Whilst at university, I was given an interest- and fee-free overdraft of £2000. I finished uni a few years ago by now, and the interest- and fee-free deal has now ended. I don't use the overdraft at all anymore, and my current account is in credit.
I'm going to be looking to buy my first house soon so am looking to improve my credit score as much as possible in the meantime, to try and get the best rates on the mortgage. As I understand it, rather than looking at the amount of credit you have, credit agencies tend to look at the credit utilisation instead. I do have a couple of credit cards (only used to purchase fuel or large items, paid off in full each month) with a total credit limit of £8200.
My question is, will the £2000 contribute to my total credit limit, and therefore reduce my credit utilisation figure, or is it seen as being reliant on credit, or have no effect whatsoever? As mentioned above, I don't use it anymore, so would be happy to remove the overdraft if it would help, or I can keep it in the background if that's going to help instead.
I've read various articles online and this question that state the overdraft doesn't get reported to credit agencies, but they all seem to be coming from a US standpoint rather than UK. I have access to the Money Saving Expert credit report (powered by Experian) and also ClearScore (powered by Equifax), both of which show a £2000 credit limit on the account. MSE actually lists the whole account in the "Credit Accounts" section.