Opening/applying for credit cards so close to getting a mortgage/buying a house?

Nine_Lives

Basically we shut down all our credit cards in January, figuring that a load of credit to our name would be a bad thing & we'd be looking at buying a house from April onwards.

I read yesterday that this could possibly be a big mistake & harm your credit rating/score.

We've not registered on Experian yet. I'd have to pay £15 anyway but the missus would get it free. We have both registered on Noddle though. She is 4/5 on their scoring, but i'm only 3/5 which i'd obviously like to raise to 4/5 & hopefully 5/5.


Would opening a credit card now as we're so close to getting into buying a house & getting a mortgage (each of us) & then using it occasionally & paying it off in full still be a good idea, or is it kind of late now to be applying?

ACG

I think opening/applying for credit so close would have more of a negative affect than a positive one with it being so close to when you make an application but to be honest if thats the worst thing on your credit report then i wouldnt worry too much - its not really a bad thing.

Nine_Lives

ACG wrote: »

I think opening/applying for credit so close would have more of a negative affect than a positive one with it being so close to when you make an application but to be honest if thats the worst thing on your credit report then i wouldnt worry too much - its not really a bad thing.

Thanks.

To be honest it is (the only thing). There's nothing negative on either of our reports that we've seen so far. I've done equifax & noddle while the missus has only done noddle. We've both paid off on time all the time. Both registered on the electrol roll. A couple minor things need to be changed - such as my linked assosciate is my wife's old name & she's listed as having lived in a house she never set foot in or knows anyone in.

Only reason I'm asking really is noddle giving me a 3/5. Maybe this is because I've opened a lot of accounts over the years or because I've got a lot of accounts open. In the past 6months or so I've only applied for one account which was nationwide for direct. Bloody autocorrect - flex direct.
That said I've just remembered when I opened my 3 vantage accounts - no to er. My god this phone is annoying. OCTOBER!!

I can't have a free report through Experian & would have to pay £14.99 which I'm reluctant to do.

GMS

Nine_Lives wrote: »

I can't have a free report through Experian & would have to pay £14.99 which I'm reluctant to do.

Go for the £2 statutory report with them. One off payment of £2.

Nine_Lives

Does that also include their score as well? The one that's out of 999 or whatever it is?

ACG

Forget their score, its means nothing its pointless.

Sparkle_66

Hi, I was already in the process of opening another credit card purely to balance transfer at 0% when I decided to re-mortgage with Co-operative when they launched 2.79% fixed rate for 5 years. Noddle credit report was 4/5 then dropped to 3/5 but I then used Checkmyfile.com which I found more informative. Credit score was excellent & free months trial.