Paying off credit cards re: credit rating

jamesbogiant

Hi All,

Hope you are well and not too soggy!

I currently have quite a bit of credit card debt (£1700, £1500, £1000, £500). I am about to start looking to buy my first house/flat with my girlfriend and am having sleepless nights about being refused a mortgage because of my credit history/rating . I am due a lump sum of around £1,600 from a tax rebate and with a bit of saving this month can probably pay off another £500 on payday. I'm going to pay off a couple of the cards.

Might be a very stupid question, but which would have the greater positive effect on my credit rating:

• Paying off and closing two cards
• Paying off but not closing two cards
• Paying off 70% or so on 3 or more of the cards

Also, how strict are they with credit ratings and mortgages these days, I am quite lucky that me and my girlfriend both have a bit of inheritance that we could manage a 40-50% deposit. I've had quite a few missed payments and overlimits on credit cards over the last few years (though none left unpaid for more than a couple of weeks) through poor money management and unemployment.

EDIT: Apparently I have a credit rating of 1/5 with Noddle How much would paying off one or two of these cards improve that?

Cheers All

samtoby

Might be worth contacting another user on the mortgage thread - Dave Ham - he can give you advice about mortgages

CLAPTON

what exactly do your three credit files say?

if your credit rating is very poor it's unlikely to be much affected by any of these options

with your massive deposit why not clear the cards in full?

and set up DD for your credit cards so you never ever miss a payment again.