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

Moggles_2

kittymac1 wrote: »

I am waiting for my final default to fall of my credit report (Dec). I took out the cashplus credit builder card and now have 12 shiny 0's on my report (well maybe 11 if the latest one hasn't appeared yet). I opened my first store account with Simply Be (first time i have been accepted for anything in years) so things are going in the right direction. I'm just wondering where to go now, i would like to open more accounts to get those sought after 0s on my account. I'm in a very financially stable position now, but have well and truely learned my lesson!I just want to get my credit rating up before applying for proper things like a loan or mortgage, which i hope to do in a few years.

Congratulations on turning things round.
:beer:
J D Williams is often recommended as a great starter catalogue

janian

FAO IZOOLS
Sorry to bother you again but I raised a complaint with the company who turned me down and their letter said 'due to levels of debt' there may be a doubt I could meet payments. I replied saying I didnt have any debt and they have sent a further reply and are now saying that the potential access I have to a lot of credit ( unused) is the reason I have been turned down. So they have contradicted themselves. Do you think I should go to the Ombudsman on this? What chance does anyone stand whether they are in debt or not? The only thing worrying me about contacting the Ombudsman is that I may be recorded as a 'troublesome' customer who may be likely to complain. (ie Izools as you mention in your post of 2/10). Thanks again for any advice you can give.

izools

janian wrote: »

FAO IZOOLS
Sorry to bother you again but I raised a complaint with the company who turned me down and their letter said 'due to levels of debt' there may be a doubt I could meet payments. I replied saying I didnt have any debt and they have sent a further reply and are now saying that the potential access I have to a lot of credit ( unused) is the reason I have been turned down. So they have contradicted themselves. Do you think I should go to the Ombudsman on this? What chance does anyone stand whether they are in debt or not? The only thing worrying me about contacting the Ombudsman is that I may be recorded as a 'troublesome' customer who may be likely to complain. (ie Izools as you mention in your post of 2/10). Thanks again for any advice you can give.

Ah as expected then it's because you've left your old accounts open.

Get writing to all your creditors who's facilities you don't require any more and demand they close and mark the accounts as settled.

They will still appear on your report, but with a £0 credit limit so other creditors won't get worried that you have access to too much credit.

Once all that has updated on your credit report you should be all set for an approval, as long as you've had next to zero searches in the preceding six months

EDIT: I'm sure the Ombudsman will just write to you saying that when the creditor said "DUE TO LEVELS OF DEBT" they meant to say "DUE TO LEVELS OF POTENTIAL DEBT"

never-in-doubt

janian wrote: »

FAO IZOOLS
Sorry to bother you again but I raised a complaint with the company who turned me down and their letter said 'due to levels of debt' there may be a doubt I could meet payments. I replied saying I didnt have any debt and they have sent a further reply and are now saying that the potential access I have to a lot of credit ( unused) is the reason I have been turned down. So they have contradicted themselves. Do you think I should go to the Ombudsman on this? What chance does anyone stand whether they are in debt or not? The only thing worrying me about contacting the Ombudsman is that I may be recorded as a 'troublesome' customer who may be likely to complain. (ie Izools as you mention in your post of 2/10). Thanks again for any advice you can give.

Sorry to interfere - BUT - the ombudsman cannot get involved in such because the lender has supplied one of the relevant reasons for decline and each lender reserves the right to refuse any applicant as they wish.

You need to close down un-used accounts and this means writing to your lenders requesting they close and/or reduce limits then get a copy of your credit report and send it in to the lender to appeal this decline. They can then see the reduced/closed accounts and may overturn the original decline.

You have no recourse to involve the ombudsman in this instance :cool:

Meek-G

Tristanod,


How to tell if an inquiry will affect your report. If you initiate the check, it is a soft inquiry and isn't bad. What hurts your credit is people checking your credit for the purpose of lending new credit.

spendonlife.com/blog/when-credit-search-hurts-you

4ad

Any suggestions welcome here folks.....I`ve just had a default appear on my credit report. It was only for £60 to the open university and it was paid off but it`s showing up a big black mark and i can`t get credit. I spoke to them and i challenged it through the credit agency but they`re refusing to remove it. So for the sake of £60 i can`t move house and it won`t come off for another 2 years.
Is there any way at all of getting it removed? Would the citizens advice or anyone be able to help? Ay ideas appreciated. Cheers

never-in-doubt

4ad wrote: »

Any suggestions welcome here folks.....I`ve just had a default appear on my credit report. It was only for £60 to the open university and it was paid off but it`s showing up a big black mark and i can`t get credit. I spoke to them and i challenged it through the credit agency but they`re refusing to remove it. So for the sake of £60 i can`t move house and it won`t come off for another 2 years.
Is there any way at all of getting it removed? Would the citizens advice or anyone be able to help? Ay ideas appreciated. Cheers

Try arguing that they never sent you a default notice in line with s.87 - s.88 CCA(1874). This is a key part of the legality of such default, failure to prove they acted and complied lawfully will result in it being unlawful therefore meaning you can ask for it to be removed or seek enforcement via the courts....

But as things go, lenders do have a habit of adding these and before paying, you should have agreed to removal in exchange for payment.

Have a mooch here for an idea of letters to get default removed: Unenforceability & Template Letters

scoops414

Hi,
I'm a bit of a 0% hopper - started on MBNA 0% for a year and now have my £3,000 debt on barclaycard 0% promo. I still use my mbna card but pay it off every month. For all intents and purposes mbna is on Nil. However I am unlikely to pay down all of my barclaycard when the promo ends so I'm looking to hop the barclaycard balance to another 0%.

Credit rating wise to improve my chances of getting say £2,000 credit on a new 0% card (say Virgin or Egg) should I cancel my mbna card. This would leave me with only one card (which might be good for my rating) but it would also leave me with 2/3 of my total credit used up (which might be bad for my rating). Would it be better to leave my mbna account open showing £2,000 unused credit to spare ?

i.e. Do I keep the old mbna card or cancel it before applying for a new -card to transfer my barclaycard balance on to ?

Thoughts very welcome - thanks in advance :A

Moggles_2

scoops414 wrote: »

I'm a bit of a 0% hopper - started on MBNA 0% for a year and now have my £3,000 debt on Barclaycard 0% promo. I still use my MBNA card but pay it off every month. However, I am unlikely to pay down all of my Barclaycard when the promo ends, so I'm looking to hop the Barclaycard balance to another 0%. Credit rating-wise to improve my chances of getting say £2,000 credit on a new 0% card, should I cancel my MBNA card? This would leave me with only one card (which might be good for my rating) but it would also leave me with 2/3 of my total credit used up (which might be bad for my rating). Would it be better to leave my MBNA account open showing £2,000 unused credit to spare? i.e. Do I keep the old MBNA card or cancel it before applying for a new -card to transfer my barclaycard balance on to?

Obviously, I don't know your annual income, but three credit cards in total is not excessive. I believe the national average is five and many of us here have seven or eight credit cards on the go. I wouldn't rush to close your MBNA card down.

That said, with each successful credit card application, your available credit will increase in relation to your income and there will come a point in the future when you must consider closure.

Btw, you mentioned Virgin, which is also backed by MBNA. I would apply to a different lender if I were you

janian

Hi again Izools
I am getting a lot of replies back in post just now to my previous letters saying that they will remain on my credit file for 6 yrs and will take no action. So I will have to write again asking them to mark my previous credit as settled. I wont bother with Ombudsman then. Once more thanks for all your advice