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

awengraf

An-D-D wrote: »

Hello,

I received a letter today from the Halifax stating I was going to be charged £28 for going overdrawn without agreement, and £35 for a 'paid item' charge.

I have two accounts with the Halifax - one Electron and one Visa Debit. I wanted to pay for an online transaction, so I checked my Electron balance using the online service and thought I was fine (I usually use my Electron). However, I forgot that I was making payment from my other account as Electron wasn't accepted where I wanted to make the transaction - putting me overdrawn as there wasn't enough in my debit Visa Debit account to cover it. A silly mistake on my part, and when I noticed it the next day I immediately transferred money over to put me back in credit using the online service.

I have read about reclaiming charges but am not sure where to start. £63 seems unfair for a basic mistake. I have never been overdrawn before on this account and was overdrawn by £30 for a day at most. I don't want to pay the charge, but it hardly seems worth threatening court action in order to reclaim.

Any advice would be much appreciated. I am not familiar around these parts so my apologies if there is a specific thread this should be in.

Just go into a Halifax and ask to speak to someone about being overdrawn.
They will refund you the charge if its your first time as a will of good gesture.
But they put a note on your account, so make sure it doesn't happen again

Thats what they did with me anyway.

danthemoneysavingman

harrymetsally wrote: »

I have a bad credit rating from a mobile contract account. I bought it for my partner and then we separated and he assured me he was paying it off monthly, but as it turns out he wasnt (obv. hates me!) so I have been paying it off via a debt recovery agency. This has affected my rating badly, and i have now closed the account and am all clear from it.

I applied for my first credit card about 6 months ago but got refused (that alerted me to the phone contract palava!). Shall I try and re-apply for a card now or wait a bit longer?

I finish my job in 2 months and havent got another lined up yet, so i would quite like to try and get one whilst i am working as it will increase my chances. But i only recently paid off the bill on the contract phone.

How long should i wait and whats the best card to go for.

I would appreciate any help on this matter

Harry:A

Martin's credit card article will explain your options - basically, you need to get a so-called "credit repair" card (see reply #337 above also). Make sure you pay it off in full each month though as rates can be as high as 69% APR!!

if you can't afford to do that, I'd suggest you don't get a card to get yourself into more debt when you won't have a job... Martin's money mantra blah blah blah.

Good luck. DtMSM

best025

Hi all
I am the other one who's trying to improve the cresit score. I'm 22 year olds, have been with bank for 2 years(hsbc), got 2 creadit cards (one's has been used for 1 year, other has been used for 6 month). Do u guys think my credit score have been improved yet? If not, how long do i have to use those credit card to get a good credit score? When do u think I can apply for the Nationwide current account(it's required very high credit score to get it). Thanks in advance

Locke

I've just had a look at my credit score and I've got a Barclaycard with £2000 limit and a £0 balance.

Could it be the Skycard I had and didn't use? Is Skycard a part of Barclaycard and would it show up as that?

Deterby

Hi

I really hope someone can help me because I am getting really distressed about the situation. :mad:

My problem is that I get refused for any card I apply for, even Capital One and store cards. Although I have ordered my credit report a year ago and made the necessary changes (register on the electoral list) I have tried again recently and was turned down for a Dorothy Perkins store card -I tried that one thinking it would be easy to get it.

To give you a background, I have lived in the UK for almost two years now and I have a permanent job for a year and a half. I opened my only Natwest Solo 'student' account five years ago when I was in the UK as a student. I then left the country for three years and came back two years ago.

I tried to open accounts with banks reputed 'easy' like Barclays, Capital One but I was always turned down. I stopped applying for cards for a year in order to clear 'searches' on my credit report.

I have never missed any payment on my solo card, and of course I have no credit history as I have never managed to increase the number of accounts.

What do you think the problem is?

Is it because I left the country during three years and did not show any activity on my Natwest account? It was still open and there was still money on it when I came back to the UK.

Is it because Experian have not updated their records yet and do not see I am on the electoral list? Oh by the way I tried to get the free online report today, but they said the request 'failed', and I cannot try again. I do not know if this is linked to this problem.

Another thing that may be of importance, I rent a flat and the council tax is included in my rent. My landlords therefore pay the council tax directly to the council and my name is not on the council tax. However, I have heard that they do not pay their bills, and they may not pay their council tax either. We receive letters addressed to the landlords and we do not open them as the landlord sometimes come and pick up his mail.
Can this have any impact on my credit rating if my landlords, registered at the same address as me, do not pay their bills? Obviously we do not have the same surname.

My imagination has run out of ideas on why my applications are constantly turned down. Obviously none of the lenders are ever able to explain why they refused the application. I tried to order another credit report today but even Experian refuse to open an account for me online!

I am really distressed about it, I am a serious and ambitious person; I find it really unfair and think I deserve the lenders' trust!:p

I would be really happy to get advice from you.

Thanks

jimbo26

Council Tax isn't recorded on the credit reports. Experian not recording you as being on the electoral roll and only being resident for two years is what is stopping you.

nimagraven

Just as a query..

