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A credit report includes all the details of any credit or borrowings you currently have, along with historic payment history. The term credit can refer to a range of financial products including; a credit card, mobile phone contract, overdraft or mortgage. The report will also include personal details such as your address, whether you are on the electoral register, and any financial associates you have. A financial associate is any person you have jointly entered into a finance agreement with.
A credit report will not check any details such as; your medical records, religious beliefs, savings accounts, employment history or ethnicity.
Lenders will only be able to look at your credit report if you have given them permission to do so.
After looking at all of this information a credit score can be calculated which is a numerical representation of your borrowing behaviour and how likely you are to keep up with repayments. Each credit reporting agency uses a different method to arrive at a number, but scores are usually split into 5 bands ranging from very poor up to excellent. The higher your score, the more likely you are to get a credit application accepted.
At Rivervale, we only work with funders who generally accept applications for finance from people who have a good or excellent credit score.
There are lenders who will accept applications from people with lower credit scores, but you are likely to pay higher interest. This is because lenders will often set the rate of interest for the finance product you are applying for based on how much of a risk you present. The lower your credit score, the less sure the lender is that you will keep up the necessary repayments, so the higher risk you are. As you represent a higher risk than a person with a good credit score, you will be charged a higher interest rate on your finance product and so will end up paying more overall for your car lease.
If you have a poor credit rating and wish to lease a car, we would recommend trying to improve your credit score so you can access the most competitively priced deals.
Your credit score can be negatively impacted by; regularly missing payments on existing credit agreements, having a County Court Judgement, entering into an Individual Voluntary Arrangement, if you are using most of the credit available to you already or even if you have very little credit history or a 'thin file'. Lack of traceability by way of the electoral register will also impact the ability to obtain credit, as companies need to identify who they are dealing with, and checking public records such as these is one of the methods used.
To improve your credit score you could try the following;
Get more advice about your credit score from the Money Advice Service
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Lease guides
Lease guides
Excellent - 4.9 out of 52543 Verified Reviews
Lee Patterson
Excellent smooth setup of lease car. Website really good and doc signing easy. Excellent price and service from Rivervale will use again...
Added 9 hours ago
Scarlett Walton
straightforward process with excellent customer service . thank you abbie and ellie .
Added 9 hours ago
John Denis
This is my 2nd car lease with Rivervale . I had no reason to look elsewhere. Jake and Lydia have been absolutely great in delivering my new car...
Added 12 hours ago
Customer
I was having lots of issues with another leasing company, where my delivery had been delayed 6months. I contacted Rivervale and had managed to...
Added 13 hours ago
EB
Excellent customer service and value, would highly recommend
Added 13 hours ago
Jenny
I’d never heard of Rivervale before I saw an amazing deal for a car on their website. I decided to go through with the lease agreement and...
Added 2 days ago
Steven Lennon
Good communications with the team, especially Jim and Megan. Easy to contact if I had any questions or information requests. All information...
Added 2 days ago
Mark Green
This is the first time that I have leased a car and I found the whole experience very easy and straight forward. I would use them again. Highly...
Added 3 days ago
Dennis Graham
Thanks again to Jordan for going the extra mile in providing the new BMW X3. Also, thanks to Ellie for the smooth transition and delivery of...
Added 6 days ago
Lucinda
Fantastic service from Jim at Rivervale. From coming in on his day off, to ensuring I had a courtesy car when there was a problem with supply...
Added 6 days ago