Ex- Credit Analyst - Throw your Credit & Underwriting Q's at me.

Mike_St_Helens

littlestar1981 wrote:

Here's one for you on credit scoring:

I sent off to my local council to get my address updated on the electoral roll. They sent me a letter back confirming it had been updated... but somewhere in between decided I couldn't spell my own first name so changed it :mad: I have told them to amend it but it still shows up with the wrong spelling on my experian credit file.

It might sound a silly question, but would my first name being spelt wrong (on electoral roll only) affect my ability to get credit?

Oh, and while I'm at it, once my joint account with my ex is closed is his name removed completely from my credit file?

yes and no...

MAKE SURE they amend this, it wont affect the score simply bacause it is spelt incorrectly, most good lenders software will notice this, but some companies may simply assume you are not on the voters roll as it is spelt different.

With the joint account, if this shows on your credit file, once it has been closed then he will no loner be financially linked... for 6 yers im afraid, however if the account does not report then if it is due to a serch it would be 12 months, depends on the bank really. I would cal the credit agency and ask.

Mike_St_Helens

moneywaster wrote:

hiya
im in the process of clearing all my debt!! in my student days i was late a few times paying my credit card but never missed a pyment- i have now a poor credit rating-will this improve cos im thinking about getting a morgatge soon with my bf!

If you have only been a day or 2 late then it shouldnt affect you too much, why do you think you have a poor rating, there must me more behind this...

Mike

ccjbegone

I have a couple of questions for you.

A nasty CCJ (2.5K, student loan i "forgot" to pay when I was younger and more foolish) has just dropped off my credit files after 6 *long* years. I immediately celebrated by applying for a Virgin credit card... and promptly got rejected

So i got copies of my reports and quickly realiased that I was not on the electoral roll at my new address (i'm a tenant and moved in 10 months ago and I thought my flatmate had sorted it out. She hadn't). So i was lucky to catch the very last opportunity to get on the register this year, have registered and let Experian and Equifax know that I'm on it - this week I had notification that I had been added. Hurrah!

I have 3 credit accounts (Cap One CC with £400 limit, loan with my bank, only 1 payment left of £69 to pay this month, and a loan of £4K I took out with Welcome about 10 months ago) and the repayment history on all of them is flawless. MY CRs show me on the ER of my last address for the past 3 years. So on paper, I think i'm on the right track. I have *DREAMED* of owning a standard high-street credit card and have worked hard to bring my credit files up to standard. My questions are:

1. It only looks like I have been on the ER at my present address for 1 month - is this too early to apply for a card?
2. Will CC companies know that I used to have a CCJ on my file and reject me for that? eg. if I applied with one of them a couple of years ago? I'm used to having it there for so long I am paranoid now :-(
3. Do I need to worry about the single card application i made a month ago? And I also have a few searches (for loans) from the beginning of the year?
4. My outstanding debt is in total about £4.5K and I earn £40k per annum - how might this affect my approval probability? With my rent and outgoings I have a debt-to-income ratio of 18% - is that too high?

Thanks!

Mike_St_Helens

Hi there,

OK, Does your file show 3-4 years of VR in total?

Also, Did you ask Virgin why they declined you? I know they are non judgemental underwriters so they can tell you exactly why and you can reason with their explination.

Your CCJ wont show on the file as you are aware, however, if you applied for a card/loan within the 12 months prior to the CCJ dropping off then they may have the old application on screen for viewing and can see this... if it was old and satisfied though that shouldnt affect you. I really would call and ask, if they say credit score - demand a more specific answer.

18% ratio is VVVV good, have you ever posted an SOA on this site, im sure lynz and ss could reduce that debt within a week or tows worth of payments !

Mike

kafka_2

Mike,
Thanks for the answer on my other thread. I may be needing your help a bit to decide the right option for me.

Here's one for you. I got to see my credit file via a free trial at creditexpert. This was quite usefull to see my file. It has all the people I owe money to except my first direct bank account which shows up as a current account with £500 overdraft but I also have a personal loan with them which only has a couple of months to run but this does not show, what is the reason for this?

Thanks in advance

ccjbegone

Mike_St_Helens wrote:

Hi there,

OK, Does your file show 3-4 years of VR in total?



Also, Did you ask Virgin why they declined you? I know they are non judgemental underwriters so they can tell you exactly why and you can reason with their explination.

