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

adamp87

Why do we have on the monthly email..

“You don’t have a U.K. credit score”
https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/loans/credit-rating-credit-score/#video

But then MSE link to an article all about boosting your score…

Seems to me MSE sharing bit of a mixed misleading message there, which will make people focus on this score.

Holeydel

I'm rebuilding my once brilliant credit score after it took a CCJ hit. First a bit of history: The CCJ is satisfied and I've applied to the court and paid £255 to have the case reviewed and CCJ removed entirely as I believe it to be unjust. The CCJ was in July 2020 and the application made earlier this week. Anyway, in November I took out a £600 finance deal (home improvement) & paid it off 3 months later (way before the agreed date). In January I took out a £2k finance deal (home improvement) and paid off the full balance 2 months later (2 years before the agreed date). Both have had a positive impact on my credit score which brings me to my question for you guys.

I'm after a new phone that costs £200 from Argos. The plan would be to take out a 5 month finance deal on it & simply clear off the balance after then first payment comes out. Would taking out my 3rd load in 7 months be negative for my score or would taking out & clearing my 3rd load in 8 months be more benificial? 

And for an added plot twist, my intention is to obtain a BTL mortgage this year.

kaMelo

Holeydel said:

I'm rebuilding my once brilliant credit score after it took a CCJ hit. First a bit of history: The CCJ is satisfied and I've applied to the court and paid £255 to have the case reviewed and CCJ removed entirely as I believe it to be unjust. The CCJ was in July 2020 and the application made earlier this week. Anyway, in November I took out a £600 finance deal (home improvement) & paid it off 3 months later (way before the agreed date). In January I took out a £2k finance deal (home improvement) and paid off the full balance 2 months later (2 years before the agreed date). Both have had a positive impact on my credit score which brings me to my question for you guys.

I'm after a new phone that costs £200 from Argos. The plan would be to take out a 5 month finance deal on it & simply clear off the balance after then first payment comes out. Would taking out my 3rd load in 7 months be negative for my score or would taking out & clearing my 3rd load in 8 months be more benificial? 

And for an added plot twist, my intention is to obtain a BTL mortgage this year.

To quote Martin Lewis, "You don't have a credit score in the UK"
https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/loans/credit-rating-credit-score/#video

[Deleted User]

Holeydel said:

 Anyway, in November I took out a £600 finance deal (home improvement) & paid it off 3 months later (way before the agreed date). In January I took out a £2k finance deal (home improvement) and paid off the full balance 2 months later (2 years before the agreed date). Both have had a positive impact on my credit score 

It's improving your score, but reducing your credit worthiness and chances of getting low rate credit from mainstream lenders.

Stop taking out loans you don't need.

lcfc_uk

Hi all. Just a bit of a query about credit cards & credit ratings. I have quite a few credit cards from when I was using 0% balance transfer switching to clear debt that I'd managed to build up in the past, these are now all clear but all have quite high credit limits on them, I also have one credit card I use that I use for petrol but pay it off in full every month. A few months ago my credit rating dropped a little bit and has stayed at that since (this might have been close to my debt free point), could this be to do with the fact that all my other debt is now clear and that I'm only utilising a very small percentage of the credit that is available to me? Should I be putting more things onto my credit card (while still paying off monthly) now that I don't actually have any debts to be clearing or avoiding using the credit cards at all? Or now that I'm not needing all these cards should I be gradually closing these off or reducing the credit limits on them? I always thought that having a high credit limit but not utilising much of it would be a good thing but now my credit rating took the slight drop I'm wondering if I was wrong with that thought. Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated. Thanks

MorningcoffeeIV

Your credit rating is only provided for comedy purposes. Ignore it and follow these simple rules.

Use cards for things you normally buy .
Clear in full.
Pay no interest.
Watch score rise and fall.
Ignore it.
Repeat.

 

MalMonroe

Hi, I'd just add to keep a watchful eye on your credit reports from Equifax, Experian and TransUnion. Just in case there are any anomalies. Even the smallest discrepancy can sometimes affect a report.

Apart from that, as MorningcoffeeIV says, above. Because you are the only one who ever sees that credit score. For me, the scores vary depending on which credit report I'm looking at. My Experian score varies from month to month and TransUnion usually has me at 'fair, needs some work' but Equifax has scored me very high - 'excellent' - for a few months now. It's random, completely random. Your credit history is the important thing. 

phillw

MorningcoffeeIV said:

Your credit rating is only provided for comedy purposes. Ignore it and follow these simple rules.

They are a tool that you don't find useful. It's not fool proof, it's a bit subjective, but it's not comedy.

They do generate hyperbolic posts by certain members here as well though.

Ebe_Scrooge

phillw said:

MorningcoffeeIV said:

Your credit rating is only provided for comedy purposes. Ignore it and follow these simple rules.

They are a tool that you don't find useful. It's not fool proof, it's a bit subjective, but it's not comedy.

They do generate hyperbolic posts by certain members here as well though.

Can you please explain, then, why we see so many posts on here, week in, week out, along the lines of "I have a perfect score but I've been rejected for credit".  Or "I've finally cleared my credit card debt and closed the account, why has my score dropped?" ?