Here are five myths that you can ignore when it comes to obtaining credit. Don’t worry about any of these factors leading to a rejection – they won’t affect your credit rating.

1. Previous occupants of your address can affect your credit rating

They could have been millionaires or bankrupt – it makes no difference to a lender unless you happen to have shared a financial connection with them. Lenders are only interested in your ability to cope with your borrowings.

2. Family and friends living in your home can damage your chances

They can’t harm your credit rating unless you share a financial connection, such as a joint account, with them. In that case, they become your financial associates and lenders may look at their credit history when deciding whether or not to make you an offer, because their circumstances could affect your ability to repay what you owe.

3. Decisions are made by credit reference agencies

Credit reference agencies don’t give you a credit rating or decide whether or not you should get a loan – lenders. Credit reference agencies simply collate the information in your credit report, hold it securely and give access to registered and approved organisations, such as banks, building societies and finance companies.

4. You’re on a credit blacklist

There’s no such thing. Red-lining – ruling out whole streets or estates – simply doesn’t take place either and your credit score does not take account of factors such as gender, religion, race or ethnic origin.

5. You used to have a bad credit rating

One bad credit score isn’t a life sentence. Your credit rating changes over time, as your circumstances alter, so if you got a bad score a few years ago it could, with better management of your finances, now be a good one. On top of that, every lender calculates your credit rating differently and some adjust their formulae for different products, so you could be given several different scores within the same week.

What you can do about your credit rating today

Your credit report is a key element of your financial CV and records credit you’ve taken out, such as loans, cards and mortgages, your repayment history and other relevant information – for example, whether you’ve been bankrupt.

Before you apply for credit, you should get your credit report to make sure it is accurate, up-to-date and correctly reflects your current circumstances. There may be things that you can do to increase your chances of getting the deal that you want.

You can see your Experian credit report and get advice on what you can do for free with a 30-day trial of CreditExpert, the UK’s leading online credit monitoring and identity fraud protection service. Find out more.

How to obtain a copy of your credit rating file from credit reference agencies