I'm very good, well, usually, with paying off my credit card.

One month I was 1 day late, got charged £12, which consequently took me over my limit and I got charged another £12.

I paid it off, but my main question is, how badly does this affect my rating?

I am only 22, and not looking for a mortgage yet, but it concerns me for my future.

I also pay off the WHOLE of my credit card, is this a bad idea? Should I always leave some "debt" on my credit card each month? If so how much? I only have a very small credit card limit with Barclaycard.

Is it worth me trying to claim that £24 back as "my first offence/first mistake"? I realise it was my fault and I should have been more careful, but just wondering.

I'm more concerned about my credit rating than the £24 to be honest!

Thanks,

-Sarah.

Victors_Bruvver

Deterby wrote: »

Hi

I really hope someone can help me because I am getting really distressed about the situation. :mad:

My problem is that I get refused for any card I apply for, even Capital One and store cards. Although I have ordered my credit report a year ago and made the necessary changes (register on the electoral list) I have tried again recently and was turned down for a Dorothy Perkins store card -I tried that one thinking it would be easy to get it.

To give you a background, I have lived in the UK for almost two years now and I have a permanent job for a year and a half. I opened my only Natwest Solo 'student' account five years ago when I was in the UK as a student. I then left the country for three years and came back two years ago.

I tried to open accounts with banks reputed 'easy' like Barclays, Capital One but I was always turned down. I stopped applying for cards for a year in order to clear 'searches' on my credit report.

I have never missed any payment on my solo card, and of course I have no credit history as I have never managed to increase the number of accounts.

What do you think the problem is?

Is it because I left the country during three years and did not show any activity on my Natwest account? It was still open and there was still money on it when I came back to the UK.

Is it because Experian have not updated their records yet and do not see I am on the electoral list? Oh by the way I tried to get the free online report today, but they said the request 'failed', and I cannot try again. I do not know if this is linked to this problem.

Another thing that may be of importance, I rent a flat and the council tax is included in my rent. My landlords therefore pay the council tax directly to the council and my name is not on the council tax. However, I have heard that they do not pay their bills, and they may not pay their council tax either. We receive letters addressed to the landlords and we do not open them as the landlord sometimes come and pick up his mail.
Can this have any impact on my credit rating if my landlords, registered at the same address as me, do not pay their bills? Obviously we do not have the same surname.

My imagination has run out of ideas on why my applications are constantly turned down. Obviously none of the lenders are ever able to explain why they refused the application. I tried to order another credit report today but even Experian refuse to open an account for me online!

I am really distressed about it, I am a serious and ambitious person; I find it really unfair and think I deserve the lenders' trust!:p

I would be really happy to get advice from you.

Thanks

I cannot comment on your particular circumstances (other than they look at but to see if your name is on the Electoral Register or Roll) but I do know from a past experience that Experian and their Credit Expert are far from perfect. I had dealings with them last year which to me showed perceived arrogance of their customers and that they were always right attitude. I found that my address was slightly corrupted and was in a similar named street that was a half a mile away from me. No thanks in pointing this out from the customer services person at the time, just a ‘it must be right it is what we get from the authorities’ Spoke with a few more people in customer services and still no thanks for bringing this to our attention and we will correct it so I emailed their director who promised me this was going to be corrected. That must have been a year on and what do we find this week; the same incorrect information which I must now report to the Information Commissioners Office.
Moral of the story is that like of lot of data which we rely on these days, it is therefore easily corruptible with ‘rubbish in, rubbish out’ and some companies which may number Experian amongst them, will not invest time & money in cleaning the data base or cross reference it on a regular basis to ensure it is squeaky clean. In actual fact the whole premise of credit reference agencies checking the Electoral Register as a part of their checks may be called into doubt soon as the accuracy of that facility may have been compromised with the news that Peterborough Council had to scrap theirs and draw up a new one. Okay it was for possible electoral fraud, but if it can done there, where else can it happen?
Hopefully there is someone at Experian, James, who used to monitor and post to these threads and he may be the one reply to your problem.

bethanyrayne

nimagraven wrote: »

Just as a query..

I'm very good, well, usually, with paying off my credit card.

One month I was 1 day late, got charged £12, which consequently took me over my limit and I got charged another £12.

I paid it off, but my main question is, how badly does this affect my rating?

I am only 22, and not looking for a mortgage yet, but it concerns me for my future.

I also pay off the WHOLE of my credit card, is this a bad idea? Should I always leave some "debt" on my credit card each month? If so how much? I only have a very small credit card limit with Barclaycard.

Is it worth me trying to claim that £24 back as "my first offence/first mistake"? I realise it was my fault and I should have been more careful, but just wondering.

I'm more concerned about my credit rating than the £24 to be honest!

Thanks,

-Sarah.

Don't worry too much. One late payment won't affect your rating for long if at all.

Yes, it's always worth trying.

The only person who never fails is the one who never tries.

nimagraven

Thanks very much for the response. Greatly appreciated. Have one on me! :beer: hehe