Why is my credit rating bad (credit info shown). Advice please

shortcrust · 8 October 2016 at 6:35PM

There's a bit of that old 'don't they know who I am?' thing going on here. Not being able to pay your debts isn't less of a big deal because you'd recently graduated from a red brick uni. You say this:

"The woman understood my situation that I was only in finacial trouble as I had finished uni and was looking for work."

as if it was completely unforeseeable. Did you not realise that you'd eventually finish uni and have to look for work?

moneymoney16 · 8 October 2016 at 7:43PM

shortcrust wrote: »

There's a bit of that old 'don't they know who I am?' thing going on here. Not being able to pay your debts isn't less of a big deal because you'd recently graduated from a red brick uni. You say this:

"The woman understood my situation that I was only in finacial trouble as I had finished uni and was looking for work."

as if it was completely unforeseeable. Did you not realise that you'd eventually finish uni and have to look for work?

Ouch, no need to get personal - yes of course, I was aware I would need a job after finishing uni. I was looking near the end of uni but I really had to focus on my final year project to boost my marks as it was worth a lot. Even so, I went to about 8 interviews around July, got a job and then found out I was lied to by the recruiter about the job so I pulled out at the point of signing to rent somewhere. Then July back to square 1 of applying. The engineering market and what I want to get into wasn't exactly booming, and everyone wanted experience in the market so getting a job wasn't exactly easy. Throw in the mix I had depression and retook a year at uni as someone I knew committed suicide, I got questioned at interview about that, again doesn't make getting a job easy. If you really want to go down the personal route...

My point was more my bad 6 months and my only bad 6 months since my first credit card around 2012, was due to job market for graduates - not because I couldn't be bothered. I had no bad record before or since other than an odd late payment. I understand everyone has their reasons why they're in financial difficulty, and in that situation speaking to that woman it was just in the hope she had some understanding it's a blip for good reason, which she did understand and took the default off.

I hope we can stick to the point of the thread now.

Westminster · 9 October 2016 at 5:54AM

You have high utilisation, delinquent balances and multiple consecutive missed payments.

All of this is why you are not seen as a good risk by potential lenders.

Im a bit surprised that you don't see this and it lends weight to the argument that financial management (and the long term consequences of a blip) should be taught in school before people get access to credit.

Don't focus on what RBS have told you as its not the only account you have issues with and they are not regulated and qualified to advise on your credit file.

Regarding your best course of action - i dont think there is a definitive right answer. In your position i would probably cut all my outgoings to the bare minimum while sending every spare pound to RBS and ensuring minimum payment direct debits are setup for any other credit account. Unless you still have 0% overdraft then that also needs to be cleared as sitting regularly so deep in an OD is doing you no good.

ukamber1 · 9 October 2016 at 9:30AM

moneymoney16 wrote: »

Hi all

I have been hoping to cosolidate my debts for a while now onto one credit card, with no/lower interest but my credit rating is holding me back.

I had a blip in my rating the second half of last year - I graduated from university, red brick, in an engineering degree summer 2015, then I was looking for work and did not secure a job until end of December 2015. So for 6 months I was on jobseekers allowance and so unable to keep up with my credit card repayments. I rang 2 of my credit cards every month - Barclaycard and Bank of Scotland, to tell them I was still looking for work. It was an agreement that I ring every month to let them know my situation and during this they made sure no interest was added on. Obviously the minimum monthly repayments kept adding up though.

When it came to about January this year Barclaycard were not far off defaulting me I think (I think as it had been 6 months of no payments), and Bank of Scotland did default me. I rang them up to tell them my situation and that I had now found work, earning £23,000/year. The woman understood my situation that I was only in finacial trouble as I had finished uni and was looking for work. She said she would remove the default and then suggested putting me on a thing where I pay £50/month and there is no interest. She said I will get no monthly statements, just a letter every year I think saying what I owe. She said I was actually better off doing this now, rather than going back to paying the credit card like I used to as there was no interest with this, so I thought great. She assured me the default had been removed and this new thing would not affect my credit rating.

Obviously at this point in January my credit rating wasn't good after about 6 months of no payments on 2 credit cards. I paid to Barclaycard what I owed them in repayments in the previous 6 months in one go in January, and since January this year have been good with my payments for everything, except for one late payment in February on my Barclaycard credit card.

