How can I improve my credit rating?

onedaymyfriend

Hi guys!

I declared myself Bankrupt on February 2006. I currently have a Vanquis card which i have used and paid back; there is a small balance on it. I also have Very account with a small amount of Buy Now Pay Later debt left on it.. Having recently done a credit check at Equifax; my score is- 623 It has been 623 for the past 9 months or so. How can I improve it?

Any advice would be much appreciated as always!

Darren

Willing2Learn

Forget the score is at has no meaning on whether a potential lender may accept or decline an application.

A lender considers things such as:
Information you have provided in your application
Demographics of where you live
How well you manage your credit accounts
Ratio of debt to income
Percentage of available credit used
Public information records data
How profitable you could be to them
Whether you on the electoral register
Stability of employment
Stability of residence
Home Ownership
How long you stay with a creditor (indicates good stable relationship)
Signs of desperation (indicated by multiple credit searches over a short period)
Lots of credit accounts being opened in recent months
Etc etc etc

Each lender will credit score you independently and may also vary according to the specific product for which you have applied. They never see the credit score used by Experian, Equifax or CallCredit.

So make sure you the data on reports are accurate. Make sure you are on the electoral register. Make sure you manage your accounts and never miss payments. Make sure public records information is recorded accurately.

onedaymyfriend

Willing2Learn wrote: »

So make sure you the data on reports are accurate. Make sure you are on the electoral register. Make sure you manage your accounts and never miss payments. Make sure public records information is recorded accurately.

How can I access these records? To check for accuracy.

Willing2Learn

Apply for your statutory reports from ALL of the CRAs. The Public Record information will be included (including CIFAS).

You already have the information from Equifax - ignore their scoring and guidance and focus on the actual data - and only the data. I'm assuming this report is up to date.

Experian £2 Statutory Report
CallCredit £2 Statutory Report

The reason you need all three is because they may well hold different data (This is usually the case). Lenders don't all report the same information to all CRAs and similarly, when doing a credit check during an application, they don't use the same CRA.

Edit: Obviously, if you have difficulty interpreting the data when you get the reports then you would need to start another thread and ask away. The CRAs provide notes with your statutory report to give guidance on what the data means.

onedaymyfriend

If a member of my family that I live with, but have no financial ties with has bad credit..will that affect my rating?

Willing2Learn

With no financial ties...no