Why do I have government and insurances searches on my report?

What do government body searches relate to?

While you may instantly worry when you see government bodies searching your credit report, often, there's no reason to be concerned. Audits may be conducted by government bodies for routine reasons such as:

• Security checks when opening a Premium Bonds account.

• Assessing child maintenance.

• Assessing applications for a passport or to get married.

• Tax collection.

Regardless of the reason, they are simply an audit trail and will not affect your credit score in any way.

Why do I have so many searches relating to insurance?

Using comparison websites usually creates a large amount of soft searches on your credit report. Once you've given them your details, they ping them off to multiple providers to find you the best deal.

It's great - they do the legwork shopping around and save you money, but when they re-run your details annually to provide you with renewal quotes, the Searches section of your credit report can start to look quite busy.

These entries have no impact on your credit score. But if you're looking to tidy things up, you can contact the comparison website you used to stop them doing more searches.

I don't know what this search relates to

The organisation that carried out the search would be the best to tell you what it was for. You can get in touch with them and provide your name, address and date of the search to find out more information.

If you need further help along the way, please let us know.