What I am about to say is not advise nor will I say it is actual fact... just believe what you want to believe. After working with <blah>, I may or may not have gathered some information. Despite what you may have heard, you don't exactly have a 'credit score' like our mates overseas do. You still have a credit file though, but what financial institutions get off this may or may not be good for you. Basically what they look for is the number of enquiries (no more than a certain amount in the last 6 months... I think the figure was 6, but some may choose less) and that you have no defaults against your name or anything bad. Any other information like your payment history (like if you are always on time or always a little late) is only available within the provider. So in other words, if you have a good payment history with one particular company, it helps to stick with them when asking to borrow again. If your payment history is not so good, you ma be best looking elsewhere. Back to what I said before about enquiries, this is anything which involves a credit check, regardless of whether you were approved or not. Apply for a credit card, that counts as an enquiry. Sign up for a mobile on a plan... that's another. Having lots of enquiries on your file makes it look like you have been shopping for credit, and it can negatively affect your chance of getting credit. That said, having no enquiries can also affect it as well in that they may more provide you with as much as you were looking for since no history on the file means you may be a higher risk. It's all a game of chance really depending on who you are.