Martin Lewis took to ITV’s This Morning programme to answer some questions from viewers about their finances, and imparted a key warning for those with debt seeking a mortgage.

Addressing a viewer who had taken out a student loan and a private loan and was curious as to how this may affect their credit score in the future when applying for a mortgage, the Money Saving Expert Founder said: “I often say the official student loan that you took for your one year course works more like a tax than it does a loan.

“You only repay it once you’re earning enough. It does not go on your credit file.”

However, he noted: “Your other loan, the private loan I presume, is more like a normal loan, in which case that will go on your credit form. It will look like you’ve got you’ve got outstanding debt.”

“Having two loans clearly means you’ll have more debt than otherwise. And when other lenders come to look at you, you are slightly less attractive for having both. There is no way around that.”

He added: “That’s that’s how the system works. The more debt you’ve got, the less attractive you are to others. Will it stop you from getting a mortgage if you’ve got a decent income? No, but it could possibly reduce the amount of mortgage that you can get.”

Keeping to the subject of loans, another viewer wrote into the morning show about her struggles in being granted a loan after being made redundant, despite having what appeared to be a good credit score.

Mr Lewis said: “The big thing everybody forgets is your credit score doesn’t include the single most important factor that is looked at when you apply for any form of credit. Your income.

“Let’s be extreme on this. If you have no income and a perfect credit score and you wanted a loan, you’re almost certainly not going to get it because you can’t pay it back.

“So when you tell me you’ve been rejected, what you haven’t told me is the crucial factor. You talked about being made redundant.

“Well, if you’ve been made redundant and you don’t have a job and you don’t have income, even with a great credit score, it is, of course, going to make getting credit much more difficult.”

Mr Lewis highlighted the significance of the affordability score, which credit agencies carry out based on a person’s income. He added: “That could be why you’re being rejected.”

Recapping some final pointers to know about credit scores, Mr Lewis said: “Income. Don’t over-apply. Make sure you get all your credit reference files and download them.

“Go through line by line just to check there are no errors, such as you’ve moved house and you’ve got accounts that are still listed at your old address.”

“Things like that can get you knocked down due to fraud scoring. Go through all of that.

“But remember credit scoring is only one half of this. The other half is affordability scoring, which is far more about your income.”