Credit Rating: How it works and How to improve it discussion area

LuckyBiscuit

Hi Guy;s ive got a question, just checked my credit file and although most of my debts have dropped off or about too, i have 17 financial aliasus, some of these i presume are company;s from our failed IVA last year, My question is, if these stay on our file forever, are they going to have a huge impact on future credit???

thanks in advance.

CannyJock

Do you mean financial associations which all relate to the same person because of different spellings of their name, or including middle names or not?

LuckyBiscuit

No sorry all relate to myself and hubby, they are a list of company names that were involved in our iva and i read somewhere that they will stay there for ever.

brownclock

I make about £100k/pa but currently owe about £45k on 7 different cards/loans - I've never missed a payment but my score isn't great. I've just come into quite a lot of money and will be paying off my debts this time next week, I'll also be closing most of the cards and putting the balance into a savings account. Obviously this should improve my credit score but roughly how quickly do you think this will happen? Days, weeks, months, quarters etc? I just have no idea how this all works. Oh I just remembered, my wife and I were minor credit card fraud victims about 2 years ago (>£200, they'd kept our card details) - does this kind of thing really affect your score that much and how long will that stick around for?

Thank you in advance.

CannyJock

brownclock wrote: »

I make about £100k/pa but currently owe about £45k on 7 different cards/loans - I've never missed a payment but my score isn't great. I've just come into quite a lot of money and will be paying off my debts this time next week, I'll also be closing most of the cards and putting the balance into a savings account. Obviously this should improve my credit score but roughly how quickly do you think this will happen? Days, weeks, months, quarters etc? I just have no idea how this all works. Oh I just remembered, my wife and I were minor credit card fraud victims about 2 years ago (>£200, they'd kept our card details) - does this kind of thing really affect your score that much and how long will that stick around for?

Thank you in advance.

The credit reference agencies update each month, round about today for most of my accounts, so can take up to 2 months before the nil balances are reported.

If you're clearing the cards, remember that there is residual interest from the last statement date to the date the payment reaches your account. If you want to be sure to clear them, pay the balance plus the interest on your last statement and ask them to refund the small overpayment when you close the card.

Be sure to keep at least 2 cards - personally I'd keep the ones with the highest limits, or ones that give some sort of cashback or rewards for your spending. Use them for some token purchase each month and clear them in full, ideally by DD to make sure you don't miss a payment and you'll retain your positive payment history.

Congrats on getting out of debt - though with that sort of income you shouldn't have been in it in the first place

briddj

I pay my credit cards off in full every month.

Does a credit check show how much exactly you have been spending on your cards, or does it just state how efficient you are at paying this off?

CannyJock

briddj wrote: »

I pay my credit cards off in full every month.

Does a credit check show how much exactly you have been spending on your cards, or does it just state how efficient you are at paying this off?

It shows a history of balances and whether you've missed a payment. Some of the cards that report the new detailed version show:

Account Status:
Balance:
Payment Amount:
Previous Statement:
Cash Advance:
Advance Amount:
Payment Code:
Promotional Rate:

So while it doesn't show the spending, by knowing the balance at the time they report, the previous statement balance and the payment amount, they can work it out

briddj

CannyJock wrote: »

It shows a history of balances and whether you've missed a payment. Some of the cards that report the new detailed version show:

Account Status:
Balance:
Payment Amount:
Previous Statement:
Cash Advance:
Advance Amount:
Payment Code:
Promotional Rate:

So while it doesn't show the spending, by knowing the balance at the time they report, the previous statement balance and the payment amount, they can work it out

I just paid for my one-off Equifax credit report. Seems the detail between cards is quite inconsistent.

For instance, only my Sainsbury's Card shows a full break down of balances and payment amount. All other cards (Egg, HSBC, Lloyds) only show the indicator for payment history, there is no actual payment amount shown.

Does this seem correct?

rivers84

Hi all

im Stuck, i litterally spat my dummy out at Natwest last week,

about 4 years ago they defaulted my student loan account i complained and complained but they didnt do anything other than put me on a repayement scheme, Ok as a student i didnt know better and paid it every month,

i recently checked my credit file to find the reason for my credit score being so low is because they Defaulted both accounts.

Not one of the accounts in my eyes should of been defaulted in the first place but since reviewing the credit file i am back disputing this fact with them,

however what im really questioning is the fact for four years solid i have paid into student account and yet my credit file shows no repayement, it shows the current balance which is correct however no repayment plan shows on my credit file,

i have a all green on all my accounts except Natwest and because of these aco!!!!s my credit score is a lowly 470:eek::eek::eek:

my second question is as the accounts were defaulted are natwest allowed to add further charges to the accounts after they have been closed. they explained to me that once one account defaults then all accounts default you own with them, (BE ADVISED TO NEVER HAVE MORE THAN ONE ACCOUNT WITH A BANK)

looking forward to finding out some info peeps, thanks for reading

CannyJock

rivers84 wrote: »

they explained to me that once one account defaults then all accounts default you own with them, (BE ADVISED TO NEVER HAVE MORE THAN ONE ACCOUNT WITH A BANK)

Or never default on a debt?