Car finance centre

1. Profile information
This contains basic identity information. If any of your details change, you can edit this area online, for example. The profile of your credit report lists all organisations that have contributed information to your credit rating, so that you may contact them should you have any questions.

2. Electoral role
Your credit report will also indicate whether or not you are registered on an electoral roll, and the addresses you were recorded at. Lenders check this as a precaution against fraud, and if you are registered at a different address, they may ask you for further proof of identity or even turn down your application.

3. Aliases
Aliases are created when lenders tell us other names you are known by or have used. Normally because for example you have married or divorced.

4. Financial association
A financial association listed on your credit report refers to anyone you are financially connected to due to joint accounts, joint applications, joint court judgments etc.

Lenders may check the credit rating of any of your financial associates when you apply, as there financial circumstances can affect your ability to repay.

5. Public records
This section of your credit report contains information held on public records, such as court judgments for non-payment of debts, any bankruptcies or individual voluntary arrangements (IVAs).  Any public record of this kind will be held for six years, and debts repaid within a month of a court judgment can be marked as Satisfied.

6. Account information
The term "credit" covers every account that gives you something of value - money, goods or services on the agreement that you will repay the lender at a later date. That's why you also find utility bills and mobile phone accounts in this section of your credit report alongside your loans, credit cards, and mortgages.

Each account details:

Personal information	Every account in your name connected to your credit rating. If you see an account you don't recognise, you could be a victim of ID fraud.
Account type	i.e. catalogue shopping, car loan, mortgage
Balance information	Current balance, date opened, the figure you have spent and not yet repaid
Defaulted payments	Look out for an 8 when checking the account status. It means that a lender has terminated the account because you haven't made payments and have failed to come up with a way of putting things right. A defaulted account stays on your credit report for six years and will lower your credit rating.
Status history	When you make your repayments on time and in full

7. Repossession information
Members of the Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML) record information on customers who have given up their homes or had them repossessed.

8. Previous searches
This part of the report shows the organisations that have seen your credit report within the past 12 months because you have given permission from on application. Lenders may also check when they are preparing a quotation or making routine risk management checks on existing accounts.

Making an application for credit adds points to your credit rating, as it could be a sign you are struggling with your finances. It's important ensure you don't have excessive searches against your name, or that nobody has mistaken a request for information for a full application or double-searched your credit report by mistake.

9. Linked addresses
Previous searches show the names of organisations that have seen some or all of the information recorded on your credit report within the past 12 months. If you apply for credit from an unrecorded address, those addresses appear here.

Make sure you give the correct address. Even if the post code on one of your addresses is wrong, it could affect your credit rating because lenders could worry that you won't honour your debt. When you move keep your addresses updated with your lenders to assure them of your integrity.

10. CIFAS
CIFAS is the UK's Fraud Prevention Service. They detect and prevent fraud and innocent victims whose names, addresses or other details are used fraudulently by others to get goods and services. By registering at a credit reference agency, you gain protection from fraudsters, as warnings go to lenders that a criminal has previously tried - perhaps successfully - to use your identity to borrow money.

11. GAIN (Gone Away Information Network)
GAIN shows individuals that owe money and have moved without providing the lender with a forwarding address. Often there is an innocent explanation and the situation can be put right.