Taken from here Whether you are an excited first-time buyer or a seasoned property purchaser looking to move home or add a property to your buy-to-let portfolio, maintaining a good credit history is vital if you want to secure mortgage finance for your purchase. Even if you are not in the market for a new home, and you simply want a personal loan or a new credit card, a strong credit record will be essential. All lenders will check yours, regardless as to the financial product you are interested in or the amount of finance you are looking for. To do this, lenders run a credit check on you, and your address, looking for information on whether you are a sensible and responsible candidate for lending, or whether you have perhaps run into financial difficulties in the past, or been refused credit by other lenders. Forewarned is forearmed, as they say, so it’s sensible to find out exactly what information the credit reference companies have on you, so that you can decide what your next st...