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

madjohn

Hello!

Two things if I may:

1. I think I may have applied for a free Credit Check before (Experian, Equifax - I can't quite remember). Will I be eligible for another free trial?
How can I find out?

2. I have been out of work since last October (2008) but have not claimed any benefits. In October this year, my mortgage is up for renewal (This is assuming that I am employed in the next month - oh, which I will be _party_ ).
How will this gap in regular income affect my chances of getting a good mortgage?

Interesting...

marcellep

phill570 wrote: »

Hi,

Hope someone can give me advice. I am currently a homeowner and lived in my address for 18 months. I am a Police officer and have been for 5 years, i have one credit card, a store card and a car on finance through black horse. I haven't been the best behaved in the past and have missed the odd payment on credit cards and store cards when i was a student. I have never missed a major payment though with any big lenders and many of my accounts have been settled in the past.

Approx 2 years ago i apparently "defaulted" on an HFC account, i was on the understanding the money was stillcoming out. However through no fault of my own "so i believed" the bank cancelled the direct debit once when it had returned. I moved house and was unaware of the letters sent out from hfc asking for the money.

I recently used experien and checked my credit file and score and was horrified to find my credit score as 370 stating that 68% of the nation was higher than me and i was considered high risk!!!!

I have been in full time employemtn all my life and never been bankrupt or had ccjs. I was appalled to find out that i was regarded as high risk. I recently had car finance rejected twice and one of those was by the same company who i have a car on fianance with already, i wanted to swap my car for one cheaper aswell and black horse declined!!!! When you phone up all you get is "sorry we cant tell you why over the phone"

In the last 12 months sincei bought my car i have less debt, lived longer at my address and am earning more and haven't missed any payments.

This just seems like a vicious circle, surely there are people in far worse situations than me who are getting credit!!

What can i do!!!???

Phill

Phil welcome to MSE and the misery of CRA.

I have been in this postion and I managed to get 3 defaults removed from my accounts. I sent them letters asking them to provide me with a copy of the default.

Dear Sir or Madam
Account number –Add your account number


After recently obtaining a copy of my credit file from Experian I was concerned to note that your company has placed a "Default" notice against an account in my name.


Further to this I have no recollection of ever receiving such a notice, and I therefore require you to substantiate this data at your earliest convenience.


1. You must supply me with a true copy of the alleged agreement you refer to. This is my right under you the date protection act
2. You must supply me with a signed true and certified copy of the original default notice
3. Any deed of assignment if the debt was sold on


I would request that this data is provided to me within the next 28 days, if you are unable to provide this data then I must insist that it is removed from my files as unsubstantiated.


Yours faithfully

As I have said I managed to get 3 defaults removed from my accounts. I am more than happy to post the letters that I sent.

I got my information from the Information commissioner

Adjust the letter to suit,

I would also inform all CRA that you are disputing this default too
Mind send all recorded delivery
I have also added the best contact address:

HFC Bank Limited
120 Edmund Street,
Birmingham
B3 2Q2

[EMAIL="customerservices@hfcbank.co.uk"]customerservices@hfcbank. co.uk[/EMAIL]

cheesenmarmite

Hi all,
This question may already have been answered elsewhere on this board, but despite having waded through a lot of posts, I can't find anything similar so here goes and apologies in advance if this is a no brainer or in fact I've missed something glaringly obvious!

A couple of months ago, I checked my credit score with Experian and it was 999. My question therefore relates to maintaining this score rather than trying to improve it. At the time, I was making monthly payments on the last vesitges of a loan and the balance was c. £2k. I also have a credit card which I don't use very often (ie not every month), and pay the balance (if any) in full by DD. Oh, and make interest only mortgage repayments every month too.

Since then, I have made a settlement payment for the loan and have not taken on any credit (only debt outstanding is the mortgage). However, now that I am not making the unsecured loan repayments, do I need to ensure that I have some small transactions on my credit card each month in order to maintain my credit score? These would be paid off each month by DD to avoid interest charges. Alternatively, is it sufficient for my only debt repayments each month to be on the mortgage in order to maintain the credit score?

Any advice gratefully received. Obviously this may seem a trivial question, but I've heard about people having difficulty getting credit if there isn't much activity on their file so just want to avoid that should we need it in future (eg switching mobile networks).

