Credit scoring/rating

jon32

Hello,

I am new here but have been readin lots in the past couple of days. Is it true that if I miss a credit card payment then it will be shown in the credit report and will affect me badly ?

And how long will this bad mark last? Do they wipe out after a while?

After reading lots of pages here, I feel my situation is not too rosy:

- I am not homeowner
- I am self-employed
- I have CCJ (although all paid off)
- I have skipped a few card monthly payments recently ( and they canceled it as I went over the limit ) but I have repaid everyhitng and they told me it would not affect my scoring - I read different here...

What can I do to rebuild my score? I am checking now with all 3 agencies as I am determined to get back on track. I guess first I need to know where I stand....

Any suggestions what I sould do straight away? I paid off CCJs, how can I have them removed or at least show that are paid off? Are these what is affecting me really bad? Are they bad even when paid off and how long for?

Thanks

Jon

linniestorm

Welcome Jon32!!! I'm afraid you'll just have to wait for your late payments to drop off your credit file. Not too sure how long this will take, don't know if its 6 years where late payments are concerned or more like 2.

Really the only way to rebuild your score is to service all your debts efficiently from now on. Don't make late payments etc. I went through a period of doing that this time last year, but when I appled for a 0% card in June I was accepted so don't think it's the be all and end all.

The CCJ if its been paid in full should be showing as satisfied on your credit report (I think ,although you might have to apply through the court to get a certificate or something to show its satisfied, someone else will I'm sure be able to clarify this for you) but it won't drop off your credit file for 6 years. Nothing you can do about this unfortunately.

It probably will knock your ability to get credit for a while (and being self-employed may not help either) but if you go forward from here positively and try and stay on top of things hopefully you should find it a bit easier in future. Best of luck. If you are experiencing problems with debt have you posted your SOA (see SouthernScouser's sticky post at the top of the forum) and people might be able to give you further advice if you need it based on that.

elizw

it is 12 months - also any defaults or severe late payments shown from before that - as long as you have paid it off then you have no outstanding balances so that is good - some credit cards dont even reveal their customers details - I think I was told once - to keep their customers for themselves.

if you can show 6 months with no late payments that is good and have an explanation for your problems in the past.

anyway - why do you want credit -

YorkshireBoy

elizw wrote:

it is 12 months...

What is?

Credit information (ie payment history, credit limit, default amount, etc) stays on your file for 6 years from the date of 'settlement'.

CCJ's remain on your file for 6 years as well.

For further information, download Experian's 'Your credit report explained*' booklet from http://www.experian.co.uk/consumer/index.html

* This booklet is also sent with your £2 statutory report.

Mike_St_Helens

Hello ! Im a bit of an expert/buff on this so i hope i can help...

Your missed payment will show on your file as eg: 00001000 for 12 months, then will be simply a narrative for 3 years. Not the 6 years as stated, this is for more 'important' info such as dflts, ccj, and the stature of the account itself.

CCJ, yeah paid off, good... still is there for 6 years and slightly frowned upon .. How much is it for?

If im wrong, please correct me... please feel free to PM me if you need info.. please try also to put a note on my new thread...

Mike xx

YorkshireBoy

Mike_St_Helens wrote:

Your missed payment will show on your file as eg: 00001000 for 12 months, then will be simply a narrative for 3 years. Not the 6 years as stated, this is for more 'important' info such as dflts, ccj, and the stature of the account itself.

Mike, you're quite correct on the 6 years being reserved for the more serious defaults, but as to the 'narrative' and 'payment history' it depends which CRA file you're looking at.

For example, Experian report my mortgage info as...

000000000000

In the last 36 months of account activity, the number of status 1-2 is 0 and the number of status 3+ is 0.

Whereas Equifax report the same info as...

000000000000000000000000000000000000

ie 36 months of actual data with no narrative.

NB: This information was taken from my £2 statutory reports. The online systems may be a little different.

Mike_St_Helens

Hey YB, your quite right.

Still I think 'normal' info is ony for 3Y and serious for 6Y, Just depends on how the CRA report it.

YorkshireBoy

Mike_St_Helens wrote:

Hey YB, your quite right.

Still I think 'normal' info is ony for 3Y and serious for 6Y, Just depends on how the CRA report it.

I concur, but I've just realised another 'problem' with incurring loads of late payments. I'd be interested to hear your views on the following scenario...

Say you run up a few late payments, and then cancel the card. The last 36 months of payment history would be visible for a very long time (4-6 years) to prospective new lenders when they searched your file.

However, keeping the card open and using it would mean that these 'late payments' wouldn't be shown (in any shape or form - either in the narrative or the '1' '2' '3' payment history fields) after 36 months had elapsed.

So, providing you haven't defaulted, it's best to keep a 'late payment' account open. Would you agree?

Arch-Angel

YorkshireBoy wrote:

I concur, but I've just realised another 'problem' with incurring loads of late payments. I'd be interested to hear your views on the following scenario...

Say you run up a few late payments, and then cancel the card. The last 36 months of payment history would be visible for a very long time (4-6 years) to prospective new lenders when they searched your file.

However, keeping the card open and using it would mean that these 'late payments' wouldn't be shown (in any shape or form - either in the narrative or the '1' '2' '3' payment history fields) after 36 months had elapsed.

So, providing you haven't defaulted, it's best to keep a 'late payment' account open. Would you agree?

A very good point - the fact that someone had late payment problems in 2002 would have disappeared if the credit account was still active (and now being paid on time!) - yet if the account was closed in 2004, then those late payments show up until the actual credit entry drops from your credit file.

This can't a fair way of doing things! What do the experts out there think?

file_wizzard

In short all account payment data is recorded for a minimum of 6 years, some lenders chose to only publish the last 36 months of Account data, however many will publish the full 72 Months.

The relevance of whether the data is shown on the numerical history trail or additional information is specific to the product you apply for, i.e some creditors will only be interested in the last 36 months of repayments for something like a current account, however the same creditor may search the entire 6 years for a mortgage product.

With regards to defaults and CCJ’s these will stay on your file for the full six years from the date of issue, not satisfaction or otherwise.

The point with regards to keeping an account with a poor payment history open for as long as possible is also correct. In theory credit file information can stay on your file for up to 11 years and 11 months, i.e if you had and account which you had missed 3 payments on up until this month, you then repaid these but left the account open for a further 5 years and 11 months and then closed it, the data would show for a total of 11 years and 11 months until the account naturally expired from your file 6 years from the date of final satisfaction / closure.