Please Help!

Karly_2

I am so confused by credit rating and I have three degrees in finance!

If anyone could help me it would be very much appreciated.

I live and work in London for 5 days of the week and most weekends I return to North Wales to my parents home. I have had a Barclays Account registered at that address for 18 years. However, I have lived as a tenant in London for nearly 10 years. Until three years ago I never completed those Electoral Roll forms as I never had any intention to vote. However, since I heard that it could affect your ability to obtain credit I registered at my address in London three years ago.

I sent a 'Notice of Correction' to both Experian and Equifax stating that I could prove my residence through utility bills for the last 15 years. I am now beginning to doubt the merit of a 'Notice of Correction'.

I have had a Barclays loan for 5 years for £7,000 based on the address in North Wales as that was where my bank account is registered. I have never defaulted on this loan in anyway and have nearly paid this off. Last year I applied for an Egg Loan of £7,000 and have paid £2,000 of this off and once again have ensured that all my payments are made on time.

As I am getting married next year and require extra financing so with an attempt to obtain a better interest rate I decided to make a consolidated loan application for £12,000 to pay off the 2 loans of £7,000 and an overdraft of £2,000. I made 4 applications for loans in the last 12 months but have been rejected for them all.

This should not have been a problem as I was applying for a loan with a payment of £270 per month and I take home a salary of £2,000 per month.

I started to believe that making further applications was causing credit report footprint problems so I applied for a hardcopy of my credit report from the 3 credit rating agencies. In order to correct my 2 addresses in London for the last 10 years I sent all 3 agencies photocopies of every one of my utility bills.

Callcredit replied within 2 weeks with my credit report and there were no problems listed on it at all. Experian have been a complete nightmare as after sending them the £2 and copies of my utility bills they then replied 4 weeks later stating that they wanted the latest original bill and a copy of my passport which I instantly provided. They then sent me back 4 weeks later a letter saying that they were sorry about the issues surrounding 'Credit Monitor'. I hadn't applied for 'Credit Monitor'! I just wanted a hardcopy of my credit report. After numerous communications they eventually sent my reports some 8 weeks after I had requested it! Business of the Year in 2003 and 2005? ????? What happened in 2004????? Did they actually have judges that year???????????

You need a PhD just to understand these credit reports as they don't really say anything. Why don't they make them clear??????????

Having now reviewed my Experian credit report I cannot find any problems on it at all other than the 'Notice of Correction' and that there have been 8 footprint searches in the last 12 months (as Egg have done 4 of these searches).

When I applied for the new Barclays rate of 6.9% a couple of months ago online they said that I would not qualify but that I could apply for a normal loan with them. This is what I am thinking of doing but am worried that by making another application I will now have 9 searches in a year without knowing at all what is wrong. The additional problem is that if Barclays won't offer me a loan and I have banked with them so long, then who on earth will?

What I would like to ask is if anyone has got any ideas as to why I have been declined as I have no idea at all. Also if anyone knows if Barclays use Experian rather than Equifax and what the rates are on their normal loans as I cannot seem to find them at all online. Will another rejected loan application result in making it impossible to get a loan anywhere? I am so confused!!!! :-(

Any help and advice would be very much appreciated.

Thanks.

Beatrix_Kiddo

I am sorry to hear of the nightmare you are having - it is !!!!!! and so upsetting to be declined credit.

I am no expert, but what immediately sprang to my mind was - why not transfer your Barclays address to your home adress? Surely, this can only be adding confusion, and making it look like you have no fixed address as it were.

Also, did you make it clear to the borrower that you were looking to consolidate your 2 other loans with your new one? Otherwise it looks like you are trying to get £26k in debt (£6k + £6k + £12k + £2k o/d).

The few declines will have made an impact now too, so it might be best to wait for three months to give your credit history a breather, then I would actually go into Barclays and sit down face to face with someone and explain you are looking for a consolidation loan.

With regard to your Q about Barclays using experian - I can't remember, but I am sure in one of Martin's loan articles there is a table saying who uses which Credit agency. If not, look on Moneysupermarket.com or google it.

Good luck, and don't despair!

Xbigman

These days it is important to only have one address so you should move everything to your London home, which is where stuff is in your name. You should also be on the electoral role there. That will sort out your credit record problems.

As for the loan, its all the searches that are killing you. Wait for 6 months and get your credit records again. Once they are all clear you should get a loan with no problems, although as Beatrix Kiddo said, make sure they know it is for consolidation of the other debts.

Here's a word of caution. You owe 7k and 2k so why consolidate with 12k? That is the worse kind of consolidation as you are upping the debt. If it is to get the lower interest on the larger amount borrowed it is self defeating as you actually pay a lower APR but more interest overall because you have to borrow more.
You don't give any details of the loans but if you have a good income and money is not a problem then you probably want to start overpaying on the highest APR one and reduce that debt before you are married.

BTW how are you paying for the wedding?
Regards



X

Karly_2

Thanks for the replies and valuable advice.

The problem is that I was aiming for some of the the £3K extra from the consolidation to help pay for some aspects for the wedding that need to be paid for now eg. Honeymoon etc I didn't want to have to wait for 9 previous searches to disappear- is this alot?

I don't see how this is self-defeating especially if I am paying a lower APR for the new loan. This is even more true as there will only be a month early repayment penallty.

The paying of the loan isn't the problem. It is the lack of surplus funds of £1-3K that is. The fact that I can easily pay £250 per month over 5 years shouldn't cause a lender a problem and I know exactly where I am.

I don't understand the folliwng bit posted in a reply (of course if I am borrowing more I pay more interest but it is the ability to pay the monthly payments that is important) and don't think it's relevant. Thanks anyway.

'If it is to get the lower interest on the larger amount borrowed it is self defeating as you actually pay a lower APR but more interest overall because you have to borrow more'.

asandwhen

Karly wrote:

Thanks for the replies and valuable advice.

The problem is that I was aiming for some of the the £3K extra from the consolidation to help pay for some aspects for the wedding that need to be paid for now eg. Honeymoon etc I didn't want to have to wait for 9 previous searches to disappear- is this alot?

I don't see how this is self-defeating especially if I am paying a lower APR for the new loan. This is even more true as there will only be a month early repayment penallty.

The paying of the loan isn't the problem. It is the lack of surplus funds of £1-3K that is. The fact that I can easily pay £250 per month over 5 years shouldn't cause a lender a problem and I know exactly where I am.

I don't understand the folliwng bit posted in a reply (of course if I am borrowing more I pay more interest but it is the ability to pay the monthly payments that is important) and don't think it's relevant. Thanks anyway.

'If it is to get the lower interest on the larger amount borrowed it is self defeating as you actually pay a lower APR but more interest overall because you have to borrow more'.

I think what he is saying is that if you take the larger amount over 5 years you will end up paying ALOT more in interest as you will be paying over a longer period of time at a larger amount - it might be worth working out how much you would pay back overall with the new loan (amount plus interest) and how much you would pay back from now on your current loans - I think you will be shocked at the difference. have you thought of getting a credit card for the extra you need at 0%.

Karly_2

Thanks but this isnt true. I don't see at all why you would think this. The older loan of £2K early repayment interest is calculated on the date that the loan is paid back.

The main loan was taken 15 months ago at a higher rate of interest.The amount of total interest of the new loan is less than the existing loan even though the new loan is for £3K more.

Thanks anyway.

asandwhen

you need to work out if the interest is less than the interest you have to pay back from now not from the begining of the loan because this has already been paid.