They said there was "no bad stuff but not enough good stuff" which I thought was a nice way to let me down gently

Your CCJ wont show on the file as you are aware, however, if you applied for a card/loan within the 12 months prior to the CCJ dropping off then they may have the old application on screen for viewing and can see this... if it was old and satisfied though that shouldnt affect you. I really would call and ask, if they say credit score - demand a more specific answer.

18% ratio is VVVV good, have you ever posted an SOA on this site, im sure lynz and ss could reduce that debt within a week or tows worth of payments !


Mike

First of all a big THANKS to you :-) You deserve about a 1000 pints for this free advice

Ok - I have full electoral roll going back 3 years - the ER at my current address is only for the last month though, and I moved in 10 months ago. The ER info at my last address takes me up to last month though - will that overlap be Ok?

Re: Virgins explanation, they said there was "no bad stuff but not enough good stuff" which I thought was a nice way to let me down gently . I'm going to call them back with the Electoral Roll information - let's see what they say.

The reason for the low debt-to-income ratio is that I currently pay discounted rent at my mates flat that that she is currently redecorating. If I was paying the normal rate i calculated it at 24% - is that still OK?

Locana

Hi Mike,
My friend has a CCJ from March 02, which is nearly paid off and a default from 2004 which has been settled. Her credit report show lots of greens and she has paid everything on time for the last two/three years. What are her chances of getting a mortgage as she is interested in buying her council flat?? She says that it has been a little easier being accepted for credit lately, albeit high interest loans etc, which she has not taken..

Thanks!!

Wannabe_Moneysaver_3

Hi, I'm new to this site and having read several threads I wish I'd discovered it a long time ago. Still better late than never, so here goes. I hope you can shed some light on this for me and please excuse me if this is a rather long post.

I've had an Egg credit card for several years now and apart from the odd charge for exceeding my limit (only by a couple of £s at the most, and usually at Xmas) I've always paid over the minimum payment on time.
I thought I was on their standard APR of around 16.9% however when I was checking my account online I noticed it had increased to a whopping 21.9% without them telling me.
I contacted them to ask why my rate was so high and when had it changed and this is the reply they sent me.

"Your new rate of 21.9% has been changed to reflect the relationship you have with Egg. Our assessment of your position includes an understanding of your borrowing outside of Egg and also takes into consideration information made available via external credit reference agencies."

I have had credit problems with another company which could not be resolved with them and ended up with me currently having a CCJ, and I do have an overdraft and a couple of store cards but I have a regular reasonable salary and the other cards are all upto date with payments. Although I know my CCJ will be on file with the credit reference agencies, I didn't think they informed other creditors of actual details they hold. My current debt with Egg is just under £10,000 so the interest each month is a huge amount and due to my CCJ there's no point in me looking around for a loan or another card with a lower APR.

Can Egg increase their interest rate so much without informing me and do you have any advice of what I should do next?

Yours hopefully.

Mike_St_Helens

Wannabe_Moneysaver wrote:

Hi, I'm new to this site and having read several threads I wish I'd discovered it a long time ago. Still better late than never, so here goes. I hope you can shed some light on this for me and please excuse me if this is a rather long post.

I've had an Egg credit card for several years now and apart from the odd charge for exceeding my limit (only by a couple of £s at the most, and usually at Xmas) I've always paid over the minimum payment on time.
I thought I was on their standard APR of around 16.9% however when I was checking my account online I noticed it had increased to a whopping 21.9% without them telling me.
I contacted them to ask why my rate was so high and when had it changed and this is the reply they sent me.

"Your new rate of 21.9% has been changed to reflect the relationship you have with Egg. Our assessment of your position includes an understanding of your borrowing outside of Egg and also takes into consideration information made available via external credit reference agencies."

I have had credit problems with another company which could not be resolved with them and ended up with me currently having a CCJ, and I do have an overdraft and a couple of store cards but I have a regular reasonable salary and the other cards are all upto date with payments. Although I know my CCJ will be on file with the credit reference agencies, I didn't think they informed other creditors of actual details they hold. My current debt with Egg is just under £10,000 so the interest each month is a huge amount and due to my CCJ there's no point in me looking around for a loan or another card with a lower APR.

Can Egg increase their interest rate so much without informing me and do you have any advice of what I should do next?

Yours hopefully.

Sorry they are correct, They are charging you ectra incase you cost them nmore money ie: default etc etc...

Sorry....

There is little you can do unless you have an existing account with a lower rate.. have you missed payments elsewhere

sazzler

Thats great thanks mike

xx