About my credit score

How is Borrowing Power different to my credit score?

Your Borrowing Power is a 1-10 rating exclusive to Zopa. It shows you exactly how creditworthy you look to us and what rate you could get from us. It’s made up of your credit score and more, and it helps you to understand whether you’ll be accepted by us, and what loan rate you could get.

On the other hand, your credit score is a more general number and gives you a rough idea of how creditworthy you look to lenders. It’s calculated by credit reference agencies and it’s often different, depending on which agency you check it with.

Only Borrowing Power can tell you exactly what Zopa loans you’re eligible for. Borrowing Power is only valid for Zopa loans and doesn’t guarantee you’ll get a similar loan with another lender.

How do you calculate my Borrowing Power?

We’ve partnered with a major credit reference agency, Equifax, to calculate your Borrowing Power. We look at your credit usage, credit score, credit limits, number of hard searches and your disposable income. Then we use that data to determine your 1-10 Borrowing Power rating.

Will checking my Borrowing Power affect my credit score?

No, it won’t affect your credit score. If you check your credit report elsewhere, you’ll see a soft search from Zopa every month which won't impact your ability to get credit.

The only time you’ll see a hard search on your credit report is if you apply for a loan in your eligibility tab.

Why is the credit score shown in Borrowing Power out of 700?

The credit score shown in Borrowing Power is taken from Equifax – a credit rating agency. Equifax provides two variations of their credit score: one that’s out of 700 and another that’s out of 1,000. Both scores are calculated using the same underlying credit data. We display Equifax’s score out of 700.

For more information on Equifax and how they calculate credit scores, visit the Equifax help page.

Just to let you know, when calculating your Borrowing Power score, we also consider factors outside of your credit score, such as your disposable income.

What should I do if I think my credit score is wrong?

We get your credit score from Equifax. If you think it's wrong, you can raise a dispute with Equifax by clicking here.