10 months into full time employment on £23,000 a year, £1500ish/month going into my TSB account, only 1 late payment, I didn't expect to still have a poor credit rating. I hoped after 6 months I'd be able to move my debts to one low interest card or even interest free (!).

I have attached screenshots of all the information from Equifax on my credit agreements. Could anyone shed light onto why my credit rating is still bad (505 on noddle and 294 on Equifax. I signed up to Experian earlier in the year for the free trial so can't see their rating now) ? I can only assume it is the non payments end of last year? But that was 10 months ago so I thought it would improve by now.

I'm not sure if what Bank of Scotland have put me on is affecting my rating? The grey squares say ''status - not updated'' when I hover over them. There's definitely nothing with default on my credit report, and I don't think they have me down as arrangement to pay...

I have tried to book an appointment with TSB (I have been with them 9 years and my wages go into TSB now) to see if they can help me consolidate it all (after telling them the reason why I had financial trouble) but they aren't interested in booking an appointment with me as the woman said I have no available credit. She said there must be something affecting my rating.

It's just annoying seeing the interest each month on my statements, when I feel I could pay it all off much more quickly and cheaply on a lower interest rate if I could get it, and I live at home, so on £23k I should be ok really financially.

Any ideas would be much appreciated :huh: Thanks for reading!!

Hayley

Edit:: can't seem to put link in of my credit report as I'm a new user :sad:

Try http /pho.to /ANFSW (taking out the 2 spaces)

Hi, I'm no expert, so wouldnt want to give you wrong information on your best option but defaults normally stay on your credit file for 6years. Even if the Lender has agreed to remove the default and have now agreed a payment plan for some of the debts, I think the missed payments/arrears also show and impact your credit file for the same length of time. Even if you settled all your accounts and paid them off today, the past credit issues would still show on your credit file but it would look better to any possible "new" Lender.

In a perfect world paying them off would be the best option, a "settle" account looks alot better to Lenders than account in arrears and then spend the next couple of years showing you are able to manage your accounts, which will give Lenders confidence it was a "one off" and you are back on track...sadly, 10 months isnt very long in the "credit world".

Hope you get everything sorted out...

Best wishes

moneymoney16 · 9 October 2016 at 11:39AM

Westminster wrote: »

You have high utilisation, delinquent balances and multiple consecutive missed payments.

All of this is why you are not seen as a good risk by potential lenders.

Im a bit surprised that you don't see this and it lends weight to the argument that financial management (and the long term consequences of a blip) should be taught in school before people get access to credit.

Don't focus on what RBS have told you as its not the only account you have issues with and they are not regulated and qualified to advise on your credit file.

Regarding your best course of action - i dont think there is a definitive right answer. In your position i would probably cut all my outgoings to the bare minimum while sending every spare pound to RBS and ensuring minimum payment direct debits are setup for any other credit account. Unless you still have 0% overdraft then that also needs to be cleared as sitting regularly so deep in an OD is doing you no good.

Hey thanks for your reply. I had £2000 overdraft with TSB, £1500 of which is interest free as it's the second year after graduating so I just leave that sat at that for now. Otherwise no overdrafts, it's 2 credit cards and the BOS thing.

I'm still not so sure what BOS have done, when I did a Google it seems Equifax usually show arrangement to pay as "AP", but I've got "U" striked through in a grey box, which is not updated when I hover over it, and it just shows balance and everything as 0. I think I'll give them a ring...

moneymoney16 · 9 October 2016 at 11:49AM

ukamber1 wrote: »

Hi, I'm no expert, so wouldnt want to give you wrong information on your best option but defaults normally stay on your credit file for 6years. Even if the Lender has agreed to remove the default and have now agreed a payment plan for some of the debts, I think the missed payments/arrears also show and impact your credit file for the same length of time. Even if you settled all your accounts and paid them off today, the past credit issues would still show on your credit file but it would look better to any possible "new" Lender.

In a perfect world paying them off would be the best option, a "settle" account looks alot better to Lenders than account in arrears and then spend the next couple of years showing you are able to manage your accounts, which will give Lenders confidence it was a "one off" and you are back on track...sadly, 10 months isnt very long in the "credit world".

Hope you get everything sorted out...

Best wishes

Hi thanks for your input. I know people say ignore the numbers on your credit rating, so say in 14 months I clear all my debts (which I think I should), they'll all be settled, I guess I'll still have a poor credit rating because of those missed payments last year, but would say 2 months after that I look better as the blip was then a couple of years ago and I've settled them all? (even though my actual rating may still be low)

Also over these next 14 months will my rating/way lenders view me get better as that blip is getting further away in the past, and the amount I owe/utilisation is going down? Or will it just be poor up until I settle them/6 years into the future?

