If you’ve ever wanted to rent a house, get a loan from the bank, or open a new clothing account, then you know that most of these institutions will want to run a ‘credit search’ on you. This means that the bank or clothing company, for example, will analyse the historical data surrounding your payment behaviour, from anywhere between two to five years. The goal is to try and gain some insight into whether or not you make timely payments on all of your accounts, as well as how often and how much you pay out every month.