Some advice on Improving Credit Score Faster

d11wtq

Hi,

Haven't posted here much since my lightbulb moment in Feb but I'm pleased to say I'm making progress with my debts and I haven't missed a single payment. I'm not exactly finding it a breeze to get by and have literally been out once a month where I would have gone out once a week before but I'm feeling good about myself because however slowly things are moving the numbers are still shrinking What feels great is that one of my £50 per month debts will be completely finished after two more payments (I'll pay the left over £20 in the last month) That means I have an extra £50 in my pocket but I'm not even thinking about that, I'm thinking about how much faster I can make the other numbers shrink by using that £50.

On to my next question. Up until Feb I was in a heck of a mess. Unpaid bills of up to 5 months, most of my debts sold onto collection agencies (I have to say I have a lot of respect for Fredrickson International for actually being nice and helpful). I'm concious that my credit score must look, well, poor to say the least (I'd been in that state on and off for a good 3 years).

Now that I'm making that little bit of progress I think I should start thinking about improving my credit rating. Someone has advised me to get a credit card but I'm NOT doing that (I doubt I'd even be accepted). As much as I now think I could trust myself I don't want the temptation.

What I was wondering however is these pre-paid credit cards you can get from the post office. You just add funds yourself so you don;t spend what you haven't got. Would those be irrelevant in credit scoring?

Also, the River Island card I have has been paid on time ever since I got the thing, but other more significant debts have been in arrears for a long time. I still have a halifax VISA card that is over it's limit but I have an agreement with the Halifax to pay it at £50 per month until it's back in it's limit. That needs to be under £500 before anything major is going to happen to my credit score I know.

Does anybody have any tips for people with bad debts to improve their credit rating as fast as possible? Is it possible to even get a decent(ish) credit score when some of my debts are in the hands of debt collection companies rather than with the original creditors?

Cheers