Your credit history is defined as a record of how you repay your debts over a period of time and is used to judge the risk of lending money to you.

It's all the information such as credit accounts, balances due and details of your payment history, contained in your credit report.

This information is collected and updated regularly by the three reporting agencies (Equifax, Experian and TransUnion). Your credit report also contains information about bankruptcies, overdue debt from collection agencies, foreclosures, liens and judgments. Whenever you apply for a loan or a line of credit, you authorise your lender to ask for a copy of your credit report. This is how inquiries appear on your credit report.

Your credit score is a numerical calculation based on the information in your credit report. Your credit score is used by lenders to determine your creditworthiness. Your score will go up or down based on your payment history, account balances, new inquiries and a number of other factors.

Each credit referencing agency will decide what elements form an individual's credit score and to what degree.