Have I broken my Credit Rating?

rawkinrich

Hi all,

At the beginning of this year I paid off all my debts. I signed up with CreditExpert (just the report, not the actual rating) and all looked rosy.

However in the past month I found myself in need of a car. So I applied for a Loan in which I was accepted, then I made the mistake of applying for a credit card a couple of days later in which I was refused. I applied as I thought a credit card would be easier to manage, and I could cancel the loan application.

A few days before buying my car, I scoured the compare car insurance websites and some seperate sites, resulting in around 5 searches of my credit report (!?).

So basically, in the past month I've had a lot of searches, an accepted loan, a refused credit card and a new credit account (for monthly car insurance).

Have I made a mess of my credit rating? I've had a few calls recently from 0845 numbers and withheld numbers, I don't answer them but it turns out the 0845 numbers could be credit agencies or similar as I did a Google search on the number.

Any advice is fantastic.

Many thanks

MrsTinks

No you haven't is the short answer - everyone has to have the odd search and that's fine - your insurance quotes etc are normal too so don't worry - all it means is that you shouldn't really apply for any more credit in the next 3 months - 6 if you can. Your rating may have taken a slight dip but it's really nothing permanent or terrible. All they worry about is a HUGE amount of credit applications etc all at once. I've been turned down for lots of credit cards - so long as you don't keep applying then it's not a problem - leave it a few months

rawkinrich

Excellent thank you for your reply. It is possible that I could pay the loan off in a couple of months, so I will only have had the loan for 3 months.

Will this improve my report/rating?

Thanks again

MrsTinks

Ok without a HUGE lecture in credit ratings... what creditors look for is your ability to MANAGE you debts. So in a perfect world pay off the loan and get a credit card you spend on each month but ALWAYS pay off - having a loan costs you money - spending and paying off a card does not. I have loans, mortgage and credit cards and last time I checked I had a score of 999 - now I only buy that because frankly it amuses me and I like to try and work out how their little calculations work That said - I've been refused credit cards when my score has been over 950 and been accepted for 0% ones when my score has been below 750 - so conclusive proof that it means... absolutely diddly manage your finances - if you do then yoru credit rating means nothing anyway

rawkinrich

Thanks again MrsTine

BigCraigJohn

The perfect candidate imo is someone with a long credit history, some late payments as they make money, lots of long term high balances as they are probably paying more fees for going overlimits and they can warrant upping your aprs therefore making more in interest.
Its probably harder for someone with zilch history than someone with a messy history to get credit. Defaults, ccjs and insolvency on the other hand will prove a definite barrier.

Thats from lots of credit experience(in hindsight bad experience) so use credit carefully and for emergencies or essentials only.

For the record I recently got accepted for a business card with an ok interest rate + an accout despite having a default and over 90 late markers in the last 3 years(record?, probably not). I'm not proud of it but we live and learn

But this was with my own bank and I do put a lot of money through my account.