Just got a copy of my credit report.......

willstewart

Slightly more information seems to appear on it than I thought.

I was under the impression that it gave basic details of what credit cards you have and your status over the last 36 months+(?), but apparently not.

i.e. (made-up details)
HSBC Bank - Card Services..........Credit Card
Status History 00000000000
In the last 36 months of account activity,the number of status 1-2 is 1 and the number of status 3+ is 0

Am I right in assuming that lenders see your repayment history, card limits etc for the last year when they search?

One bit mentions who the card is with, the present balance, the card limit etc.
Another part shows my entire payment history for the last 12 months, so if I've been paying just above the minimum payment on one card and paying far more onto another, it gives full details of that (although in the case of my Cap1 card, I made 3-4 payments in one month and these appear as separate months/ lines with no actual mention of exactly when they were made although the most recent is at the top).

e.g.
Status code: 0
Balance: £318
Payment Amount:: £0
Previous Statement Balance: £0
Number Of Cash Advances: 0
Amount Of Cash Advances: £0
Payment Code:
Promotional Rate Indicator: N

Current Limit: £xxxx
08/08: £xxxx

Does the full payment history remain on your report even though the card etc is settled? Paid my Sainsbury card off in full a few months ago and even though it says "settled" plus the date, full details of my balance and monthly payments are there.

LeeSouthEast

Yup. Everything you see stays on there for 6 years after settlement. Lenders only get to see what they give though...

Lender 1 gives everything. Payment amounts, number of cash advances, etc. etc. The whole works.

Lender 2 just tells them if you pay on time.

Lender 3 also provides all details so when THEY credit search, can see everything Lender 1 has submitted about you.

Lender 4 is just like Lender 2 though, and can only see that you've paid on time or not. They don't get to see what limits you have and so forth.

With CRA's, the more you put in, the more you get out!

willstewart

Pretty much says to me that snowballing is not worth the effort as at the end of the day, by making small payments, it shows, in effect, the inability to pay.
i.e Lender sees you've paid £48 one month, £42 the next and so on and therefore decides "Obviously, he can't afford more than that on his £2k card so we'll decline him"

Still don't see why a card that has been paid off should have a full payment history attached. It should just say "settled" and have the 00000 etc payment history only.

poorandindenial

They can see it for all lenders that submit info though, so they can see the overpayments. to be honest, if you are meeting minimums then they won't be too worried (and remember they make more money out of minimum payers)

the level of debt against income or level of available debt is more important (having lots of 'spare' debt capacity can be looked at as 'why do they need this then' and they will consider the likely profitability of you eg are you a card tart etc etc) but every lender has their own rules and take different things into account, some will do a more or less indepth conideration