Paying it all off - will it help my score?

DanielleR

Hiya,

So I've managed to creep my debt down from about £9k in the last couple of years to about £3.5k. It's been a long hard slog but I can see the light now!

However all my interest has now gone back up and although if I keep paying it as I currently am I will rack up another £500 in interest and add an extra month or two to my debt.

I was going to ask my dad for a loan and pay him what I would have been paying but obviously not accruing anymore more interest.

I was just wondering what paying all of the remainder off in one go will do to my, terrible, credit rating. Will it improve it or look bad? Will it improve it sooner? And what can I do once it's done to help build my score back up? I can't even get a Vanquis card at the moment it's that torn to pieces.

Also is there anyway to get a default removed? I've tried contacting the company it's in conjunction with but they said that they've sold on the debt to a collections agency who I've never, ever heard from. It's only for £60 and I would be quite happy to pay it and try and get the debt removed. In fact only found out about it recently because I thought the account it was in question about had been cancelled!


Thanks

ElmerFudd

Once you have paid them off it will likely still be bad, however you won't have to pay that horrible interest. Can you still use your Lloyds cards once they have been paid off? If so you can use the cards for small purchases that you would usually do anyway and pay it off in full every month over a 6 month period. After this your credit score should be back up to scratch (this is what my sister did and it took about 6 months).

DanielleR

Hiya,

No they've closed the account due to the spiral effect I had with the PPI I successfully claimed back. It's in credit of about £500 but I have no card and no available balance (though why they don't just take the limit down I don't know!)

I plan on clearing them and then closing them fully. I got a new card for my OD but cut it up straight away.

I've not been late on a single payment in about a year, there were a few late payments before that but only a very short space of time. There's a lot of AP (Arranged Payments) on my credit file and despite registering 8 months ago on my electoral register I'm still not on there!

GeorgieFTB

Danielle

Your best bet to build up your credit score is to just use a CC and pay it off, if you have any that are still 'open' then once you are clear use it and pay it off.

Martin has a list of CCs for poor credit ratings so you might be able to find one that works for you.

Well done for paying off so much money. If the CCs are jacking your rate can you not just say no thank you very much and keep paying back what you are.

Gx

ElmerFudd

The electoral roll can take a little while to get sorted depending on the council. Have you called them or emailed them yet to see if they have your details? I had to do this with mine and they managed to get it sorted fairly quickly after my call.
You may well be able to apply for another CC within 6 months despite the problems you have had. With regard to the debt collection agent I have not had issues with any so I am unable to help on this. Hopefully someone can help you on this.

DanielleR

I'll give them a call then about that. I'll wait to see what the outcome is from the Bank of Dad first and then look into a bad credit card to hopefully fix things.

I'll put my train pass on it as I pay that off each month so surely that should help a bit.

Thanks guys