Credit scores, conduct and getting approved

Score versus conduct

Your credit score is a number generated by a bureau from your repayment history, enquiries, credit limits and defaults. Credit conduct is the underlying behaviour: whether payments were made on time, whether accounts went into arrears, whether your account regularly went into unarranged overdraft.

Major banks lean heavily on automated scorecards, so a score below their cut-off can produce a system decline regardless of how strong the rest of your file is. Specialist and non-bank lenders assess conduct manually, which is why a story that a bank's system can't read is often approvable elsewhere.

What actually moves your score

• Repayment history on loans, cards, telco and utility accounts (24 months visible)
• Credit enquiries — several applications in a short window is a red flag
• Defaults, judgments and any history of bankruptcy or agreements
• Total credit limits held, not just balances owing
• Length and stability of your credit history

Can lenders see past a low score?

Yes — and they do this every day. What matters is the explanation. A default from a disputed telco bill three years ago, paid in full, with clean conduct since, is a very different file from three current arrears on a car loan.

The practical path is: get the credit file, understand exactly what's on it, fix or pay what can be fixed, then apply once to a lender whose policy accepts the remaining issue — rather than applying broadly and adding enquiries to an already stressed file.

Cleaning up before you apply

• Pull your free credit file from Equifax, Experian or illion and check for errors
• Pay out or arrange any current arrears and hold three to six clean months
• Stop all buy-now-pay-later usage — lenders read it as budget stress
• Reduce credit limits and close accounts you don't need
• Avoid new applications entirely in the six months before your home loan