As banks have tightened their criteria for lending people money, consumers are being urged to be more aware of how their credit rating can affect the chances to be bale to borrow money. Lenders generally request personal finance details to help them make a decision about whether they wish to offer customers a loan and this information will almost certainly include their income, status of employment, cost of living and details of any current borrowings.



It is possible that lenders may also look into the financial history of potential customers to assess their attractiveness as a client themselves. Credit history is the first thing that is likely to be checked as this is the most reliable indicator of how good people are at keeping up with their repayments. Once someone has signed up for a loan application, although it is not always obvious in the small print, the lender now has permission to access financial information from credit reference agencies about the applicant.





People are likely to have a poor credit rating if they have forgotten to pay off their credit card on time or missed a payment on a personal loan or mortgage. However, if they have been diligent and met every loan repayment on time, they are likely to have a good credit rating.



Most lenders will seek credit history reports through the Irish Credit Bureau (ICB), the largest credit reference agency in Ireland, which is owned by a number of financial institutions. The ICB are sent information about borrowers from over 80 lending organisations, holding individual reports for each person. As well as sourcing information from the ICB, some lenders will also investigate whether there have been any court judgements granted against certain individuals.



A number of car insurance companies are now using this facility in an attempt to build up a case against customers if they discover they have been making false claims on the insurance policy. An insurance expert said, You would find generally that somebody who is being brought to court for putting in false insurance claims, 99 per cent of the time you will also find that they also have judgements by telephone companies and banks, so there is a pattern.