Looking to rent, now worried about my credit score.

laurabizzle

I am currently renting my home through a private landlord but I’m looking to move house over the next few months. Trying to rent privately, I found the selection of homes quite limited (sometimes non-existent) in my area, so I have decided to rent through an estate agent. HOWEVER, over the past 6 months, me and my partner have defaulted on littlewoods/phone bill payments and incurred bank charges as my partner was out of work for a month or so due to redundancy. I have just payed through Experian to view both of our credit scores, mine coming back very poor, and his coming back poor. We are back up to date with all of our payments as of the 1st of this month and both earning more than enough money now. I am just worried that the estate agents will base the decision on the house we have chosen mainly on our credit scores, and not on our landlord references, payslips, work references etc etc. Does anybody have any info on this? Thanks in advance.

t1gger

Can't help too much except to say; recently moved into a new place. The EA told us they were going to do a credit check and I can confirm they did as I get alerts via the creditexpert service.

I asked what specifically they were checking for and they said that in addition to confirming identity/previous address, it was only major things like bankruptsy. My credit file is [mostly] clean though so I can only tell you what they told me.

Btw if you do find a place and go for it, make sure you understand what you will be liable for if you did fail the check. Usually you will not get your EA admin fee back.

Good luck

laurabizzle

Hi T1gger, thanks for your reply. I have to pay £161 to apply for the house I've found, whether it goes through or not! Let's hope it is all ok. Thanks

hannah36

I was told by estate agents they are only bothered by ccj`s and bankrupcy not late payments.

Good luck!

laurabizzle

I hope so! It seems silly for them to turn us down, at the end of the day, the estate agents are sales people, and I've seen a lot of houses in my area that have been "to let" for quite some time!! My bank statements, references and pay slips show I can more than afford the rent (and that I will always pay my rent on time.) Fingers crossed!!

tbs624

If you aren't moving for several months have you read through MSE Martin's guide on improving your credit score?

http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/banking/credit-rating-credit-score#improve

laurabizzle

I had a read of that earlier and will definitely be trying to improve so I don't have these problems in the future, hopefully there'll be no more redundancies to set me back this year!

xellieqx

Not sure where you live, but I rent through MCR properties in Manchester and they didn't do a credit check... which is just as well, cos I don't think I would have passed it due to student nonsense from the past couple of years!
It's a bit unfair, cos I'm good with money now, but I haven't been in the past. Good luck with it!

laurabizzle

Thanks xellieqx, I live in Oxford, and I have been told by my estate agent that they will be doing a credit check, I'm just hoping they are looking to see that I am who I say I am, and that I am in work and don't have any CCJs etc... it's only my late payments that have made my credit score so low on experian!

laurabizzle

Been to view the house today, the letting agent has told me that my credit blips shouldn't be a problem as long as I don't have any CCJs as they are instant dismassal. . . Fingers crossed

subjecttocontract

As a landlord I view credit checks as being very important. One reason they carry a lot of weight is that we can't take out 'Rent Guarantee Insurance' unless the applicant passes the credit check criteria.

This adds risk to us taking on a tenant who has failed but the fall back position is for the tenant to do either of the following:
1. Pay 6 months rent up front OR
2. Provide a home owning guarantor for each person on the Tenanvy Agreement.

Hope this helps.