MSE credit club (Review)

In this brief guide, we discuss the MSE credit club, how the MSE credit club can help you boost your credit score and improve your credit history. 

What is the MSE credit club?

The MSE credit club is a solution provided by the money-saving expert brand. They provide you with a free credit score and history and credit products which are matched to you based on your affordability. The MSE credit club also provides you with tips and guides which help you boost your credit history. The credit score and history which is provided to you is obtained from Experian, so this is the same as your Experian credit score and history.

Moneysaving expert describes the MSE credit club as a “free suite of tools to boost your credit chances”.

When reviewing the MSE credit club we couldn’t find any specific review for this tool but found reviews for Moneysavingexpert which may give you an indication of what to expect from the MSE credit club. You can view those reviews here.

The MSE credit club portal will display the below key pieces of information to you.

Your Experian credit score:  this essentially tells you what your current affordability is to credit providers. This is ranked out of 999.

The Moneysavingexpert affordability score: This state’s your affordability based on loans and credit cards. This is worked out by Monesavingexpert and not by Experian.

The Moneysavingexpert credit hit rate: This lets you know the probability of you acquiring different credit products.

Your Experian credit report: This is the same credit report which Experian will provide you

Your profile strength: In this section, you will be provided key information about your credit profile such as your debt to income ratio, too many missed payments, too many credit applications, Your credit utilization rate etc

This section essentially provides you with a list of things you are doing well in and things you can improve on.

Is MSE credit Club free?

Yes, the MSE credit club is free to use but monesavingexpert who run the MSE credit club may be paid a commission whenever you take any product which they recommend to you through their platform.

How to register for MSE Credit Club?

Step 1 

Registering for the MSE credit club is simply. You will need to provide some information on step 1 of the registration page- this includes:

Your Email address: this is used to send updates to your credit score and other aspects of your credit profile.  They will also use this to notify you about any changes to your account. If you are concerned about this then you should check the privacy policy for more information.

You will need to confirm the email address provided, provide a password which must be at least 8 characters, including upper and lower-case letters and a number.

You will then need to provide a memorable word in case you forget your password.

You will also need to provide a memorable word hint which reminds you of the memorable word you have just set. This cannot include your password or memorable word.

Step 2

Step 2 of the MSE credit club registration process will then ask you for personal details. This information is used to assess your affordability fr credit products alongside your credit score. The information requested includes:

Your title

Your legal name

Your date of birth

Marital status

Number of dependants

Residential status

Your current address and when you moved in.

Your employment status

Your Personal annual income before tax

Additional household income before tax

Primary bank account

Rent

As you can see, you have to provide quite a large amount of data before you can access the MSE credit club.

Step 3

Step 3  of the MSE credit club registration process is the verification stage. At this stage, you will be asked questions that only you will have the answer to and this will help to verify you so that the correct credit score is displayed to you. The verification process is handled through Experian.

Some people may fail this verification process and Experian has explained why here.

What is the purpose of a credit score?

Credit scores and histories essentially collect and store information on your credit behaviour. This means how many times you apply for credit, how much credit you have, how much credit you have paid back, how much credit you owe, what your credit repayment history is, do you miss credit repayments or do you make all your credit repayments on time, what type of credit you have, how many credit accounts you have and other relevant information relevant to your identity and credit including:

How many addresses you have had?

Your date of birth

Your rent repayment history

Your current address

If you are registered on the electoral roll

If you have had any court judgements which affect your credit rating such as

A CCJ

An IVA

A debt management plan

A default

A bankruptcy

A home repossession

The totality of this information makes up your credit score and history and all of this information will be available through MSE credit club.

When you go on MSE credit club and register you will be able to see your Experian credit score.

Your Experian credit score is a number which summarizes your credit behaviour with one ranking.

You will notice that on MSE credit club you have one credit score which is provided by Experian. If you want to check your other credit scores then you may want to use a service like Check my file which displays all the credit scores from all the credit reference agencies, unlike the MSE credit club.

Your credit report is a summary and history of all your credit behaviour.

In your MSE credit club dashboard, you will be able to see your credit reports from Experian.

This credit report will contain all the main elements of your credit report in more detail. If you find anything on your credit report which you think is an error then you should contact MSE credit club and dispute this or contact the credit reference agency who supplied the report to dispute this directly with them.

What do you need to have a good credit score?

You may have checked your MSE credit club dashboard and noticed that you have a low credit score. This will usually be because the factors that make up your complete credit report will indicate that you have done things which don’t constitute good credit behaviour or in some cases you haven’t done the basic things which ensure you have a solid credit foundation such as registering on the electoral roll or opening a credit account.

To have a good credit score you will usually need to:

Keep up on your monthly credit repayments

Apply for credit when you are eligible

Register on the electoral roll

Have few addresses on your credit accounts

Avoid having any court judgement against you such as:

A CCJ

An IVA

A debt management plan

A default

A bankruptcy

A home repossession

These court judgements will be recorded on your credit report and will usually last there for 6 years before they will vanish or stop affecting your credit score. You can see if you have any of these court judgements on your credit score by looking at your MSE credit club credit report and comparing the report from all three credit reference agencies by getting a statutory credit report from each of them.

You can view a more extensive guide on how to build credit and after taking some of the tips provided you can check your MSE credit club account in a few months to see if any changes have happened to your score.

Initially when you take out new credit or take any action that may reflect on your credit file your credit score may initially go down and you may be able to see this on your MSE credit club account.

Whenever you try to build credit you should accept that it may take a while for you to see any results because the different credit reference agencies will usually not apply any updates to your account or it may not affect your credit score instantly.

Why do you need a good credit score?

A good credit score is important as it ensures you are eligible for credit products such as mortgages, credit cards, loans etc

A good credit score will not only make you eligible for credit products but, more importantly, it will ensure you are eligible for the good rates mortgage lenders offer on products.

Your MSE credit club dashboard will provide useful tips on how you can improve your credit score.

Aside from being eligible for credit products a credit score may affect you if you want to rent an apartment or if you are applying for a job( especially one in a regulated industry). You may miss out on a job or apartment due to bad credit behaviour. This is why it is vital you have a good credit score and check your credit score and report regularly through MSE credit club.

How often does MSE credit club update?

The data onMSE credit club is usually updated monthly or as when received from the credit reference agency which usually updates their credit database on a monthly basis.

You may notice your MSE credit club account will update on one credit reference agency but there may be no update on the other credit reference agencies.

This is simply because the different credit reference agencies update their databases at different times and this is not in the control of MSE credit club

How to close your MSE credit club account?

To close your MSE credit club account, log int MSE credit club, click on your name on the top right corner of the dashboard and then click settings. Look for the big red  ‘Delete my Account’ button and then click it.

Your MSE credit club account has now been deleted.

In this brief blog we discussed the MSE credit club. If you have any more questions please let us know in the comments below.

Future features for the MSE credit club:

There are some features the MSE credit club hopes to add in the coming future, they include:

A detailed timeline of how your credit scores have changed.

A tool comparing your credit score and affordability with that of others.

Specific help that us personalised to you so you can improve your credit score etc.

In this brief blog, we discussed the MSE credit club. If you have any questions or comments please let us know.

If you need financial advice and you live in the UK then you could contact the Money Advice service over the phone or via chat for impartial advice.

You can also contact the debt charity “Step Change” if you are in debt and need help.