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

DrScotsman

I just have a quick question. Without giving too many details, I have reason to believe that a credit hire car company is going to (illegitimately IMO) charge my debit card. If I cancel my debit card and they can't charge it, would they be able to affect my credit rating in any way (except for taking me to court and winning)

Thanks a lot.

oldwiring

Mods please move if I have chosen wrong forum

I know I have a very high(999) credit rating according to Credit Expert, probbly to be expected from 30 years employment with Midland/ HSBC. I am long retired, so am out of touch with how applications for cards are considered. My question is this.


I have a small limit with Saga Card under £1000 ( reduced recently as it is not frequently used), that is listed, but nothing is listed for my HSBC Mastercard, which has a much higher limit. I have had a card with them for many years based on my staff status. I also have an overdraft limit for emergencies.All are working in order and cards are paid in full each month by DD.

Should I be concerned that the info held is incomplete, given what I have told above.

CannyJock

oldwiring wrote: »

Mods please move if I have chosen wrong forum

I know I have a very high(999) credit rating according to Credit Expert, probbly to be expected from 30 years employment with Midland/ HSBC. I am long retired, so am out of touch with how applications for cards are considered. My question is this.


I have a small limit with Saga Card under £1000 ( reduced recently as it is not frequently used), that is listed, but nothing is listed for my HSBC Mastercard, which has a much higher limit. I have had a card with them for many years based on my staff status. I also have an overdraft limit for emergencies.All are working in order and cards are paid in full each month by DD.

Should I be concerned that the info held is incomplete, given what I have told above.

Old accounts aren't reported to the CRA's, I'll let YorkshireBoy confirm the exact year

The credit expert scoring is a rough guide at best - lot of details it won't have that you would put on a credit application, like income.

Personally, wouldn't have reduced the Saga card limit. Your credit report doesn't distinguish between you requesting the limit reduction and the card company reducing it after re-assessing you from a risk point of view.

If you've had your Saga card for quite a while then it'll be reporting a history of no missed payments so I wouldn't be concerned about the others not showing. Infact if the HSBC card has a large, 10k+ limit then it's probably an advantage that it doesn't show if you're thinking about applying for more credit.

oldwiring

CannyJock wrote: »

Personally, wouldn't have reduced the Saga card limit. Your credit report doesn't distinguish between you requesting the limit reduction and the card company reducing it after re-assessing you from a risk point of view.

If you've had your Saga card for quite a while then it'll be reporting a history of no missed payments so I wouldn't be concerned about the others not showing. Infact if the HSBC card has a large, 10k+ limit then it's probably an advantage that it doesn't show if you're thinking about applying for more credit.

Actually Saga is changing its provider from LV to AIB and the limit reduction was from a unilateral review to reduce theoretical exposure post credit crunch. I had no say. As such it is not an application for more creditI did not use the card often or for large sums. The other card limit is a little below £10K

CannyJock

oldwiring wrote: »

Actually Saga is changing its provider from LV to AIB and the limit reduction was from a unilateral review to reduce theoretical exposure post credit crunch. I had no say. As such it is not an application for more creditI did not use the card often or for large sums. The other card limit is a little below £10K

Ah, gotcha. Nothing you can do about it, but the perfect reason for it being reduced if you're ever asked

If you're wanting to paint a picture of managing larger amounts of credit, why not apply for another mainstream card and put a bit of your monthly spending on that and clear it in full each month?

If you want to show that you're used to managing larger amounts of credit than one month's spending, look into a 0% purchase card then you can basically spend on that for 12 months, making only the minimum payments during the 0% promotional period, keeping your own money in the bank earning interest (what there is to be had!). You just clear the card in full before the promotion ends and keep the interest you've earned while the money was in your own bank.

That way your credit report will show 2 cards (always good to have a backup) and you've still got the HSBC card up your sleeve and not showing on your credit reports

poddle911

Hi, I've been checking my credit report regularly and most recently looked at the free Credit Expert report and have a couple of questions:

* Do the linked addresses have any effect on anything? And do they ever disappear? Some of mine date back to 2001...

