Credit score improvement - waddya reckon?

Lois_and_CK

Credit scores are pesky little things. Mine and CK's are shot to pieces. Loads of maxed out credit cards, lots of rejected applications (trying to get 0% credit cards with no luck), lots of missed payments from hard times (like when we scraped together £4 in copper to buy petrol - oh the humiliation).

So anyway, once we're finally debt-free and have reduced our available credit by closing the credit cards, is there anything else we can do to improve a credit score? (bearing in mind we'll have a shabby history of missed payments etc).

keeno

Trying to sell now may not be the best idea with the current market. Property prices are still dropping so you will probably be losing a lot of money if you sell now.

Something to think about : say you did sell now when the market is crap, paid all or most of your debt, then started looking again in 12/18 months. What if the market has recovered and property prices are on the up again? That's twice you will have lost out.

Have you tried giving Payplan a call? I have just started a Dept Management Plan with them and if all goes as planned my monthly outgoings on debt will be less than 50% of what I am paying now. Just an idea and would enable you to stay in your home

Treacle1983

I don't think it would be a good idea -

house prices are still very low and I would give it at least a year or two to recover a bit.

renting is very expensive and probably more than you are paying on your mortgage.

eg: mortgage for my parents 3 bed semi is £480 a month, rent for my sisters 2 bed semi just down the road is £575 a month.......

You could make more money by waiting a few years, doing it up, getting planning permission for extensions etc, getting a lodger......

Lois_and_CK

Thanks, both. We've done our homework and it makes more financial sense to sell the house and pay off debts than it does to try and hang onto a house that is too big for us and that we can't afford. In our case renting is most definitely cheaper than our mortgage!

Maybe I didn't word my OP very well, sorry - I'll go and reword it now. I was asking about improving credit scores rather than opinions on whether to sell the house or not - that decision is already made!