Credit reports

amanda_r_2

Hi,

Sometime ago I was completeley financially tied to my partner and I had absolutely zero credit in my own name. Since then we have split up and I have my own credit profile, one issue is that I have an unpaid CCJ on my account of just under £1,000 which I intend to pay off very soon.

However I have signed up to Credit Expert and, understandably, my credit level is very poor. I have two accounts with the same bank and they both report well on my credit report and I am on the electoral role.

The problem is that I have a mobile phone contract, pay gas and electricity bills, pay council tax, have Sky and a BT telephone line and yet none of these appear on my credit report. I pay them all religiously and have never been late with any of them and I was hoping that this would reflect well on my credit report but none of them appear at all.

I have read the notes and apparantly some companies just don't report in and some do .. clearly, aside from my bank, I have picked all of those who don't.

Aside from paying off my CCJ I am keen to get some other positive record on my credit report to try to repair my very poor rating, so my question is - does anyone know what companies/services DO report on a credit record for "good behaviour"? Sadly my credit record is so bad I can't even get the worse of the worse credit card so I know this avenue is not open to me.

Any advice would be appreciated.

Tixy

Have you checked your reports with equifax and callcredit? you might find that some of those organisations you mention might report to them (most likely the phone provider and possiby the utility provider, council tax would never be reported because its a tax not consumer credit.) I'm not sure if Sky report to one of the agencies, someone else may know.

Whilst the CCJ is unpaid there is very little you can do to improve your credit file. Once its paid you may be able to get a subprime credit card. Although even when the CCJ is paid it will remain on your file for the rest of the 9years and probably prevent you getting any highstreet credit.

If you haven't already done so then you probably need to file a notice of disassociation from your ex with all 3 credit agencies.

Have you read these articles?
Credit Rating: How it works and how to improve it
Bad Credit' Credit Cards: Use them to rebuild credit rating

amanda_r_2

Hi Tixy,

Thanks for your reply.

Credit Expert seems to use Experian, are Equifax and Call Credit that different? I always thought they were the same kind of thing?

I am paying the CCJ as soon as I get paid at the end of this month however the company who applied for the CCJ are a bunch of cowboys and I'm wondering if they'll bother with the certificate of satisfaction so I'm keen to see if there are other ways to rebuild the credit and to not rely on them!

I'll have a read of the articles you have posted - thanks again.

Gordon_Hose

Utilities, council tax and Sky TV don't report to any CRA's as they aren't providing you with any credit.

The only one in your list that would is your contract mobile phone.

Tixy

There are 3 credit reference agencies and not all lenders report to all of them (in fact most lenders only report to 1 or 2). So your reports with them all differ, to get a full picture you would need to get your reports from all 3 agencies (you don't need to sign up for an ongoing service like Experian's creditexpert, you can just request the £2 statutory reports from each).

Insist on a certificate of satisfaction, you are entitled to one. If you don't get it marked as satisfied then there will be little chance of even subprime credit until the CCJ drops off your file altogether.

British Gas does now report to CRAs for new accounts I believe, some of the other utility companies will only report if 1) its a new enough account that they asked your permission when it was opened, and 2) if there is anything negative to report.

marciekandthefunkybunch

hi, i am after some advice about a ccj we have on our records from 5 years ago. it was settled approx 4 years ago. what are the rules about credit after the 6 years.? does it just get taken off and its then as if we never had it??? (we only got it for a small amount - less than £150.00 and it was when my husband was a student. we are now ok financially as he is in full time employment and its so frustrating as we can;t get any credit.

Gordon_Hose

Once it drops off it'll be like it never existed.