Thanks in advance.

marcellep

cheesenmarmite wrote: »

Hi all,
This question may already have been answered elsewhere on this board, but despite having waded through a lot of posts, I can't find anything similar so here goes and apologies in advance if this is a no brainer or in fact I've missed something glaringly obvious!

A couple of months ago, I checked my credit score with Experian and it was 999. My question therefore relates to maintaining this score rather than trying to improve it. At the time, I was making monthly payments on the last vesitges of a loan and the balance was c. £2k. I also have a credit card which I don't use very often (ie not every month), and pay the balance (if any) in full by DD. Oh, and make interest only mortgage repayments every month too.

Since then, I have made a settlement payment for the loan and have not taken on any credit (only debt outstanding is the mortgage). However, now that I am not making the unsecured loan repayments, do I need to ensure that I have some small transactions on my credit card each month in order to maintain my credit score? These would be paid off each month by DD to avoid interest charges. Alternatively, is it sufficient for my only debt repayments each month to be on the mortgage in order to maintain the credit score?

Any advice gratefully received. Obviously this may seem a trivial question, but I've heard about people having difficulty getting credit if there isn't much activity on their file so just want to avoid that should we need it in future (eg switching mobile networks).

Thanks in advance.

Some good questions here, After watching a programme with Mr MSE himself, he suggests closing all accounts that you do not use.

However I personally think it's a good idea to keep the card and use it as and when required. I would not use it monthly just for the sake of using it. You have shown the creditors that your score is excellent and as you say its just a case of keeping the score @ 999. So why change what is working...

Hope that helps slightly

cheesenmarmite

Thanks Marcellep. I do want to keep the CC as it is useful for purchases when I want the insurance a CC offers (eg booking flights - never know which airline might go bust next!) or when on holiday and I can't use my debit cards and don't want to pay with cash.

Think to be on the safe side, I might try and make sure I do 1 supermarket shop per month on CC (something I would normally do on debit card) just to have a transaction showing each month that is paid off straight away.

baseage

i have allready used the 30 day trial with experian and equifax and want to check my file again. I did this today and i couldnt. is there another way of checking again for free or do i have to pay. If i had to pay, which one is the better one??

himitsunomogura

You don't need to keep making payments on the cc to maintain the score - if you have the card but it is not being used, so you are getting 'D' or 'U' on your report, it is just as good as getting the '0' for having a balance that is being paid off.
Don't fall behind, don't make applications, don't increase balances (or reduce limits so you are using a larger % of your limit) and its highly unlikely that your score will drop.

himitsunomogura

Edit - baseage, I believe Experians is cheaper? You can simply get the paper credit report for £2, but of course the online service gives you more extras (cheaper score, credit-matched comparison service, etc)

Moggles_2

baseage wrote: »

I have already used the 30 day trial with Experian and Equifax and want to check my file again. I did this today and I couldn't. Is there another way of checking again for free or do I have to pay? If I have to pay, which one is the better one?

We cannot be certain which credit card providers search a particular agency's files (lenders do not disclose this information), but it's known that most use Experian.

It's available for just £2 per paper copy and arrives by post in 4-6 days, so might be an idea to see what's there. For more tips, see page 1 of the *How to obtain credit reports* sticky

marcellep

baseage wrote: »

i have allready used the 30 day trial with experian and equifax and want to check my file again. I did this today and i couldnt. is there another way of checking again for free or do i have to pay. If i had to pay, which one is the better one??

Best way is to write to all CRA's asking for a copy of your file, That way you get a true reflection of what is on your files.

I done that and then it was easy to sort all the defaults etc.

You can also register for checkmyfile.com which uses Call credit - You can view it for free.

Here are all the address you should write too:
Equifax Plc
Credit File Advice Centre
PO Box 1140
Bradford
BD1 5US
www.equifax.co.uk

Call Credit Plc
Consumer Services Team
PO Box 491
Leeds
LS3 1WZ
0870 060 1414
www.callcredit.co.uk

Experian Ltd
Consumer Help Service
PO Box 8000
Nottingham
NG80 7WF
0870 241 6212
www.experian.co.uk

Include:

your full name -also any other names you have been known by e.g. your maiden name

your full address including postcode;

any addresses where you have lived over the past six years;

your date of birth

a cheque or postal order for £2 made payable to the credit reference agency.

The credit reference agency has 7 working days to send you your file after receiving your letter and fee.