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Credit Score Advice

Hi all, first post here and after some advice.

I'm 27 and after several years of being very careless with money I've built myself an appalling credit history dispite earning resonable money.

I started sorting everything out a year ago and as of December, I have no credit cards, no overdraft and have not gone overdrawn at all. I am now completely debit free and have 4k in the bank, I am also saving monthly.

Is there anything positive I can do now to repair my credit history fairly quickly, I have a couple of satisfied defaults and have paid 1000's in bank charges over the years so it doesn't make pretty reading.....I'm not looking to take any credit out until a mortgage ideally in 1-2 years time??

Sorry for the rambling and thanks in advance for any advice.

Rob
:)

Comments

  • DarkConvict
    DarkConvict Posts: 6,338 Forumite
    1,000 Posts Combo Breaker
    Your defaults will like anything on your file last for 6 years from the date they were placed, settled or unsettled they have a negative affect as they show the contract was broken. As a rule of thumb they have less affect once settled and over 3 years old but the improvement will only really come once they are over 6 years old, unless your creditor (bank) is only checking your last 3 years of credit history.

    For a mortgage they will likely check the full 6 years and as such you will not get a great deal until those defaults come off. Default, CCJ etc will put you in the sub prime credit category giving you a higher risk rating so higher interest rates.

    In the meantime continue to make full payments on any credit cards and do not miss any payments, so that you have lots of green ticks on the report showing you can borrow money and repay it without a problem.

    MSE Guide - http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/loans/credit-rating-credit-score
    Although no trees were harmed during the creation of this post, a large number of electrons were greatly inconvenienced.

    There are two ways of constructing a software design: One way is to make it so simple that there are obviously no deficiencies, and the other way is to make it so complicated that there are no obvious deficiencies
  • Thanks, I've had a read of the link.

    I heard that one thing to do is take out a credit card, us it one a month for small purchases, pay it off straight away and this quickly builds some good credit behavior which lenders would look on favorably??
  • WRINKLES
    WRINKLES Posts: 817 Forumite
    500 Posts
    i would keep saving untill your score improves before thinking about a mortgage lucky you
    GRADUATED FIRST CLASS WITH HONORS FROM THE SCHOOL OF HARD KNOCKS RECOMENDED READ IF BY RUDYARD KIPLING
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