Bethany BlackMy credit rating’s improved!
Fun fact, you can get a double digit experian credit score.
moogal@BethanyBlack Mine's stayed static at a fairly low figure for years, mostly because a) it doesn't seem to know about my current account so assumes I've got no income, and b) I have 3 mortgages 😱
@moogal it’s also that thing of it’s better to spend a couple of hundred every month on your credit card and pay it off than not have anything on them, that was the biggest thing I learned working for Experian back in the day
@BethanyBlack Aye, that's pretty much what I do - got it set up with a direct debit to pay it off each month.
George Potter@moogal @BethanyBlack also the insanity of "hey, you know what would really improve your credit score? More credit cards!".
Which, as the owner of three credit cards which I barely use because I'm terrified of credit card debt, is absolutely insane to me, but that's what lenders love to see apparently.
Ted Garrison@georgepotter
@moogal @BethanyBlack
It seems weird, but it demonstrates your able to be responsible with your credit. Which is what a credit score is all about.
@Tedgarrison3 @moogal @BethanyBlack I mean it does and it doesn't.
Someone with £4k of credit card facility with 5% usage is being just as responsible with their credit, if not moreso, than someone with £20k of credit card facility and 15% usage. But credit scores rank the latter person much more highly.
It's one of these many aspects of credit scores which is far more about ability to make money off you than it is about your inherent creditworthiness.
Dawn Tåke 🌙 
@Tedgarrison3 @moogal @BethanyBlack
There's also the big quiet part of, "how can we redline you, while saying we're not redlining you with a straight face?"
@Tourma @Tedgarrison3 @moogal @BethanyBlack
100%.
"We're not discriminating, we just only offer this product/property/service to those who are in a white collar job that can support £15k of credit card capacity."
🙄🙄🙄
William@georgepotter @moogal @BethanyBlack credit score measures "can we reliably make money from you", which is not the same as "financially competent and reliable".
The score is not for your benefit.
Cllr George Potter (@[email protected])
@[email protected] @[email protected] @[email protected] I mean it does and it doesn't. Someone with £4k of credit card facility with 5% usage is being just as responsible with their credit, if not moreso, than someone with £20k of credit card facility and 15% usage. But credit scores rank the latter person much more highly. It's one of these many aspects of credit scores which is far more about ability to make money off you than it is about your inherent creditworthiness.
Tom Walker@BethanyBlack @moogal They seem to really like it if you do that for a while and then close the account, as then it's "settled". Am I on the right track here?
ersatzmaus@BethanyBlack @moogal Mine (from one of the other providers) has two hints for me:
a) have been at your current address on the electoral roll for twice as long.
… I'll get right on that. Possibly at a rate of one day per day.
b) get a ridiculously high credit limit
… just no.
Although do they do immediately follow that recommendation with "*cough* maybe, on reflection, don't."
Cheryl G Kasson@BethanyBlack @moogal I am one of those people who could not have a credit card without maxing it out, no matter how hard I tried. It's like an addiction for some of us, and I am now in recovery.
I tell younger folks this all the time that think credit cards are going to bankrupt them. Just get a card, use it for one thing, and pay it off each month. Otherwise, you'll never have decent credit and will never be able to get a decent mortgage to afford that house you keep saying you want to buy.
Colin@BethanyBlack what is below poor? 😬
768kB 🚴☕🇬🇧🇺🇦🇵🇸@colinstu @BethanyBlack ‘very poor’ is below ‘poor’ on their scale.
Adam John@BethanyBlack (thinking to myself) omg! Bethany is gonna flip when she finds out about three digit credit scores...
Another Angry Woman@BethanyBlack "Well done, you've moved up to Poor" is the most spectacular inadvertent description of social mobility right now. If it was in a Black Mirror episode we'd rinse it for being too heavy handed a satire.
@stavvers right? It’s the most wonderfully ludicrous thing I’ve ever seen
Colman Reilly@BethanyBlack @stavvers wait, that isn’t some sort of satire???
@Colman @BethanyBlack Nah, it's exactly what Bethany said, it's literally the kind of automated email they send you when your credit rating improves (I was very proud to get "Congrats you're average!" once)
@stavvers @BethanyBlack who sends? What lunacy is this? I mean, I know the Tories think 2000ad is an instruction manual, but WTF??
@BethanyBlack @Colman I still can't work out how to unsubscribe, I tried a credit check once and they just keep emailing me and you have to use some sort of arcane login to unsubscribe.
@stavvers @BethanyBlack straight out of the intro to a Future Shock. Haven’t seen it here (IE), but maybe I just missed it.
Andy@BethanyBlack @Colman @stavvers general recommendation with arcane unsubscribe flows is to see if you can send a GDPR request by email
Jed Fox@stavvers @BethanyBlack @Colman Couldn’t figure it out either, emailed the CEO to complain and they deleted my account a couple of days later.
rrb@stavvers @BethanyBlack I am convinced that Black Mirror plots are all business propositions that Peter Thiel has rejected for being too woke
Advanced Persistent Teapot@rrb @stavvers @BethanyBlack I am undecided as to whether black mirror writers dumpster dive Peter Thiel's bins for material, or the other way around
Radical Edward 
@BethanyBlack It's like a loyalty program, but for capitalism.
Tom Magnanimous@RadicalEdward @BethanyBlack mine appears to have plateaued because the only card offers I'm getting now all have annual fees, so they effectively want me to pay a subscription to the number maybe going up
Jan ☕🎼🎹☁️🏋️♂️Is this for real? (not in US, never dealt with a credit rating)
@jan this is real and I’m in the UK :)
germanio@BethanyBlack I thought it was a meme. I... I can't... it's too much.
Probably some underpaid worker did it and nobody cared enough. 😔
On the other hand, that speaks a lot about the company! 😬
CheDN@BethanyBlack Where does Experian say you were before? Workhouse-bound? Destitute? Impoverished?
Ian CordingleyWhat was your rank before, scalawag?
OmnivoreI believe the rank below 'poor' is 'feral'.
Veirling | #MMIWG #LandBack
gavinisdie 
@BethanyBlack what the fuck would be below poor
@gavinisdie @BethanyBlack ‘very poor’ is below ‘poor’ on their scale.
Annie
Laurens 🐐@BethanyBlack Ah yes, I heard about that in a YT video. They had only a mortgage, no other loans or outstanding debts, a regular income and a savings account with half a year's worth of salary, but still their credit rating was listed as "shit" or something - because they had opted not to take out more loans or a credit card 🤦♂️
Pusher Of Pixels (old account)@BethanyBlack comes from both ends. In the same week I got notified we'd paid off 20% of the mortgage, they dropped our credit rating 20 points.
Almost as if it's a racket... 🤔
Echo@pixelpusher220 @BethanyBlack gotta get more debt to push the other number back up!
Erik Ableson@BethanyBlack Uhh, dare I ask what is below « Poor »?
Dr. ir. Brian R. Pauw@BethanyBlack wow, I really had to do a double take at that wording. That’s stupendously insane and insensitive. Credit rating companies deserve to burn. 🔥
@BethanyBlack what level were you before this?
Derek Des Anges@BethanyBlack See also social "mobility" in the 2020s, etc etc
Chris
Jan Eden@BethanyBlack What's the status below "Poor"?
Walruses Я Us
Catherine is not complacent@BethanyBlack well ain’t you fancy, next thing you know you’ll be eating and paying the electric bill on time and think you’re too good for regular folks.