Bad credit - Switching banks?

gregdedman

Hi there,

Im a little stuck.
Ive been with Nationwide for 15 years and until a few years ago was a model customer. I then suffered finiancial hardship and fell heavily into my overdraft for a long long time. Nationwide decided to get their money back and put me on a reducing overdraft that I have finally finished.
I now work, but my credit history is poor.
Nationwide also took away the only other beneift I used to recieve from them, no overseas ATM charges.

I asked myself today why I am still with Nationwide.
They have not done anything for me for 3 years, taken the overdraft away from me along with any other benefits.

I now have a full time job and have been out of debt for a few months but still Nationwide wont entertain giving me a £100 overdraft....I guess I can see their point!...but my question is this.

I want to change banks basically.
Do I stand any chance with a poor credit rating?
Ideally I want a current account with a tiny overdraft £50 or so as Ive just started my new job and need a tiny buffer for the end of the months.
If I quit Nationwide do I risk not being able to get another current account and really being stuck?
Am I being too optomistic to just switch to another bank?

Any advice you may have would be much apreciated.

Thanks in advance
Greg

jonesMUFCforever

Pay £2 and see what is on your credit report - I would suggest Experian.

Come back here when you have the information.

The only other way is to walk into a bank of your choice and ask to open an account (you will be credit scored).

gregdedman

I used Experian a little while ago, got my credit report which as expected was poor.
For the record, had awful time trying to cancel the Experian account, but thats another story for another day.

The gauling thing is that ive worked very hard to get myself above the water and sailing, just need an account that can work for me as much as I work for IT!

izools

What you need to do is check the report itself, not the score. The score is meaningless.

You need to check through the report for late payment markers, defaults, and the such like. Check to see when your last late / missed paymet marker was, if you have any defaults, and the such like.

When you are prepped with this information you'll be better informed what your chances are for what sort of account.

What you don't want to do is apply willy nilly seeing if you'll be accepted as you will decrease your credit worthiness with every credit search that is made against you.

ironlady2022

If it is poor then no other bank will offer you any lending facilities let alone an overdraft of any amount. By all means switch accounts if you are not happy with them.