The long road to recovery!

Fruitypops

Hi everyone, I've been lurking about on MSE for a long time but finally built up the courage to post!

I was verrrrrrry stupid with credit in the past, getting everything offered to me... Credit cards, loans, mobile phone contracts, and then not paying back what I owed. I guess when I was younger I didnt realize the meaning of "default" oh if only I paid attention! The reality now is that my husband & I cannot get a mortgage. We've been renting for years now & while this is no big deal, we would love to have a house to leave to our kids (4 year old & another on the way!) we both have really good jobs and by this time next year i'll be debt free (all going well!)

Just wan ted to know if anyone has been in this position(I'm sure there are loads of us!!) & how long it took them to get a mortgage. At the moment I have 6 defaults on my file (yikes!!) 2 come off this year, 3 are off next year & the other one 2014 :-(

I haven't missed any payments for a long time, have an account with very, had it less than a year & I've just received the 3rd increase, try to pay it off in full each month or as much as I can, I've just been accepted for a simply be account with a limit of £150 (will hardly ever use this, maybe a pair of slippers or underwear & then paid off in full each month) & waiting to her back from vanquis, I just want some more green ticks on my file!! Does anyone have any tips for me?

I'm feeling very positive & will never ever fall into the debt trap again, been there done that! :eek:

Thanks for listening! xx

thegoodman

Keep paying on time and don't build the debt up.
Once the three marks are taken off you should be ok for mortgage.
Make sure not to get any marks or build up cards. The bank also look at the outstanding balance on the card or loans.

boogiemaster

I got accepted for a JD Williams catalogue nearly four months ago and my credit limit started at £125 and its now at £400.

I pay well over the minimum payment and they are increasing my limit in stages but this will show on my credit file and will improve my credit status.

JD Williams and Simply Be and then accepted for Kay's with £500 limit so it shows by paying these catalogues my credit profile is getting better.

I'm going to leave off applying for credit until these new accounts are twelve months old then I will apply for credit again to see if I'm accepted?

If I'm accepted then I know my bad credit history is well and truly getting fixed and won't make the same mistakes again.

I don't take on to much and I take on what I know I can afford to pay back so I'm using the catalogues to build my credit rating and they know this but they are getting interest from me to pay them back.

My wife had a bad history the same as me and now she's getting accepted for credit again and we can both say good bye to sub prime and screw you high interest

rising_from_the_ashes

First of all, congratulations on working towards your DF date .....

Pesonally, I'd not apply for any more credit at the minute and concentrate on running the accounts you've already got well and ensuring all payments are on time etc.

I had loads of defaults etc and I did manage to get a mortgage when one was 4+ years old (the others had all fallen off by then) and I'd been running a catalogue account well within limited and never missing a payment etc for several years - so it can be done.

Once a few of the defaults have dropped off and you've been running the catalogues for a while, it may be worth getting a credit card - this must only be used for a certain budget each month (something like your groceries or fuel), kept well below the limit set on it and and paid in full each month. This is a good way of improving your credit history.