Affordability is a measurement used by lenders to assess whether you can afford to repay the amount you’re seeking to borrow, in addition to your current financial commitments.

Does Affordability show on my Credit Report?

While your Credit Report will show your monthly payments on credit agreements, it won’t be the only thing used to assess your Affordability, as this also requires knowing your complete income and outgoings.

Your Credit Report is more important in enabling lenders to establish your creditworthiness – i.e., your likelihood of repaying. Creditworthiness and Affordability are two distinct factors that lenders assess, and we’ve written about the differences between them here.

You can check the status of your Credit Report easily with checkmyfile. Our Multi Agency Credit Report gathers your data from Equifax, Experian and TransUnion, ensuring you don’t miss anything important.

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How is my Affordability calculated?

Your income is factored into your Affordability, but depending on the type of financial product, you may not have to submit evidence. Typically, for substantial borrowing such as mortgages or car finance, a lender will require a thorough breakdown of your income and outgoings, with evidence such as bank statements and payslips.

Different types of credit will have different affordability criteria/assessment methods, and this may differ again between lenders so there is no single answer to this. For mortgages, providers will include a ‘stress test’ to ensure you’ll still be able to make repayments in the event that interest rates, and monthly payments in turn, increase.

Similarly, when applying to rent a property the landlord may use a multiplier that ensures your monthly income is at least two or three times more than the amount of your monthly rent payments.

What is the difference between Affordability and Creditworthiness?

Affordability is a measurement of your ability to repay a loan, whereas creditworthiness is the lender's assessment of how likely they would be to offer you finance, and at what rate. Creditworthiness is based on factors including your credit history, your public data, and the lender’s own criteria. Check out our guide for more information on Affordability and creditworthiness.