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

Dan_Bailey

2 x personal loan - roughly £1500 left to pay on each. Both due to be paid off in about a years time.

Capital One Credit Card - £200 limit, balance typically £125, spending and paying back about £40 per month.

Argos store card - £900 limit, balance currently about £800. Balance sat at £700 - £900 for last 3 years!

HFC Bank Buy now pay later interest free £300 due for repayment April 10.

Plenty of settled accounts eg Welcome Finance personal loan, HFC bank crdit purchase, previous mobile contracts. 1 missed payment in last year.

Tbh credit rating is probably looking better than ever, I'm just looking to improve as far as possible as considering a mortage in near future.

noah271007

never-in-doubt wrote: »

They will not remove the default - it will change from outstanding to settled but it will still go against you for a period of 6 years.....

Bummer - especially for £24!

Don't hold your breath for a mortgage anytime soon (6 years)....

NID, it is POSSIBLE to get the default removed, after all, it is the lender who put it there, so write to them and ask them politely if they could remove it. Equifax can't.

Mobile phone companies are well known for putting defaults willy nilly.

never-in-doubt

noah271007 wrote: »

NID, it is POSSIBLE to get the default removed, after all, it is the lender who put it there, so write to them and ask them politely if they could remove it. Equifax can't.

Mobile phone companies are well known for putting defaults willy nilly.

I know mate But trust me, they won't remove it now. Not after the McGuffick case, most are refusing point blank to remove defaults.

McGuffick v RBS judgment

sammylou100

never-in-doubt wrote: »

Have you actually seen your credit reports from Experian & Equifax? If not, I suggest you do that and under each entry you'll see a bit that shows late payments in the last XX years..... what does that say? Even on old accounts....

Yep, i've seen it, the last late payment was August 2007. I guess I'll just have to sit tight for 8 months!

Also, I just had a default removed by the ombudsman, it's not impossible. It did take a year through the ombudsman though...

nojags

My schoolboy son opened an HSBC account at our insistence when 16, to pay in his birthday & Christmas money. Didn't use it much as he has no income. In October he went to the bank to pay in, to be told that the account wasn't available and was given the impression that they thought as he was approaching 18 (in November) it would change to another type of account. Did nothing further.

Now he's 18, he has some nice cheques to pay in, so I made him an appointment and went along with him to the local branch (where I hold my business account) to see what was happening. It took 20 minutes for the assistant to discover that that his account had been shut down months ago as it was 56p overdrawn. God knows how. They won't let him re-open an account now. Their words were, "try another bank, if they'll take you". When I complained, I was given a leaflet titled 'Listening To Your Comments'...
There has been no correspondence on the account closure and I'm a little bothered that they may have put a marker on his record. Can this happen to a 17yr old schoolboy ? ( it was closed before his 18th birthday)
What happens when he attempts to open an account at another bank? Can they refuse him, as I suppose he'll probably have to mention the HSBC account?
He finishes school next year and will need an account for university.

Joeler

Guys anyone know who I need to contact @ Halifax to get details on my Experian Credit report changed? They havent updated my current account status since 8th November and I have paid off my overdraft whoch should make a difference to an application I was planning to make anytime now.

I've tried calling them but got passed around departments. Phone call was from my mobile and probably cost a fortune!!

Thanks

never-in-doubt

Joeler wrote: »

Guys anyone know who I need to contact @ Halifax to get details on my Experian Credit report changed? They havent updated my current account status since 8th November and I have paid off my overdraft whoch should make a difference to an application I was planning to make anytime now.

I've tried calling them but got passed around departments. Phone call was from my mobile and probably cost a fortune!!

Thanks

They update it themselves at CAIS updates. Some do these weekly, others monthly and some quarterly (if at all).

You have no say in this - the banks own and operate this side of data sharing, basically if the account is clear then your credit file will reflect this - but it could take a month or two - however and o/d would not affect a credit application you make - even a £10k overdraft, so long as you were not overlimit/abusing it!

However, the details you requested are below - only snail-mail though i'm afraid.

HBOS: SPECIALISED LENDING TEAM, PO BOX 316, CARDIFF, CF23 8FN

Joeler

Cheers dude
Although since I have been a member of the credit expert service, I have been keeping an eye on it month by month and they tend to update it really regularly. I've been in the overdraft for the last few months by a fair but, but have now paid this off and I wanted it to reflect that in terms of my amount of available credit versus what I'm (now) using.

Ahh snail mail, which will be almost backwards at this time of the year... Oh well that may be what I have to do.

The guy at Experian said that they have direct access to it and should be able to change it on my request, and that it takes 48hours. False hope it may seem...

Cheers though

never-in-doubt

Joeler wrote: »

Cheers dude
Although since I have been a member of the credit expert service, I have been keeping an eye on it month by month and they tend to update it really regularly. I've been in the overdraft for the last few months by a fair but, but have now paid this off and I wanted it to reflect that in terms of my amount of available credit versus what I'm (now) using.

Ahh snail mail, which will be almost backwards at this time of the year... Oh well that may be what I have to do.

The guy at Experian said that they have direct access to it and should be able to change it on my request, and that it takes 48hours. False hope it may seem...

Cheers though

Yes the lender does have direct access but they do not simply update things just cos we ask - unfortunately although you feel they should, I bet they get easily 10,000 similar requests daily so it would be hard to manage.

What exactly is the issue here though, overdrafts do not count against you surely? I thought they showed the o/d amount and only updated the true o/d balance if you exceeded it?

Put it this way, if you have a £5000 o/d but stay £1000 overdrawn your credit file looks good - and it should show overdraft as £0 (cos you're not actually beyond the agreed level). Now, flip side it - you are £6,000 o/d with a £5k limit - the CRA should then read as having a £5k o/d but a balance of -£1000 or it may show as £6000.

Joeler

Yeah I guess you're right.
Anyway the issue is as follows. Have a 3.5k overdraft on the current account, and after last update was in it by about 3k as I had an expensive month with one thing and another. Now it is paid off.

Because I only have another credit card with a 1k limit and a balance of about £125.00, it is showing my available credit as about £1400.00, and the percentage of credit in use is quite high. I thought they took this into account when you applied for things and that was one of the reasons timing applications correctly limited the liklihood of rejections?

Anyway, I will be applying for a loan through my bank, Halifax, who know I'm not in the overdraft. However, if they do then credit search me the picture of where I'm at finnancially looks very different to where it is...

I just want to have the best chance possible.

Time is obviously the key factor!! :cool: