A statutory credit report is a document setting out your financial history. It holds the information lenders look at when they process your application for something like a new credit card or a car loan.

It can answer a lot of questions: how likely you are to get new credit, why an application was turned down, or why your credit score sits where it does.

What statutory actually means#

The "statutory" part means you have a legal right to see the information held about your financial history. That right comes from laws including the Consumer Credit Act 1974 and the Data Protection Act (opens external site), which came into force in 2018.

In the UK your credit report is recorded by three credit reference agencies: Experian, Equifax and TransUnion. Each one is legally obliged to show you the basic information in your credit report, free, whenever you ask for it. They can charge a monthly fee for extras — calculating your credit score, explaining the data — but the basic statutory information must be free for life.

Your report holds sensitive information, so each agency applies strict data protection measures to guard against fraud and identity theft. The data is only accessible to around 200 authorised lenders in the UK, and a lender has to get your permission every single time they search your record.

Those same protections apply to you. The agency will confirm your identity before showing you anything, so you might not get instant access — particularly the first time you ask.

When it's worth getting one#

Some moments make it especially useful to know what's on your file:

  • Before applying for new credit, particularly ahead of something major like a mortgage. Your report gives you a sense of how likely you are to be accepted, and can help you decide which lenders to approach.
  • After being turned down, whether that's a declined credit card application or being refused the most competitive interest rate. Your report can shed light on the decision by showing what in your history may have counted against you.
  • To cross-reference the data, especially if your score has moved or there are significant differences between the scores you're seeing from different agencies.

Even without big plans, it's worth looking regularly. It's a tool for understanding how lenders might see you as a customer, which helps you make better decisions about using credit.

What your report includes#

Your statutory report covers the last six years of credit history, including private information only available to authorised lenders as part of the 'hard credit check' they run when you apply for something new.

  • Credit accounts — the payment history for any credit you've used, including personal loans, mortgages, credit cards and overdrafts. It shows the dates you made repayments, plus the limits and balances on each account.
  • Financial associations — if you hold a joint credit card or mortgage, the name of the person you hold it with appears too. If you act as a guarantor, that's occasionally reported as well, depending on the lender.
  • Credit applications — every hard credit check leaves a record. A lot of checks in quick succession can suggest you've been rejected repeatedly or tried to borrow heavily in a short window, which makes lenders view your application as riskier.
  • Notices of Correction — short notes you can add for fraud prevention, or to explain something such as why you aren't eligible to join the Electoral Roll.

Your report also carries information from the public record. This is what people like landlords or employers can see if you give them permission to run a 'soft' credit check:

What a statutory report leaves out#

It's a detailed record, but there's plenty it won't give you:

  • Your credit score — the number calculated from your credit record that indicates your general financial health
  • Supporting information to help you understand or interpret what you're looking at
  • Explanations of how each item might have affected your ability to borrow
  • Tracking tools, such as a graph comparing your position now with a year ago
  • Advice on improving your credit report or managing your money

One more thing worth knowing: your most recent activity might not show up yet. Your lender has to report the information to the agency, and the agency then has to process it — so it can take 4 to 6 weeks for something new to appear.

How to request yours from each agency#

You can get your basic report by contacting any of the three agencies, online or by post.

Be as detailed as you can when you fill in the request. If personal details are missing, the agency may have to come back to you for more information before it can issue anything. There are fields for middle names and a long list of titles to choose from, and it helps to have your address history for the past six years ready, old postcodes included.

The three ask for similar information, but the processes differ.

Experian

To see your statutory report online, you'll need to request a passkey, which Experian posts to you. You then use that passkey to log in and access your report.

For a paper copy, download and print the application form and send it to Experian's support centre in Nottingham.

Order your Experian statutory credit report (opens external site)

Equifax

Register online with your address history. Equifax will ask for your credit or debit card details, but won't charge you for the statutory report.

Once registered, you can view your report online or download it as a PDF. You can also download an application form and post it to their customer service centre in Leicester — if your request is successful, they'll send a copy within a month.

Order your Equifax statutory credit report (opens external site)

TransUnion

Enter your details and address history into their online form. If you can't complete it, or would rather apply by post, you can send a request to their team in Hull, where a customer service agent will process it.

Order your TransUnion statutory credit report (opens external site)

Why information might be missing#

Your credit report isn't universal. You'll often see differences between the three agencies, and some of your repayments might be missing from one or two of them.

That's because different lenders work with different agencies. If you have a hire purchase agreement with a business that only reports to Experian and TransUnion, it won't appear on a statutory report from Equifax.

This is why it's useful to know what all three look like, particularly before applying for new credit — it tells you how easy it's likely to be to find a lender offering you a competitive rate.

Errors happen, too. A lender might mistakenly record a missed payment when your bank statement shows you paid on time. Checking all three regularly is how you catch that sort of thing and start putting it right.

And you can view your own credit report as often as you need to without affecting your credit score.

The key things to remember#

  • A statutory report is free for life from each of the three credit reference agencies.
  • Your right to it comes from the Consumer Credit Act 1974 and the Data Protection Act.
  • It covers six years of credit history, public records, financial associations and credit applications.
  • It does not include your credit score, explanations, tracking tools or advice.
  • New information takes 4 to 6 weeks to appear.
  • Only around 200 authorised lenders can access the data, and they need your permission each time.
  • Reports differ between agencies because lenders don't all report to all three.
  • Checking your own report never affects your score.