Credit trouble

richard750923

I am unable to get credit and have been for a number of years.

About 3 years ago I borrowed 10,000 to buy a car. after a few days borrowers remorse stepped in and I cancelled the loan and returned the money to my bank (I have banked with them since I was a child). Instead I bought a car for £2500 from savings. Ever since this occurred I have been unable to get credit in any shape or form.

I am in full time employment earning 24,000 with total outgoings of aproximately £500 per month excluding fuel to get to and from work(I'll talk about this later). I have a single credit card with the same bank with an outstanding balance of £920 and a £1000 limit. This is my only credit other than an overdraft facility.

Last september I went over my overdraft limit by £20 for 2 days. This is the only time in the last 5 years that this has happened. I have never missed a payment on my credit card or mobile phone contract. I also applied for a virgin 0% (balance transfers) card at about the same time to replace my current credit card. I was refused and told that my current borrowing exceeded my ablility to make repayments.

I started a new job in september with a round trip commute of 42 miles. My current car does an inefficient 18 miles to the gallon on a good day and is currently costing my about £300 per month in fuel alone. I need to change my car. This weekend I applied for a loan on my banks website of £6,000 and was refused based upoin my credit report score. I decided to check my credit report.

I was suprised to see the £10000 loan on my credit report with no account status and status history. It does however say settled in the balance column. The following was the only status information the creditexpert site gives against it:

" The lender cannot give the account a status code for this month. This may be at the start of the credit agreement when the lender is allowing time for the account to be set up, when you are waiting for goods to be delivered, when you have received the goods but payment is not due to start immediately; when there is a dispute over the payments due or the goods received, or when the account is not being used."

Is this effecting my credit rating?

Other than this there is nothing unexpected on my credit report but my credit score is only 708! CredtExpert state the following 2 negative effects on my score:

1 ."You have several credit agreements (excluding mortgages), and the outstanding balance is high." - My total debt (not including my overdraft which I am only using about 10% of atm) is £920. Is the £10,000 loan counting against me?

2. "You are not on the electoral roll (registered to vote) at your current address." - bit of a balls up but I have recently moved and inbetween tiling floors and building kitchens I just forgot about it and its effects. I have started the registering process now.

Thanks in advance and sorry this got a bit long but I thought the more information I provided the better the advice.

Rich

Burlesque_Babe

not being on the electoral register is a big negative when applying for credit.

Credit scores don't mean a thing - they are basically a made up number from a generalisation when looking at what is on your credit file.

The fact you took a loan will stay on your record for 6 years, the fact it says satisfied shouldn't affect your credit applications.

You need to write to the lender and ask them to check they have marked your credit file correctly as if it still has a balance of £10,000 then there has been an error made somewhere.

It is probably a combination of the outstanding balance on the loan account and because you aren't on the electoral register which are going to be your stumbling blocks to sort out.

stephane_2

If it does say settled on your credit file then that should not be the problem, not being on the electoral roll is.
Have you checked your report on Equifax as well? you need to ensure that both CRA have the same information, not all lenders will search or report to the same CRA. Looking at your salary, level of debt then you should find it quite easy to get a credit card or loan. Make sure as well that all your addresses have been updated with your lenders if you have moved recently. Once you've done all that, make sure all your reports (Equifax & Experian) are up to date with Electoral roll, addresses then you should be able to apply again but that might take a couple of months

sulkisu

Pay off the £920 on your credit card. If you have had this balance for a long time, it looks as if you can't afford to clear it.