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

moover_2

Can Someone please offer me some advise please.. Last November i moved from Ireland to the UK on business. I signed a lease for my apartment and pay it through a direct debit monthly, not a problem, unfortunately i forgot to sign up my gas bill (Scottish Power) and electricity bill with a direct debit. I recently returned to the Uk after bening away in china for 6 months with work. On my return to greet me was a collections notification for a collection company called sterling collections from Scottish Power, and a summons to appear in court for non payment of council tax. All these bills have now been paid and direct debits are set up for these bills to deal with then in the future.

Last week i sent to Lloyds bank and opened a currant account, they had to perform a credit rating on me and i passed without a problem, they said i had no problem with credit rating it was all good. I presume this was clear because i have only been living in the Uk for less than a year, and i'm not really registerd on the system

My question to you guys is when i'm registered at this address over a year will the missed payments turn up on my credit score from the past...Any ideas or advise, or can it be challenged in anyway if it is. It was a genuine mistake

I would really appreciate your thoughts on this queery

Thanks

M

izools

moover wrote: »

Can Someone please offer me some advise please.. Last November i moved from Ireland to the UK on business. I signed a lease for my apartment and pay it through a direct debit monthly, not a problem, unfortunately i forgot to sign up my gas bill (Scottish Power) and electricity bill with a direct debit. I recently returned to the Uk after bening away in china for 6 months with work. On my return to greet me was a collections notification for a collection company called sterling collections from Scottish Power, and a summons to appear in court for non payment of council tax. All these bills have now been paid and direct debits are set up for these bills to deal with then in the future.

Last week i sent to Lloyds bank and opened a currant account, they had to perform a credit rating on me and i passed without a problem, they said i had no problem with credit rating it was all good. I presume this was clear because i have only been living in the Uk for less than a year, and i'm not really registerd on the system

My question to you guys is when i'm registered at this address over a year will the missed payments turn up on my credit score from the past...Any ideas or advise, or can it be challenged in anyway if it is. It was a genuine mistake

I would really appreciate your thoughts on this queery

Thanks

M

You're very lucky as Scottish power don't report to the credit reference agencies and you paid your council tax before a judgment was made against you in court. It had nothing to do with your time in the country.

If Scottish power decide to report to credit reference agencies in future you would have no grounds for dispute as the payments were missed whether or not it was due to a genuine oversight on your part, credit reference agency data had to be factual and Scottish power would be in breach of the data protection act if they lied saying payments were on time.

But as I say you're lucky as Scottish power don't report to credit reference agencies at present. It would have been another matter if you had been with British gas!

camuk81

Just a quick thought. I've been very lucky to never get a CCJ or default on my credit file. However I do have an exceedingly large number of late payments of my file. Martin's checklist on credit asks is you had a late payment in the last 6 months but with 33 on file I presume can I forgot about this.

The timeline is

2006: 3 - 1 months
2007: 3 - 1 months
2008: 4 - 1 months, 1 - 2 months
2009: 5 - 1 months
2010: 7 - 1 months, 2 - 2 months, 6 - 3 months
2011: 1 -1 months, 1 - 2 months

Yep I know dire. I'm not looking to apply for anything and at the moment I'm concentrating on paying off my debts and closing down old lines of credit. The long term plan is to keep a Next account running, one credit card and still my mortgage. However in 4 years time I'd like to think we can start applying for a mortgage. I know there is no magic rule however by that point I'd be down to two late's left on file. Does anyone think this is a sensible long term plan?

izools

camuk81 wrote: »

Just a quick thought. I've been very lucky to never get a CCJ or default on my credit file. However I do have an exceedingly large number of late payments of my file. Martin's checklist on credit asks is you had a late payment in the last 6 months but with 33 on file I presume can I forgot about this.

