late payment

sidney71

Hi
On Equlifax l have a good rating and a score of 411. l have a late payment mark from 3 years ago on a Capital one credit card. l asked Capital one if they would remove it, seeing as it was a one- off mistake on my part on a otherwise unblemish record with them, but they would'nt. Can these late payment marks be removed or is it there for 6 years. It seems a bit harsh for a simple oversight on my behalf, to have such a big effect on my credit file for such a long time.
I want to get a consolidation loan to clear my existing debt of about £15000. What are my chances with my current score. And would that late payment mark affect my chances?

matttye

One late payment marker isn't likely to have a big effect on your creditworthiness.

I personally wouldn't bother with a consolidation loan as you're basically increasing your debt rather than reducing it. However, if you definitely want to do it, you need to look at the information in your credit reports (defaults, CCJs, late payments etc.) and not just the number. The number is meaningless.

BargainMad_3

sidney71 wrote: »

Hi
On Equlifax l have a good rating and a score of 411. l have a late payment mark from 3 years ago on a Capital one credit card. l asked Capital one if they would remove it, seeing as it was a one- off mistake on my part on a otherwise unblemish record with them, but they would'nt. Can these late payment marks be removed or is it there for 6 years. It seems a bit harsh for a simple oversight on my behalf, to have such a big effect on my credit file for such a long time.
I want to get a consolidation loan to clear my existing debt of about £15000. What are my chances with my current score. And would that late payment mark affect my chances?

Whether you get a consolidation loan or not will go on number of variables - chief among them will be salary, ability to pay, what security is being offered (secured loan versus unsecured) and how you have run accounts in the past i.e. your credit record.

To be honest banks no longer think "Oh he has made all his payments on time" and therefore is a good payer since this can be achieved by taking out more and more debts to pay existing obligations. It is not indicative of overall financial worthiness. It is sometimes just indicative of a persons ability to pay Paul by robbing Peter. So making payments on time can sometimes show a good juggler. I have dealt with plenty of people who have taken out payday loans so they don't miss a payment. Lenders are aware of this kind of thing now (although did tend to ignore it in the credit boom years).

So one late payment will not affect your chances of getting a loan as they will be looking at a much much more than that.

As Matttye says, is a consolidation loan the right avenue to take? Again I have dealt with people who have taken these out to "clear" all existing debts.....and then run the debts up again. People with no late payments but with large and increasing debts.

So back to the original point, the single late payment will not be a major influence in the broader picture.

sidney71

Thanks for the reply. It was very helpful.:beer: