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

ScRiMpNsAvE_2

bongo11 wrote: »

sounds silly but whats fly be a credit cars lol?

Hi Bongo

It's simply a credit card offered by the flight carrier FlyBe.

http://www.flybe.com/card/default.htm

SnS

rokel

Anyone know if there's an upper age limit for CC applications?
Sorry if this is in wrong place, am new and couldn't see how to ask a new question.

Purplepenfold

Hi

I was discharged from bankruptcy in Dec 2008 and I am wondering if anyone could tell me if I am now entitled to get a current account with a debt card and also when I can apply for a high street mortgage?

Many thanks

Shorty_Bass_Player

Hi,

I applied for a card and was accepted but due to being offered a substantially higher rate than the advertised typical rate (5% more) I am not going to sign the agreement. Will this application still have affected my credit rating even though I haven't signed the agreement and won't be taking the card?

I ask because I intend to apply for a new deal with another provider that has a longer 0% interest rate on new purchases but am concerned I'll be offered a rubbish APR because of the previous application being taken into account.

I only have one existing card and although I don't pay off in full, I always pay significantly more than the minimum amount.

Any advice gratefully received.

ScRiMpNsAvE_2

Shorty_Bass_Player wrote: »

Hi,

I applied for a card and was accepted but due to being offered a substantially higher rate than the advertised typical rate (5% more) I am not going to sign the agreement. Will this application still have affected my credit rating even though I haven't signed the agreement and won't be taking the card?

I ask because I intend to apply for a new deal with another provider that has a longer 0% interest rate on new purchases but am concerned I'll be offered a rubbish APR because of the previous application being taken into account.

I only have one existing card and although I don't pay off in full, I always pay significantly more than the minimum amount.

Any advice gratefully received.

Hi Shorty

Welcome to MSE! As you've already applied and been accepted, unfortunately it sounds like the search has already taken place and been added to your file. It may be worth calling them to find out if they carried out a search as part of the application. If this is the case this may well have an impact on any further applications but if you've not carried out many applications in the last 3-6 months and you generally have a good rating I wouldn't worry too much.

To clarify, did you apply online for a specific card/rate and get offered an alternative by post? Did you apply for a card purely for the 0% balance transfer? If so are you still being offered 0% on balance transfers on this card? Also, how does your credit history look?

SnS

Zelie

I'll start this question with the caveat that I have read the stuff Martin has put on the main site.

People on the forum have talked about a 'credit score' and whether it's good or bad. Now I'm aware that the idea of a score is a bit of a fallacy but this seems to be one of the credit reference agency's methods of providing information. For me, a number indicating an approximate level of credit rating would be useful as I want to get a mortgage in the next year or so. I've been working on improving my 'lendability' but anything extra I can find out/do would be useful.

Does anybody know which one it is? And also, do they provide all the usual data of lending etc or do they purely provide a number and hide the rest?

Moggles_2

Zelie wrote: »

People on the forum have talked about a 'credit score' and whether it's good or bad. Now I'm aware that the idea of a score is a bit of a fallacy but this seems to be one of the credit reference agency's methods of providing information. For me, a number indicating an approximate level of credit rating would be useful as I want to get a mortgage in the next year or so. I've been working on improving my 'lendability' but anything extra I can find out/do would be useful.

Judging from the feedback here, it's easy to be lulled into a false sense of security by these numbers. Then it comes as a shock, when your application is turned down. Equally, some forum users are put off applying at all, because of low scores.

Credit reports, when ordered directly from Experian and Equifax, are valuable. After all, this is the information lenders search when you apply for credit. Experian sends accompanying notes, btw, which are a good read too. Additional services like credit scores are a nice little earner for the credit reference agencies, but of little practical value to mortgage applicants and certainly not worth paying extra for. I wouldn't let these numbers distract you from tackling the things that really matter.

Remember credit reference agencies are there to provide your credit history, but the actual methodology (and the process of scoring itself) is done by their clients, the lenders. None of us - including the agencies - knows what criteria are used by individual companies. Lenders do not disclose this information. It's not uncommon for forum users to post different scores from the three CRAs or various scores from the same agency a few weeks apart. I suspect that the lenders' scores, had we access to them, would be different from each other as well!

Zelie

Thanks, Moggles. As I said, I've done the required reading so I do know that the concept of a score is fallacious. I would, however, find it personally useful to have a general idea of how my credit history compares to ideas of 'good', 'bad' etc. Fear not, I won't be basing mortgage applications on anything so silly! I have a good deposit saved, some credit available and live well within my means but am looking for any way to improve future mortgage offers.

Are you saying that both Experian and Equifax will provide a scoring number or just Experian? I couldn't find any reference to a score on their sample reports from their websites (though I agree the notes are useful). For those who have mentioned receiving information about a credit score - was this part of the freebie report or was it something you specifically paid extra for?

Thanks.

Moggles_2

Zelie wrote: »

Are you saying that both Experian and Equifax will provide a scoring number or just Experian?

Credit scores are available from Experian and Equifax on payment of a fee.

Hoogie

Hi all,

I’m really hoping I may be able to get some advice from you as I appear to have issues with my credit rating and have no idea why, I currently have no credit cards and I want to get one ASAP as I will be looking to get a mortgage within the next two years and want to improve my credit rating.

I was recently pre-selected for a credit card by my long term bank. I have been with this bank for around 14 years and have always been in credit with them, however my application was then rejected despite the pre-selection.

I have since ordered my £2 report from Experian, but looking through it I can’t see anything which indicates I am a bad applicant, however some areas have worried me. They are:

a) Under the “Credit Account Information” section a new bank I have been with for 1 month is listed, however nothing else is listed. So the details of my long term accounts with my other bank are not shown, and neither is my mobile phone contract which I have had for several years and has always been paid fully on time.

b) I have 19 previous searches since05/05/08. Many of these are for insurance quote or laundering checks when I joined new banks etc. I have only ever applied for 2 credit cards so that shouldn’t be too much of a problem.

My questions are:

1) How can I ensure that the credit agencies take my long term bank accounts and mobile phone contract into consideration? These are my two main forms of credit and therefore I find their exclusion from the list very worrying.

2) Does this high number of previous searches pose a problem? Even though only 2 are related to card applications.

Thank you very much for any advice.