* Does it matter that on the cover sheet (number of accounts, amount of credit etc) the percentage of credit used is wildly inaccurate? Everything else is spot on...

Other than that, I have a fair amount of debt (joint) and a lot of credit available to me (more than my annual salary) but I'm not sure about cancelling/reducing the limit on unused cards as I'm aware that existing lenders can cut my limit at the drop of a hat - is there any general advice on this? Or does it depend on individual circumstances?

Thanks in advance for any advice!

CannyJock

poddle911 wrote: »

* Do the linked addresses have any effect on anything? And do they ever disappear? Some of mine date back to 2001...

They're used to link you up with previous your credit applications at other addresses. So long as they're accurate they won't do any harm - you're assessed as an individual, not as an address.

poddle911 wrote: »

* Does it matter that on the cover sheet (number of accounts, amount of credit etc) the percentage of credit used is wildly inaccurate? Everything else is spot on...

You sure? It's generated from the numbers in your credit report. You remembering to include overdrafts?

poddle911 wrote: »

Other than that, I have a fair amount of debt (joint) and a lot of credit available to me (more than my annual salary) but I'm not sure about cancelling/reducing the limit on unused cards as I'm aware that existing lenders can cut my limit at the drop of a hat - is there any general advice on this? Or does it depend on individual circumstances?

Is your genuine debt all at 0% or low APR?

Would only be worth considering cancelling cards if you were looking to apply for replacements to shift your debt down onto 0% deals. Are you needing any additional credit any time soon?

EDIT: If you want to list your cards and debts by provider with balance, limit, APR and details of any offers available to you, can look at juggling options.

poddle911

Thanks CannyJock, I'm not sure if I'm missing something when it comes to these figures:

Amount of available credit £16,806
% of total credit being used 35%
Amount of outstanding debt £13,362

I hope I'm not being really dense!

The majority of our debt is at 0% (between Tesco, Capital One and Virgin until May 2010). I've also got a Virgin card with £5,900 limit and no balance which has just offered me 0.9% until April 2010 (with 2.98% fee) which I'm planning to use to clear £2000 from Sainsburys 5.9% LOB and about £800 of OD at around 11.9%. I don't think there's any reason I shouldn't do this...

I was going to close the Virgin card to reduce credit available, but I'm glad I didn't so I guess I've answered my own question!

Thanks again!

Nick_Page

Hi,

My girlfriend and I are about to move into a house that she is buying. I have a not so good credit rating though am sorting myself out. We would like to get a joint bank account to pay the bills and I have read in various places that this would then link my credit rating into hers (which wouldn't be good for her). My question is: does it link my whole credit rating into hers or is it just the that joint account that would link in. As in, if that account it up to date etc it wouldnt have any negative effect on her rating. If it is my whole rating that links in, would it be better to pay the bills some other way so that it doesn't effect her at all.
I hope this makes sense and thanks for any replies. Nick Page

CannyJock

Nick_Page wrote: »

Hi,

My girlfriend and I are about to move into a house that she is buying. I have a not so good credit rating though am sorting myself out. We would like to get a joint bank account to pay the bills and I have read in various places that this would then link my credit rating into hers (which wouldn't be good for her). My question is: does it link my whole credit rating into hers or is it just the that joint account that would link in. As in, if that account it up to date etc it wouldnt have any negative effect on her rating. If it is my whole rating that links in, would it be better to pay the bills some other way so that it doesn't effect her at all.
I hope this makes sense and thanks for any replies. Nick Page

Don't create a financial association until both your credit rating are squeeky clean. You've nothing to gain and everything to lose.

Just agree which of you will open an account to pay the bills, you both pay into it, you both have online access to it. Much easier.

With a financial association, there's no definition that it only applies to "one" specific bank account, it links both your files in full.