Credit Score has dropped

no_cally_doe

I know your credit score is generally a made up number as often has little resemblance to your actual report, I had defaulted years ago on three accounts when I was a student. Two have dropped of the account, and after a couple of years of sub prime cards I managed to build up from a score of 640ish to around 870. I currently applied for an MBNA platinum card and was accepted with £2300 limit so I reduced my current barclay card limit to £1000.

I made another application to nationwide because I wanted a card for abroad but was declined just after MBNA (I know I got greedy) My score has now dropped to 730!!! Again I know it doesn't always reflect on the report itself but its got me concerned.

Looking to apply for a mortgage soon, report looks in decent shape no missed payments in the last three years two credit cards which I pay on time in full. My question is has my recent tinkering with new cards etc spoiled my report and how mortgage lenders will view it.

Sorry for the epic post and long winded description to get my point across.

Thanks for the advice:beer:

Joeler

Who did both of these search with? Experian, Equifax or both? I won't really mention callcredit as these two are by far the most widely used.
More than a couple of searches in quick succesion may not be favourable to some lenders. Best to wait a few months at least if you can, or why not speak to a mortgage broker with copies of your most recent reports in front of you to ask their advice?

NickX

no_cally_doe wrote: »

I know your credit score is generally a made up number

Why bother with the score then ? Surely its a waste of money.

no_cally_doe wrote: »

I reduced my current barclay card limit to £1000.

Not a good move IMO. Other lenders look at your existing limits when deciding how much to lend to you. They have no way of knowing that you voluntarily reduced this limit. Generally if they see a well run account with a decent limit, they are more likely to lend to you and may even match that limit.

no_cally_doe wrote: »

I made another application to nationwide because I wanted a card for abroad but was declined just after MBNA (I know I got greedy)

Don't worry too much about this. Your report won't show that you were declined, it will simply show another search. Within a couple of months this won't make any difference.

no_cally_doe wrote: »

Looking to apply for a mortgage soon

Maybe best to hold off anymore applications until you get your mortgage sorted.

no_cally_doe

Thanks for the replies, both searches were done by experian but its the only two I have made in the past year.

NickX, you are right scores are a waste of money I am going to stop even worrying or looking at them.

I don't tend to make any other credit applications as I am happy with the MBNA for now so no problem there. I knew I shouldn't have decreased my barclaycard limit, Damn it. Hopefully if anything negative comes back from the mortgage I will at least have a healthy report to show them if they need convincing. Fingers crossed.

NickX

no_cally_doe wrote: »

NickX, you are right scores are a waste of money I am going to stop even worrying or looking at them.

For the best I think.

no_cally_doe wrote: »

I knew I shouldn't have decreased my barclaycard limit, Damn it.

Don't worry too much about it, lots of people on here seem to like decreasing limits. They see the high limit as a temptation to spend. I just think having a high limit does not mean you HAVE to use it, its just a useful facility and proves to other lenders that you can manage large limits without problem.

no_cally_doe wrote: »

Hopefully if anything negative comes back from the mortgage I will at least have a healthy report to show them if they need convincing. Fingers crossed.

Good Luck with the Mortgage, with a decent credit history I think you'll be fine :beer:

no_cally_doe

Thanks NickX,

I think the thing with quite high limits is I know I'm not going to use them. I like to have a card for making safer purchases not to use all of the available amount. You are right I don't have the temptation to use it so should have just left it alone.

Perhaps a lesson learned in leaving things alone when there's no need to change them

Cheers