Advice needed about my credit report!

kathfisch

Hi guys!

Well, I've only been on dfw for ooooh.... about a year..... and I finally got my credit report online from experian :rolleyes: (through quidco for cashback you'll be glad to hear!!)

Anyway, point is, what does 'settled' mean next to a debt? I only have 4 accounts showing (HSBC must not report to experian! ) and they're all old store cards/accounts that I opened for whatever bonus was on offer and then paid off straight away. They're all from 2002/2003 and I'm sure I phoned 2 of them and insisted on closing the accounts completely see... I was getting the right idea before I'd even heard of dfw But the other two, LA Redoute and Next, I really don't know about them. I don't receive catalogues or anything else from them, and haven't done for ages, but I don't think I actually asked them to close the accounts

So so so, does 'settled' mean that they're closed? Because between all these accounts there's about £1000 of 'available' credit and I'd hate for this to be showing to potential creditors as available, if you see what I mean! I've been turned down for a current account will smile because of something on my credit rating (from experian) but they can't tell me what :rolleyes: I can appeal by sending copies of my bank statements but, believe me, that won't help a jot what with living in my overdraft at the mo and about £600 being tied up in matched betting (0% overdraft... before you panic!).

Its not crucial to get a new account, I'd just like a smile one, and if I can improve my score in any way I will. Part of the problem could be that I don't have a good credit history according the experian because there's simply very little on it, recent anyway. My only credit in the past (apart from these cards) is with HSBC and since they don't report to experian it seems, my report doesn't inspire confidence, despite an absolutely faultless payment record with HSBC, grrr!

Apologies (as ever) for the rambling... if you have any advice I'd be very grateful... and I promise one day I'll start a thread with a very short post and shock you all! :rotfl:

Kath x

MissBehavinSpender

Hi there,

A settled account is one which you have made all the necessary payments to and which has been closed. Credit Reference Agencies like Experian keep a record of settled accounts for six years from the date they were settled. The status code shown on your credit report against a settled account refers to the period before you settled the account. I would imagine that you've been turned down because of not enough credit information on your report though the CRA doesn't make the decision, the lender does so Smile should definitely be able to tell you why if there's no major misdemeanors on your report.

Not sure why the HSBC information isn't included? I'd try taking it up with Smile again.

Hope this helps!

kathfisch

MissBehavinSpender wrote:

Hi there,

A settled account is one which you have made all the necessary payments to and which has been closed. Credit Reference Agencies like Experian keep a record of settled accounts for six years from the date they were settled. The status code shown on your credit report against a settled account refers to the period before you settled the account. I would imagine that you've been turned down because of not enough credit information on your report though the CRA doesn't make the decision, the lender does so Smile should definitely be able to tell you why if there's no major misdemeanors on your report.

Not sure why the HSBC information isn't included? I'd try taking it up with Smile again.

Hope this helps!

Thank you! Just the info I was after and in your first post too, I'm honoured!