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The UK has two major credit reference agencies - Equifax and Experian. They hold credit files on virtually every person over 18 in the country.

Almost all finance companies will pass information about you to one or both of these credit agencies. Therefore, your credit file is likely to contain information on all your existing credit and finance agreements, such as your mortgage, secured loans, unsecured personal loans, bank accounts, credit and store cards, etc. Your credit record will also contain details on any late or missed payments and the amount of the original finance amount still outstanding.

The credit agency files also contain electoral roll information for your address and court records relating to you. This means companies who you want to get finance from are able to check where you live and also see if you have any outstanding CCJs.

Whenever a finance lender is assessing a finance application, they will check the details held on your credit record by Equifax and/or Experian. This is because they are not allowed to ask for any information about you from other finance companies with whom you have a credit agreement. Also, by contacting one of these two agencies they can gain access to your entire finance and credit history with just one request, instead of having to gather information from lots of different sources.

Your credit file will also show details about other people who live at your address if they are financially linked to you, or if the credit reference agencies think they are financially linked to you. In this way, another person's bad credit history can sometimes bring down your credit score. But if you find you are wrongly linked to another individual, you can contact the credit reference agencies and ask them to fix the mistake.

Whenever a finance company makes a search of your credit file, that search is recorded on your credit file, leaving what's called a credit check "footprint". This means that whenever you apply for credit, it is easy for the lender to see if you have already been shopping around for finance. If you have applied for credit from lots of lenders in a short space of time, this in itself could affect whether or not the current lender will agree to give you finance.

A lot of people think that there is a credit "blacklist" you can end up on if you have a particularly poor credit history, and that if you are on this credit blacklist then you will automatically be refused credit.

This is simply not true - there is no such thing as a credit blacklist. If you have been refused finance or other forms of credit, the reason will be because your credit score was not high enough to meet that lender's criteria.

When a lender requests information about you from a credit reference agency, they apply a mathematical formula to that information in order to generate your credit score. Different lenders will use slightly different factors to come up with a credit score for you. Also, the definition and thresholds of a good or acceptable score will vary from one finance lender to another. Therefore, it is quite possible to be turned down by one finance lender but be offered finance by another.

The Data Protection Act means that the credit reference agencies must give you a copy of the information in your credit record in return for a small administration fee. At the time of writing, the fee for each agency is £2.

Your credit file details are supplied by post, but you can request a copy of your file by telephone, post or email. Details or how to apply can be found on the Equifax and Experian websites. Remember that because some companies supply information to Equifax, some to Experian, and some to both, you will need to order copies of your file from both agencies in order to get a complete picture of your credit record.

Alternatively, the online credit report services available from companies such as checkmyfile.com will allow you to undergo a free credit score check, as well as download (for a fee) a copy of your full credit report.

If you find that your credit report contains any mistakes, you can ask Equifax and/or Experian to correct the errors. Full details of how to correct mistakes on your credit file are available from the credit reference agencies.

Each time you approach a lender for finance and they run a credit check on you, you are potentially worsening your credit score due to the footprints this will leave on your credit record. And given that different lenders will have different criteria for assessing your credit worthiness, it makes sense to take expert advice right from the start if you are looking to obtain finance but suspect your chances of success may be affected by a poor credit rating.

So if you're worried that a poor credit record may affect your ability to obtain finance, a secured loan, or a personal loan, then use our online enquiry form to get in touch with a specialist finance adviser who understands the issues surrounding credit ratings.