026.
Methodology: this guide is written in house by the Dot Dot Loans editorial team and reviewed by Paul Gillooly, Director of Dot Dot Loans, using published rules from the Financial Conduct Authority and figures from the sources above. It is general information, not financial advice. Representative Example: £1,000 borrowed for 18 months. 17 monthly repayments at £87.22, final repayment of £87.70. Total amount repayable £1,570.44. Interest total £570.44. Annual interest rate 59.97% (fixed). Representative APR 79.5% (Variable). Any representative monthly repayment shown is for illustration only, based on our representative APR. Your actual repayments will be confirmed by the matching lender if your application is approved.