credit score

carlos700

I have applied for a couple of new things just recently a credit card and a loan i know it is not good to apply for to much but i could not understand why i was turned down twice.I deceided to get my credit score from Equifax it said i had a low score because even though there was nothing to major there was lots and lots of 1 month late in paying a credit card ,and two other store cards.I cannot believe it as my payments on these cards are like £5 and £10 i just forget sometimes to pay them so the company gets payment alittle late.My question is i intend to put my store cards balances onto one credit card so i know where i am also have it direct debit but how long will i have to wait for my credit score to improve.I cannot apply for any 0% credit cards because i know at present i will get turned down i long shall i wait ?

moozie_2

Hi there

I disagree with you. Whether the payments are for £5, £10 or 50p, if you are late in making them, you will be marked down on your credit file.

Make sure you meet all your minimum payments at least on time for at least 3 months before you try again. Also make sure you are on the electoral roll and if you have moved frequently or just recently that can count against you too.

Best of luck

carlos700

Thanks for reply what i mean to say i cannot believe myself that i have not been paying things on time and they are really low payments.I have only myself to blame do i only have to wait 3 months then my score will be better?

moozie_2

3 months as a minimum, possibly longer, I don't know hiw damaged your records are

Just make sure everything is paid on time and then you can ask your existing companies to offer you better deals too. That's also an option

CLAPTON

more importantly why do you need additional loans/credits cards?
have you considerd clearing your debts off completely and living within your income... that way you pay no interest and hence have more of your own money to spend.

kevin_M

clapton is right. just look at the mess i got into

what i would do is sit down and just look at the intrest you pay every month and then work out what extra you could get with that money.

when banks see 1s on credit reports they dont like it. they love the green 0. 1ns normaly makes the bank think this person is starting to have problems if we give him credit hes going to start the default route.

im not saying debt is a bad thing in some ways it can be good.

file_wizzard

Generally payment history will be shown for a minimum of 36 months, and potentially for as long as 72 months, any late payments will have the same adverse effect regardless of amount, i.e 3 late payments of £1.00 will have the same reporting marks as 3 late payments of £100.00.

most lenders will want to see at least 12 months of no arrears, and all payments on time, however generally if you have any "serious" late payments ( i.e over 3 months missed) in the last 36 months then this will have a very negative impact on your "score"

carlos700

thanks everyone for your advice.I have not had any serious late payments(3 months or more)there is about 6-7 one month lates which i know also is not good.I was shopping around for credit cards with 0% as mine is running out so i am going to be stuck now with expensive APR until i can get decent credit again ,thats why i wanted to know how long would i have to wait until i can shop around again.Would you leave it 12 month or longer.

msmicawber

I found that when I paid my CC bills by cheque or even in cash at the bank (same bank that issued the CC) the payments often took many days to be credited to my account causing late payments. I pointed out to them that it was their own inefficiency that was causing this, but got short shrift. In the end I set up standing orders for these things to that I could never forget and so the money would be credited more quickly. That did the trick.

frugglewump

carlos700 wrote:

thanks everyone for your advice.I have not had any serious late payments(3 months or more)there is about 6-7 one month lates which i know also is not good.I was shopping around for credit cards with 0% as mine is running out so i am going to be stuck now with expensive APR until i can get decent credit again ,thats why i wanted to know how long would i have to wait until i can shop around again.Would you leave it 12 month or longer.

I would leave it 6 months. You might be able to get a 0% offer then and if you can't then the search will have dropped off before the next one at a year.

In the meantime though perhaps you should look at the life-of-balance offers so you're not paying full whack for a year. When you do this rather depends on how many applications you've made recently.

carlos700

My lloyds TSB Platinum credit card say they will do a balance transfer of 7.9 for the life of the balance is this a good deal.I get really confused on APR.Does anyone know how much my monthly payments will be for 4000 balance?