300 Credit Score - HOW?

LiamMcArthur

Around October 2010 I realised I needed around £800 to get a new computer for my course I'm currently on, I tried to take out a bank loan of the minimum £1000, but was declined - I then tried more banks and loan companies (probably around 20 of them) and was declined by them all, I got a credit score in December of 2010 and it was just above 300! the thing is I've never had a loan before, I have a computer course on finance and an iPhone 4 on finance and that is it - these are always paid on time, I do however have a £500 overdraft which I go into every month.

I got hold of Experian and they said that it's something to do with my old address, possibly blacklisted?, so I've waited till now to re-apply and I'm still getting declined - how can I improve this because I don't want to have to live with a low credit rating for the rest of my life without knowing the cause of it!

Simon_Pugsley

I tried to take out a bank loan of the minimum £1000, but was declined - I then tried more banks and loan companies (probably around 20 of them) and was declined by them all.

There in lies the problem, by applying to so many different places your credit file will have been battered and bruised.

Best thing to do is lay off any applications for a while, also check your credit file to see if there are anymore anomalies on there.

LiamMcArthur

How long do you think I should wait, and is it worth having an account on Experian (a paid for account as I've already used the trial) to keep checking my credit rating from time to time to see if it's actually increasing? I noticed Experian offer many services, could you recommend which of these I should be using? also does being in a planned overdraft negatively affect my credit rating? - Thanks!

MrsBartolozzi

Liam, I wouldn't have thought that being in an agreed overdraft would have much affect on your credit score. As long as you get into the black quite often and being seen to borrow money and pay it back regularly (ie using and paying back the OD) can have a positive affect on your score.
Having the OD though, could be seen as having an amount of credit available which can impact on getting credit elsewhere.

LiamMcArthur

Well I never go over the limit, however Lloyds TSB are charging me to be in the overdraft now anyway (you might have seen on the news in December), either way, I was declined credit on the first ever loan I applied for (before applying for many more).

Nope, I don't really know what Experian is and what I can use it for?, really I thought I was just paying to see my score, but can I actually help improve it on there?

Tixy

You were probably declined the first loan because of a lack of a credit history by which a lender can determine whether you would be a good risk or not. You say you are on a course, are you also employed? if not this could also be a likely reason for the initial declines.

Experian is a credit reference agency, they are one of 3 agencies in the UK that a potential lender looks at when assessing whether to lend to you. So you need to see the info that they show to a potential lender to check it is accurate. Eg that its shows your correct previous addresses, that there are nobody else's debts linked to your file, that you are showing as being on the electoral roll etc etc

What you should be looking at is the 'statutory credit report' from experian.

CHR15

You are already in a bit of a pickle hence the rejections.

I may be swearing to a teenager but why not sell the iPhone4 and buy a computer with the proceeds?
You can easily pick up a new PC out of the sale price and you won't be in debt to anyone.

It will be far easier to work through your credit issues without a loan dragging you down.

archer7

Do you really need an £800 computer for your course? You can usually get a good enough desktop/laptop for around £300-400.

I am a Computer Science student, and I definitely don't NEED anything more than a £300 laptop. I *WANTED* a more expensive one, so I bought a £579 one - and that's a pretty high performance laptop.

Sell your iPhone, and think very carefully if you want to go ahead. Even if I were going to buy something like that on credit, I wouldn't borrow £200 more just because it's the minimum - remember you'll be paying around 17% interest on that £200, and it's money you don't even want.