The timeline is

2006: 3 - 1 months
2007: 3 - 1 months
2008: 4 - 1 months, 1 - 2 months
2009: 5 - 1 months
2010: 7 - 1 months, 2 - 2 months, 6 - 3 months
2011: 1 -1 months, 1 - 2 months

Yep I know dire. I'm not looking to apply for anything and at the moment I'm concentrating on paying off my debts and closing down old lines of credit. The long term plan is to keep a Next account running, one credit card and still my mortgage. However in 4 years time I'd like to think we can start applying for a mortgage. I know there is no magic rule however by that point I'd be down to two late's left on file. Does anyone think this is a sensible long term plan?

Typically speaking if you've had no missed payments for 36+ months the prior ones won't have a notable effect, but there are no hard and fast rules to this effect.

You need to stay registered to vote
Not move often
Not change employers often
Keep at least one active credit account (loan, credit card etc) open in addition to bank account and mobile phone contract
Not apply for credit more than a couple of times a year
Ensure you keep accounts open for along time
Owe little in comparison to your limits
Have limits that are small in comparison to your salary
Etc

Fulfilling all the above criteria in addition to having no defaults and no missed payments in three years is likely to satisfy a mortgage underwriter no problem but as I say there are no hard and fast rules to this effect.

camuk81

Thanks izools, got 6 years for residence, Have been with my bank nearly 10 years, employment is something to work on as current is 6 months but what can expect working in the building sector and made redundant twice! Plan is no dents bar the mortgage.

Glad to air the plan and confirm that I seem to be reading it right but as you said there are no hard and fast rules!

izools

camuk81 wrote: »

Thanks izools, got 6 years for residence, Have been with my bank nearly 10 years, employment is something to work on as current is 6 months but what can expect working in the building sector and made redundant twice! Plan is no dents bar the mortgage.

Glad to air the plan and confirm that I seem to be reading it right but as you said there are no hard and fast rules!

Sounds like you'll be fine

My OH and I just got approved for a mortgage despite my OH having a default (albeit from five years ago and long since settled).

Just try to keep one credit card open with a low balance (used for perhaps buying groceries once a month and paid off in full) to show you can use credit accounts; just a bank account and mobile phone contract isn't enough for some underwriters.

Good luck. Get a direct debit set up on all the accounts you have post haste and speak to them all about changing your billing / payment date to the most convenient save any further missed payments :beer:

camuk81

izools wrote: »

Sounds like you'll be fine

Good luck. Get a direct debit set up on all the accounts you have post haste and speak to them all about changing your billing / payment date to the most convenient save any further missed payments :beer:

All done, the worse problem is my bank record going over the agreed limit as a late marker so that makes up at least 6 of them! A Hard lesson to learn!

izools

camuk81 wrote: »

All done, the worse problem is my bank record going over the agreed limit as a late marker so that makes up at least 6 of them! A Hard lesson to learn!

Yep, that'll happen. There's little point preaching to you about better income and expenditure calculations, better budgeting, better self control blah blah blah, I'm sure you've heard it a thousand times before.

It comes from within you so little point taking you to water. You're hopefully taking the choice yourself to drink

Good luck! :beer:

NSL

I'm not too sure if this is the correct thread but I'll give it a go...

Over the next couple of months I'll be in a position where my CC debts will be about £5k and I've been thinking about maybe trying for a 0% deal.

I've just come out of a divorce and I am presently living in a rented apartment but my name is also on a mortgage at my former matrimonial home (and will be for next 5 years !).

On applications where it asks if I'm a homeowner or live in rented - what do I say ?

Also, if I say I'm in rented and they see on my credit file that I've got a mortgage - would that be an instant refusal ??

Thanks - any advice would be greatly appreciated

rebeccatalbot

Can somebody clear up a few un answered questions for me please!
1.) I have 2 joint outstanding loans with my now ex husband, with 2 different companies together totaling £24,000 can i dispute that both loans are chopped in half, with half being on my credit score and half on his credit score??
2.) Or if 1.) is not possible, then how much can i offer these companies as a settlement figure, is it like 50% of the outstanding loan or more of a % than 50???

Any advice very grateful!!
(4/6/12)