Credit Rating For Soldier 16 November 2010 at 12:03AM in UK armed forces MoneySaving 6 replies 1.8K views

Dasnipa

I have been a serving soldier for 16 years, married for 12 of them and 2 kids. Same bank account which my salary has been paid into for 16 years.

Back in UK after 4 years in Germany, Can't get credit from no one...

I had to take a probationary 3 month sim-card before I could get a contract phone.

Wanted to buy £600 fishing kit for me and the kid for xmas taking advantage of their 12 month intrest free offer = refused.

How can I get a loan or any credit?

You think being in the job we are in you would get cut some slack.

Any advice most welcome.

slummymummyof3

Are you on the electoral register? It is probably due to a lack of credit history that you are having a problem. Try your own bank for a credit card; although not necessarily the most favourable rate, it will allow you to build history alongside registering for the electoral register and having a mobile contract.

peteuk

People with no credit history often find it more difficult to get credit than those with a bad history.

Try a months free subscription to experian to look at your credit file, to see firstly what they are looking at and if there is any information on there that is incorrect.

As for mobile phones, shop around, I have a default on my credit file from O2 (not that they ever told me or billed me....awaiting a lenghtly complaint) but Organge and Vodaphone both gave me a contract phone.

13Kent

Get a credit card - even if it only has a small credit limit (Barclaycard maybe?) buy something on it each month and make sure you pay it off in time. This will help increase your credit rating. Also make sure you are on the electoral roll. You can also apply to add a note onto your credit file to explain your situation. Hope this helps.

Naval_Families_Federation

Good morning Dasnipa,

Sorry to hear about your troubles. Can I direct you to some information on our website that might be helpful to you?

The document entitled ‘Advice for Service Personnel and their Families - How Credit Checking Works Including Credit Card Purchases by Phone and Internet ‘has been put together by the Service Families Task Force and looks at how to improve your credit rating if you have been abroad. The document explains about applying a Notice of Correction to your credit report which may improve your situation.

Unfortunately I cannot post links on this forum yet as I am still a new user, but if you search for the Naval Families Federation website you can then navigate to the document as follows: select Money from the main menu on the left hand side, then on the Money News page it is a link within the fifth article down entitled ‘Living Abroad? Advice on Credit Checks’.

I hope this information is helpful.

Kind regards,
Emma Prince
Marketing & Communication Manager
Naval Families Federation

NFF: Castaway House, 311 Twyford Avenue, Portsmouth, PO2 8RN
Tel: 023 9265 4374
E-mail: [EMAIL="admin@nff.org.uk"][email protected][/EMAIL]

JokerDurden

Naval_Families_Federation wrote: »

Good morning Dasnipa,

Sorry to hear about your troubles. Can I direct you to some information on our website that might be helpful to you?

The document entitled ‘Advice for Service Personnel and their Families - How Credit Checking Works Including Credit Card Purchases by Phone and Internet ‘has been put together by the Service Families Task Force and looks at how to improve your credit rating if you have been abroad. The document explains about applying a Notice of Correction to your credit report which may improve your situation.

Unfortunately I cannot post links on this forum yet as I am still a new user, but if you search for the Naval Families Federation website you can then navigate to the document as follows: select Money from the main menu on the left hand side, then on the Money News page it is a link within the fifth article down entitled ‘Living Abroad? Advice on Credit Checks’.

I hope this information is helpful.

Kind regards,
Emma Prince
Marketing & Communication Manager
Naval Families Federation

NFF: Castaway House, 311 Twyford Avenue, Portsmouth, PO2 8RN
Tel: 023 9265 4374
E-mail: [EMAIL="admin@nff.org.uk"][email protected][/EMAIL]

Just to help the Navy out

http://www.nff.org.uk/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=67&Itemid=80

Naval_Families_Federation

Hello,

Thank you for posting the link JokerDurden! I have requested with MSE that I be allowed to post links so fingers crossed!

Please do bear the NFF in mind should you have any issues or queries you would like to raise.

Kind regards,
Emma Prince
Marketing & Communication Manager
Naval Families Federation

NFF: Castaway House, 311 Twyford Avenue, Portsmouth, PO2 8RN
Tel: 023 9265 4374
E-mail: [EMAIL="admin@nff.org.uk"][email protected][/EMAIL]