Credit Record Help

HeyHeyMyMy

Apologies if this is not in the right section of the board, but I was wondering if somebody could give me some advice please.

A good number of years ago I had some serious money issues, much of it brought on by my own stupidity and naivety (I was 19 and didn’t fully understand the consequences of cancelling direct debits or not paying things). As a result I ended up with some 8 defaults to my name and I have, obviously, found getting credit a serious issue.

However, that was almost 6 years ago and I have since paid everything in full and on time. Last week the first of the defaults fell off my record. Over the next 6 months the remaining 7 will also fall off.

In spite of this I don’t feel as though my record is getting any cleaner. Categorically speaking my record should be squeaky clean by March, not a default on there. There were no CCJ’s, defaults were as bad as it got (and all of them were paid eventually, albeit after the default had been served).

Now, strictly speaking, for the last 5 and ½ years I’m as good a credit risk as there is, for someone who lives with their parents (incidentally, I wouldn’t be living with my parents if my credit was squeaky clean – that’s where all this is leading!), yet my bank won’t give me an overdraft because of ‘Affordability’. I don’t actually want an overdraft, I don’t need one, but I used it as a method of checking how I was seen through the eyes of a lender. If my own bank won’t give me an overdraft despite seeing that the balance is always healthy (there’s never less than a few thousand in my current account) and everything is paid on time then what hope have I got of getting a mortgage?

Basically my question, or rather questions, is this:
Am I suffering because of my past mistakes? If so, will I see a sudden improvement of who will and won’t offer me credit when that last default drops off? What difference does six months make to these people? Surely 5 ½ years of clean credit isn’t much behind 6? Do I just need to be completely free of the default notices?
Or
Am I suffering because of the economic climate? I don’t want to live at home anymore; not that it’s not nice, it is, and I have no problems with my parents, but I’m 25 and have been with my girlfriend for 5 years + and it’s time to settle down and build for the future. But realistically would I be (or rather we – her record is clean, but she earns a lot less than me) accepted for a mortgage? I haven’t gone through the rigmarole of applying for one purely because I found it difficult to get credit for much less.

My main concern is that I wait until March when I have no defaults and find nothing’s changed. Could somebody please advise? Thanks in advance.

3Dogs

Not an expert on his I'm afraid but are the defaults the only things on your credit file? Do you have good things on their too? Like mibile phone contract? Loan that is perfectly fine? Bank details?

I ask this because lenders look at how you are managing your current debt as well as your past debt. Some people are refused credit becasue they did not use credit before, odd though that may seem

If you have no 'good' recorded on there, it is sometimes advised to apply for one of the 'build your credit rating' card available now (Cap 1 do one, as do Vanqu*s) and use it each month BUT IT MUST BE CLEARED IN TOTAL EACH MONTH TOO - this establishes that you can handle credit now - BUT only do this if you are certain that you can handle the card and not get into new debt problems with it

Hope that helps but I am sure that more qualified people will be along to confirm this (or not)