How quickly can credit score improve

Hatchet1234 · 17 August 2017 at 2:19PM

Hi all

So I had stacked up a lot of loans and credit cards over the past few years.

I have finally paid off a substantial amount last month and closed down most of them. As a result I was expecting my credit score this month to move from 'fair' to hopefully 'good.'

However the credit score only moved up slightly with my Noddle report (still 3/5).
Also frustrating thing is one of my credit cards still shows a balance outstanding despite being paid of in full nearly a month ago. I have paid off around 80% of the balances.

Other issue I have was that i did have a 110% mortgage back from 2007

and part of that is showing as an unsecured loan even though that will be paid off when I get a new mortgage. This is on top of the remaining 20% I have left.

So how long does it take to increase your credit score? Also will an average credit score (or slightly above) limit my chances of getting a mortgage? Worth pointing out I never missed a payment or had any CCJ's, etc.

P.S Does anyone know the Noddle credit score to be in the 4/5 rating?

Thanks for any help :beer:

Ebe_Scrooge · 17 August 2017 at 2:35PM

Your credit score will be 100% tomorrow, guaranteed.

Or maybe not.

Your score is meaningless and is not seen by lenders - they will look at your credit history, your current debt, your income, and make a decision based upon that and nothing else.

DCFC79 · 17 August 2017 at 2:47PM

Yeah I just saw Noddle going into.the 4/5 club, he says Hi.

You need to be patient and grease the palms of the right people to increase your score.

Your focusing way too much on the whole score thing, worry about your credit history is correct.

You do know there are 2 other agencies who lenders report too, Equifax you can get your report from clearscore and Experian you get the report from MSE club.

Hatchet1234 · 17 August 2017 at 3:15PM

OK so in order to get a mortgage in principal I should forget about the credit score and reduce my debt to earning ratio (as otherwise my credit report is clean). Only reason I ask is my mortgage adviser tried to get a mortgage in principal straight after I cleared my debt (a week or two later) and it was not accepted.

Just wandering if is it worth waiting a few more weeks so experian / equifax / noddle all update my outstanding debt to reflect the credit cards/loans that have now been paid off. I was told the mortgage company would know instantly once a debt is paid off when they run a credit check but I was a bit more suspect? Could they see my updated record that quickly given I thought it takes equifax, etc a month or more to update?

Also worth mentioning my wife has not such a clean credit report. We have again paid off a large percentage of her debt but she has gone over credit card limits a few times recently (although never missed payments and nothing showing as a 'red' mark on her credit report).'

Thanks

cjmillsnun · 17 August 2017 at 7:54PM

Hatchet1234 wrote: »

Also worth mentioning my wife has not such a clean credit report. We have again paid off a large percentage of her debt but she has gone over credit card limits a few times recently (although never missed payments and nothing showing as a 'red' mark on her credit report).'
Thanks

This is probably the issue.

DCFC79 · 17 August 2017 at 8:28PM

Hatchet1234 wrote: »

OK so in order to get a mortgage in principal I should forget about the credit score and reduce my debt to earning ratio (as otherwise my credit report is clean). Only reason I ask is my mortgage adviser tried to get a mortgage in principal straight after I cleared my debt (a week or two later) and it was not accepted.

Just wandering if is it worth waiting a few more weeks so experian / equifax / noddle all update my outstanding debt to reflect the credit cards/loans that have now been paid off. I was told the mortgage company would know instantly once a debt is paid off when they run a credit check but I was a bit more suspect? Could they see my updated record that quickly given I thought it takes equifax, etc a month or more to update?

Also worth mentioning my wife has not such a clean credit report. We have again paid off a large percentage of her debt but she has gone over credit card limits a few times recently (although never missed payments and nothing showing as a 'red' mark on her credit report).'

Thanks

I know the agencies don't update every week, it might be once a month but yes maybe wait until start of next months to see if its updated, they rely on the banks sending the information.

Going over your limit might be an issue, why did she go over, will it happen again ? maybe she needs to keep a track of what money she has spent on the card eg keep a diary or a spreadsheet of any spending.

bazzyb · 17 August 2017 at 8:48PM

Hatchet1234 wrote: »

I have finally paid off a substantial amount last month and closed down most of them. As a result I was expecting my credit score this month to move from 'fair' to hopefully 'good.'

Personally, I would expect the exact opposite. I would expect your score to go down, possibly from 'fair' to 'poor' - at least in the short term. This is for two reasons:

Any change is viewed as a negative in the algorithms used by credit reference agencies and your score generally would reflect this, eventually increasing over time.
If you have actually closed your credit cards rather than just paid them off and left them active, this will decrease your credit utilisation percentage, which again would decrease your score.

The good news is that none of this really matters as the scores are largely irrelevant. Lenders will look at your credit history rather than a meaningless score, and what the credit reference agencies view as negatives above will generally be seen as positives by mortgage providers in particular. It would be worth getting a good broker to work out exactly what options you have available to you.

How quickly can credit score improve

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