Your Credit Rating: How it works and How to improve it Discussion Area

london10

Thank you for replying Moggles. Yes i've got my credit report from Equifax in front of me now and it says everything is up to date and shows i've never missed any payments. The only other thing I can think of is I have a loan at the moment but i'm over half way through paying it off and i've never missed a payment. I work full time and have disposable income left at the end of the month so i'm not overstretched at all. I just don't know what else it could be.

I'm planning on moving out and living on my own in the next few months so i'm concerned that it will be difficult for me to rent if I can't even get a £200 overdraft approved.

NoAddedSugar

Hello All. I have lived in the UK for almost 5 years now. I am a British Citizen as of last year. When I first came to this country my husband had opened a joint account for us with HSBC, they gave me my own basic account after that. I applied for a couple of credit cards but was refused. My husband said it was because I wasn't on the electoral role. However, I have a friend who was hear about a year before me who was able to get a credit card without being on it.

I went to my bank and explained the problem. They said it was probably because I only had a basic bank account and also because I had no credit history. They upgraded my bank account and also gave me a gold card. I was happy enough with that at the time as I didn't want a lot of credit card debt just the convenience of having one especially when going on holiday or buying things abroad/over the internet.

Over the years I've tried a few more times to get other credit cards just so I could get 0% or a better rate then what I am paying. But I've always been turned down.

When I had some financial difficulties due to being out of work, I was forced to take out a loan with my bank because no one else will give me any credit despite always paying my minimum monthly balances and earning a decent income. My husband also has an excellent credit rating so I know there are no negative effects there.

About 6mos ago, I tried again once I had become a citizen and signed onto the electoral role. Now with a credit card, a loan and a steady salary for sometime, not to mention living in the same flat since I moved here and always paying the bills in my name on time I was refused again. I argued with someone on the phone who finally admitted that when they did the credit check there was "no financial" information. He wasn't able to tell me how that could be despite all the above.

I would really like to be able to get a better rate on my credit card and loan but I feel imprisoned and can only take credit on from my bank. I can't get another bank account or credit card.

Any advice on how to get some financial information on my credit rating would be greatly appreciated.

I did try to sign up for credit reports but the websites I tried always asks for previous addresses and because I did not live in this country prior to 2003 I have no addresses to give in this country and the forms are set-up so that I cannot put in foreign addresses.

emmy05

try ringing experian and equifax rather than going thru online applications with them.
have you looked at the electoral role to make sure they have your name spelt right, as im wondering why they have no history about you, im sure someone else will have alot more info than ive given but good luck x

wendy30

I've just been checking my credit files and it states that I've lived at my current address since Oct 2003. However I've been here since April 2002, when I got married. Can I rectify this by getting in contact with the local electoral office or can it be done online with the credit file agency?

Thanks

YorkshireBoy

wendy30 wrote: »

I've just been checking my credit files and it states that I've lived at my current address since Oct 2003. However I've been here since April 2002, when I got married. Can I rectify this by getting in contact with the local electoral office or can it be done online with the credit file agency?

For Experian...
http://experian.metafaq.com/templates/experian/main/answerPage?_mftvst:answerRef=%24http%3a%2f%2fapi.transversal.com%2fmfapi%2fobjectref%2fEntryStore%2fEntry%2fhttp%3a%2f%2fwww.metafaq.com%2fmfapi%2fMetafaq%2fClients%2fexperian%2fModules%2fCredit_report%2fTopics%2felectoral_roll%3a137380%3a0&_mftvst:moduleID=%24Credit_report&_mftvst:topicID=%24electoral_roll&id=L9T6CO80RCPSET8OLUUPTUAC0I

Presumably the same applies for Equifax and CallCredit?

wendy30

Thank you Yorkshire Boy

A^S

NoAddedSugar wrote: »

Hello All. I have lived in the UK for almost 5 years now. I am a British Citizen as of last year. When I first came to this country my husband had opened a joint account for us with HSBC, they gave me my own basic account after that. I applied for a couple of credit cards but was refused. My husband said it was because I wasn't on the electoral role. However, I have a friend who was hear about a year before me who was able to get a credit card without being on it.
....
I argued with someone on the phone who finally admitted that when they did the credit check there was "no financial" information. He wasn't able to tell me how that could be despite all the above.

This could happen if HSBC only file negative information with the credit reference agency, your well maintained accounts with them may not be available for anyone else to see - so I am not sure how to get around that.

(There is a concept of 'reciprocity' - if a finance company files both good and bad info, they can obtain both when doing searches. If they only file negative info, that is all they can see from debts with other institutions- but it may be that the finance company feels that is enough for their needs).

spinningsheep

I am trying to improve my credit history. I have cleared all my defaults now, and they all show as zero on my credit file and the accounts as settled. I have had a couple of lean months and so have been a bit slow in replaying my credit cards, going over the credit limit by about £50 on each. I have called to pay them today and paid the overlimit, plus more to bring my balance down. I have noticed though that because I was also late in paying my mobile bill, this is also showing as a yellow circle with a 1 in it. How much would this knock my rating do you think? Would it be a heanous thing to most lenders or do they tend to let one bad month slide?

YorkshireBoy

spinningsheep wrote: »

Would it be a heanous thing to most lenders or do they tend to let one bad month slide?

Ordinarily it wouldn't matter too much, but coupled with the defaults (whether settled or not) it tells lenders you haven't 'mended your ways' and are still a risk...I would have thought?

spinningsheep

Thanks Yorkshireboy, thats what I was afraid of. oh well, my own silly fault I suppose. Does it take 6 years from the date that a default was settled or 6 years from when it was posted on your credit report? And how long do you think I should leave it before trying to get a lower rate credit card that my vanquis and capital one? bearing in mind i have missed one payment.