A credit score is a number calculated by credit rating agencies on behalf of banks that sums up a number of variables such as how often you have asked for credit, whether you meet your monthly repayments, whether you have recently been denied for credit etc as well as factors such as whether your address and personal information can be confirmed (for instance through checking the electoral roll) into one single score which determines whether you are a good or bad credit risk.

Individual banks and lenders will then make a decision based on your credit score as to whether they wish to award you credit or not - the credit score required will vary depending on the lender and the amount you wish to borrow or product you are asking for, as they will have already determined their acceptable level of risk.

Unsurprisingly, your credit score is kept private and is only made available to financial institutions and yourself - and you can only get the full details of your credit score by passing an identity check - this in turn helps cut down on identity fraud. For this reason we cannot display your credit score here.

Yet it is a very simple process to find your credit score - simply sign up at one of the credit report companies for free and enter your details. They will be happy to show you all the information you have on your credit record plus an overall credit score based on your personal history.