Am i nearly mainstream?

nearlysorted

:hello: Hello all, Whilst being on maternity leave have had a bit of time on my hands so been sorting my life out while quietly lurking around here!
I would like to start my post by thanking you all for your posts i have had my eyes opened by all of your invaluable (for the most part!) posts.
Now for my question......
Am i or will i soon be nearly mainstream lender material? as come march time i will be looking to take out a loan for say £5000 to pay off all debts and consolidate to one payment.
My current state of affairs are this..
Income £19500 plus tax credits hubby's income is about £20000, he was declared bankrupt nearly 3 years ago which is where one of the debts have come from (dad took out a loan for him to start his own business) which we want to pay.
I have spent the last 18 mths building my own credit history, i have one default due to drop off in March 11 (which i didn't even know about till i checked my credit report) for £117.
I have a Vanquis gold card, limit £2250 balance £1400, i am going to spend the next 3 months paying this off! had this card for approx 16 months
Capital one card, limit £900 balance £500 had about same length of time, and have recently got an aqua card, limit £350 balance about £150
then i also have a santander current account, had this for about 4 years, and this has a £250 o/d that i occasionally use and one catologue which i use once a year to buy personalised pyjamas for my kids! i pay this off straight away, then finally 2 mobile contracts (mine and hubbys) . Now all my cc's have been paid on time each month and i have lots of nice green dots accross my credit reports:D. Yesterday i moved hubby from our joint account as i understand that may hinder my application (felt quite rotten about this but hey ho!)
Is there anything else i can do to become attractive to mainstream lenders? be it a 0% cc or a loan. And lastly what is the best company to approach?
Thanks in advance for any help which will be most greatly appreciated:)

Jammi

Welcome to the forum

You appear to have a good number of credit agreements in place and only one default. As mainstream goes I would say you're there or at least nearly there. Only my opinion of course.

You should definitely hold fire on making any mainstream applications until you have confirmed, by checking your file, that the default has fallen off in march. You are also close to the limits on your existing cards and you will need to bring the balances down considerably to be attractive to mainstream lenders. If taking you hubby of your joint account "de-links" him from your credit file all the better for future applications.

A good place to start with applications would be Santander, since you've already got a current account with them. Tesco and MBNA might also be a good option.

A good strategy that some have had sucess with is to identify two or three cards that you would like to apply for, and make online applications on the same day within a short space of each other. Before each one sees the search of the other. With a bit of luck you'll get all three.

Again, just my opinion.

nearlysorted

Thanks for your advice Jammi.
I am certainley going to concentrate on bringing my balances on my existing cc's down, figured i have until March to do this before i apply.

BognorBoy

Hello there,

In theory taking your husband off your joint account may help but you will still appear as financally linked for upto 5 years on your credit file.

The main problem that people have is that each lending company has a different lending critiea. Some may not look at you at all because your husband is a previous bankrupt (this seams to be a bit few and far between) where as some may not see it as an issue as you are looking to borrow, not him, and that you no longer have joint finances together.

As the previous person said, have a list of people to apply to and while making applications for lots of credit can effect some lenders desisions (different companies, diffirent underwriting) if you make a few application in a quick susession it may not appear on the credit file before the next company checks later that day. Make sure that you only apply for anything before that default is cleared. Also when you say that default should come off your file... what do you mean by that? how long ago was it? As that again could have an impact.

nearlysorted

Hi Bognorboy,
Thanks for your reply
The default was registered in March 2005 so drops off March this year. When i found out about it, i was going to pay the £117 but, as far as i understood that would make the default last another 6 years from when i acknowledged it? So have left it to drop off.
Would anyone by any chance know what companies will not worry about my husband being "linked" I feel even worse now having taken him off and still might not get anywhere:(

ironlady2022

I agree with BornorBoy, taking your Husband off the joint account delinks you in theory but I use to work in a bank and they would take into consideration the people living in your household plus you are financially linked as you are man and wife. Do you go into our bank often? Usually at the counter they will flog you loans and credit cards. If you have been with them long enough, some banks will use an internal scoring system as they have your banking history (this may only work if you have salaries and direct debits going in and out), in which case they can guarantee. If you are borderline, just be upfront and honest with the Advisor!

BognorBoy

nearlysorted wrote: »

Hi Bognorboy,
Thanks for your reply
The default was registered in March 2005 so drops off March this year. When i found out about it, i was going to pay the £117 but, as far as i understood that would make the default last another 6 years from when i acknowledged it? So have left it to drop off.
Would anyone by any chance know what companies will not worry about my husband being "linked" I feel even worse now having taken him off and still might not get anywhere:(

Unfortunately none of the credit companies reveil their credit scoring system as that would open them to abuse and people working round their scoring system.

I would say that if it does not really make any difference to you to not share any joint fiance with your husband and then it should not impact you just in case but I dont think it will make too much difference anyway.

All I would say is that credit companies are now being very harsh with their desisions and where as even 2 years ago they may have allowed a few 1's on your credit file they are now expecting complete clear records.

Dont let any of the above put you off, apply to a few companies as discussed before and if they do give you a loan then great, if not then leave it another 6 months before applying again!

nearlysorted

I called Santander today, just to transfer some money to my other account, i thought while i was on the phone i would ask when they report to credit agencies and what my credit score was/is. She said they haven't done reports since i took hubby off and with both of us on there our score was 691. Is this likely to go up next month after having hubby taken off? And is this a really bad score? Can't seem to find anything on here about Santander internal scoring.... Grrr

ironlady2022

They told you your score??? They don't have access to this information? Only employees will know about internal scoring.

nearlysorted

Yep, when i asked, she told me our score was 691. Whether that was a figure she just decided to make up to get me off the phone! But that is the figure she gave me, and told me that hadn't done credit updates for December. I only want to know what my internal score is with them to know whether it is worthwhile approaching them yet. Arghhh this sorting your life out business is really quite confusing;)

Dr_Cuckoo3

nearlysorted wrote: »

Yep, when i asked, she told me our score was 691. Whether that was a figure she just decided to make up to get me off the phone! But that is the figure she gave me, and told me that hadn't done credit updates for December. I only want to know what my internal score is with them to know whether it is worthwhile approaching them yet. Arghhh this sorting your life out business is really quite confusing;)

691 is your internal score at Santander , mine was about 650 the last time I enquired

691 is a good score - above average

There are other posts on Santander / Abbey internal scores on the forum eg

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/2170215

Santander (Abbey) branches will have details of your pre-approvals on their computer screens (bottom left corner) assuming they are still using the old two colour monitors (A&L screens look different)