Dobbibill · 9 October 2016 at 11:56AM

moneymoney16 wrote: »

Ouch, no need to get personal - yes of course, I was aware I would need a job after finishing uni.

Don't take comments personally - any job was possibly the meaning, rather than a job specific to your degree. Shop, fast food restaurant, cleaning etc etc

Look at it as a life lesson.

moneymoney16 wrote: »

I had £2000 overdraft with TSB, £1500 of which is interest free as it's the second year after graduating so I just leave that sat at that for now. Otherwise no overdrafts, it's 2 credit cards and the BOS thing.

So am I right in thinking, you have the OD but do not use it?
Or do you use it to the max interest free amount?

Either way you look at it, that's an additional line of credit.

I'm still not so sure what BOS have done, when I did a Google it seems Equifax usually show arrangement to pay as "AP", but I've got "U" striked through in a grey box, which is not updated when I hover over it, and it just shows balance and everything as 0. I think I'll give them a ring...

It does seem rather strange that they haven't marked it as AP but if it shows the balance then this is going to be deteriorating by £50 each month so a quick bit of maths by another lender will show you are on an AP.

redux · 9 October 2016 at 12:01PM

moneymoney16 wrote: »

Would it help if I spoke to Bank of Scotland and came off that arrangement, went back to paying interest etc each month like a normal credit card? The woman at BOS said it wouldn't affect my credit rating :sad:

I don't know how it's affecting the credit rating, but to be somewhere between pragmatic and slightly cynical, it is zero interest at the moment, so why not take advantage for the time being.

There is some other history as well, so probably isn't likely to take a great leap forwards if only that one was fixed.

Take things steady for a few months, making payments and reducing balances, hitting the higher interest or fee accounts harder, and getting in a position to have a bit spare for the BoS account when or if they decide it's time to review it.

Once there is some recent history showing things are improving, and the previous problems receding in time, then it may be possible.to get a new account with decent balance transfer offer and accelerate the reduction.

moneymoney16 · 9 October 2016 at 5:15PM

Dobbibill wrote: »

Don't take comments personally - any job was possibly the meaning, rather than a job specific to your degree. Shop, fast food restaurant, cleaning etc etc

Look at it as a life lesson.

So am I right in thinking, you have the OD but do not use it?
Or do you use it to the max interest free amount?

Either way you look at it, that's an additional line of credit.

It does seem rather strange that they haven't marked it as AP but if it shows the balance then this is going to be deteriorating by £50 each month so a quick bit of maths by another lender will show you are on an AP.

I tried those sorts but there wasn't a lot around to be honest, and ones I did go for I think they were suspicious as I'd just finished an engineering type course so I think they wondered why I wanted to work there. I'm sure they'd worked out it was only a stepping stone.

Yes had £2000 interest free overdraft on a TSB student account, now a graduate account. Since July this year it's still £2k but £1500 is interest free so I keep it sat at that now so I'm not paying interest on it. I figured best to leave that til last to pay off after the credit cards as it's not costing me.

The BOS thing doesn't show any balance or anything. It's under one of the pics in the link at the end of my first post. I don't think it shows the £50 I pay each month either

Dobbibill · 9 October 2016 at 5:54PM

Yeh, sometimes employers do get spooked if they think you are only going to use them as a stepping stone/interim period.

If you are using your OD it makes sense, given that it's interest free. This would be another reason other lenders won't look too favorably at the moment though as there are so many lines of credit being used and I noticed you have a TSB CC too, that also has a high balance v's credit limit.

Nothing to worry about, but you can see how, on paper, you may not look like a safe bet yet, despite your 10 months employment income. Your BC is marked as delinquent at the beginning of the year and prior to the arrangement with BOS you were marked as the 4th missed payment in a row.

Couldn't get into the link first off, but I've just tried again and managed to see it - It's not a good overall picture - keep plodding on and paying off as much and as soon as possible.
If you've got any spare income, throw it at the debt with the highest APR. Maybe pop over to the DFW board for some motivation, inspiration or just simply good ideas.

Why is my credit rating bad (credit info shown). Advice please

Comments

Categories

Get our FREE Weekly email full of deals & guides - and it’s spam-free