No, absolutely not.
This is a very common misconception. Credit Reference Agencies (CRAs) are neutral, independent data providers. The final decision to lend is always made by the lender you apply to (e.g., Updraft, a bank, or a credit card company).
The Role of the Credit Reference Agency
Think of a CRA (like our partner, TransUnion) as a secure financial library. Their job is to:
Collect and store financial data provided by thousands of lenders and public sources.
Compile this data into your credit report.
Provide this report and a summary score to a lender when you give that lender permission to check it during an application.
The CRA provides the factual data, but they do not have any say in how that data is interpreted. They will never approve or decline your application.
The Role of the Lender (e.g., Updraft)
The lender is the decision maker. When you apply for credit, we (the lender) take the information from the CRA and combine it with several other key factors to make a final decision. These factors include:
The information on your credit report.
The details you provide on your application form (such as your income, employment status, and monthly expenses).
Your live financial data (in Updraft's case, we use secure Open Banking data to understand your real-time affordability).
Our own internal lending policy and risk models. Why Different Lenders Give Different Decisions
This is why you might be declined by one lender but approved by another, even though they are looking at the same credit report.
Each lender has its own risk appetite and decision model. They all place different levels of importance on different factors. For example, one lender might focus heavily on a long history of homeownership, while another (like Updraft) might place more emphasis on your current income and responsible spending habits.
In short: the Credit Reference Agency provides the ingredients (your financial data), but it is the lender who follows their own unique recipe to make the final lending decision.
If you have ever been declined for credit, that decision was made by the lender, not the Credit Reference Agency.