Journey from the dark side.........

You-kip

wiseshark wrote: »

I admire your honesty and understand these psychological addictions.
Delighted that you were able to overcome the gambling and believe you will eventually quit smoking.

Have you considered registering with NODDLE? You can obtain your credit report each month completely free for life and you will also get a rating out of 5. Most people are 3/5, with 5/5 being excellent and 1/5 been very poor. They are a part of Call Credit which are the third largest CRA in the UK.

Do not obsess yourself with these useless numbers. Every lender will score you differently, hence one accepts while another will decline. All the best mate.

PS. I am a shocking smoker of rolled tobacco, have been for 27 years and know I must quit before they finish me.

Don't take this the wrong way but are you ok as your posts are quite strange.

rrelite

yeah im registered with noddle but to be fair not a major fan, its not got as much information or detail on as Experian and my rating on there keeps fluctuating from 1/5 2/5 when nothing as actually changed on there.

rrelite

You-kip wrote: »

Don't take this the wrong way but are you ok as your posts are quite strange.

Whats strange about his post?

Experian_company_representative

Congratulations Simon - sounds like a long and arduous journey. When closing down those old cards just keep an eye on how this changes your balance/limit % and try to keep to below 25% utilisation if you can.

Quite a few people like rrelite do find value in the CRA scores as although they are only an indicative guide it does give you focus on areas in your credit history where you can make general improvements. I wouldn't say this was meaningless at all. We base the calculations on the scores we build for major lenders. But each to his own.

James

justcat

I too have managed to just about come out at the other side I think.

Years ago I had a CCJ and about 8 defaults on my account casued by careless banking during my teens.
My CCJ was satisfied in 2006 and my defaults were before that. They are now all off of my report.

I started off small, getting an overdraft and then getting a couple of catalogue accounts.
Then I managed to get a Vanquis credit card and then a Capital One credit card. I also got a mobile phone contract.
I maintained those accounts well and last year I got a Barclaycard Platinum with 0% balance transfer for 12 months.
Yesterday, I was accepted for a Fluid credit card with 0% on balance transfers and purchases for 16/14 months.

My old sub prime credit cards are gone and now I just have 2 prime cards.

I'm happy that my meticulous banking has paid off, and now I feel like I have everything in control!

regency_man

Congrats - it does feel good when you get out the other side. Sometimes it just takes time, which can be frustrating when you are trying to move your life forward. I battled with a defaulted account for a long time (and it was only £150!) - got rejected for everything I went for.
Luckily I already had a couple of cards with reasonable limits so I just kept plugging away and using them like a saint, paying off every penny on time every month. But still got rejected for any new products.

Then, finally, the 6 years was up and sure enough the default dropped off my account. My Experian rating went from Average to Excellent overnight and I immediately applied for a couple of the hardest to get cashback cards and was accepted automatically.

It's a great feeling.

You-kip

I must admit it must be really frustrating & hard to know that if you've racked up thousands of pounds of debt and it either gets frozen or wiped clean knowing you don't have to pay a penny back must be quite hard to take.

justcat

You-kip wrote: »

I must admit it must be really frustrating & hard to know that if you've racked up thousands of pounds of debt and it either gets frozen or wiped clean knowing you don't have to pay a penny back must be quite hard to take.

What do you mean by that?

regency_man

You-kip wrote: »

I must admit it must be really frustrating & hard to know that if you've racked up thousands of pounds of debt and it either gets frozen or wiped clean knowing you don't have to pay a penny back must be quite hard to take.

What are you talking about? The OP said nothing about not paying debts back. Even if you pay back every penny you owe, it still takes years to repair a credit file. Stop trolling.

Thrugelmir

regency_man wrote: »

I immediately applied for a couple of the hardest to get cashback cards and was accepted automatically.

It's a great feeling.

Like going to AA, only you can kick the habit for good. Lenders are fully aware of how people behave and their attitude. As individuals fall into distinct groups by character. So don't throw the hard work away. .