Overdrafts and your credit score

Overdrafts and your credit score

To help us decide who’s eligible for an overdraft and how much to lend, we look at our internal data as well as information from TransUnion, Equifax and Experian. They’re our credit reference agencies.

Checking your eligibility won’t affect your credit score

To see if we can offer you an overdraft, we look at your credit history. This is known as a ‘soft search’ and will show up on your credit report as a ‘quotation search’ or ‘administration review’. Other lenders can’t see this information, so it won’t affect your chances of getting credit.

If you switch on an overdraft, we tell our credit reference agencies. This might affect your score

This is known as a ‘credit application search’ and it creates a ‘hard footprint’ on your credit file, which can affect your credit score. Each credit reference agency has their own way of calculating credit scores, so the effect of the search can vary by agency.

How you use your overdraft can also affect your credit score

If you go over your agreed limit, or go a long time without adding money to your account, your score could be negatively affected. Again, the impact this has depends on how each credit reference agency calculates your score.