Total history of your dealings

You'd be amazed at what's on your credit record. This week I logged on to Checkmyfile.com and looked at a complete record of my credit history.

I discovered I had a worryingly low rating - the system works by giving you one to five stars - when I thought I had a clean credit history.

The exact amount of my outstanding mortgage was there alongside my payment history - all up to date. There were payment histories for phone bills and credit cards going back years.

What brought my rating down was one incident I had two and a half years ago with a mobile phone company.

It changed the terms and conditions of a pre-pay phone, and tried to charge me £14 for something I hadn't agreed to.

I cancelled the contract and refused to pay it, inviting the company to sue me if they wanted the money. But the unpaid £14 was on my record, shown as "over six months outstanding," something, it said, was bringing my rating down.

The report also reveals the impact of your address on your credit rating. It describes the typical resident of my street right down to the social group - and how likely they are to drive a car.

It noted that I live in an area in which car ownership is low - odd, seeing how it's always impossible to find a parking space anywhere near my house.