Help please!

Mrshilton

Hi

I'd really appreciate some advice. My husband and I would like to buy our own home, we've been renting for 6 years and have managed to get together £25,000 for a deposit, we have a good income of £65,000 per year between us.

I however don't have a fantastic credit rating, it is showing as very poor at the moment on Equifax. I have a CCJ which Severn Trent Water filed against me for water charges on a house I didn't live in anymore, I was never aware of these charges until it had already gone through the court process, anyway it should be taken off early next year. It doesn't show on my credit report, but does show on my credit score, no idea why!

I also have a couple of defaults, dated below:-

Default of £72 in June 2011 which is settled
Default of £328 in January 2012 with Lowell (I have no idea what this relates to so will be contacting them!)
Default of £759 in March 2010 which is settled

Strangely my Experian credit report shows my credit rating as good with none of my history!

Not that it's ever any excuse but my husband was out of work at the above times and we were managing solely on my salary so priorities had to be rent, council tax, bills etc and such things as next directory and phone bills had to be missed, they were all settled though once we had a full income again.

Can anyone offer us any advice regarding applying for a mortgage, we were looking to consider buying towards the end of 2014, are we completely screwed because of my history?

Thanks

Tixy

Hi

I was never aware of these charges until it had already gone through the court process, anyway it should be taken off early next year.

What is the date of the CCJ? do you dispute that they debt belonged to you or the period you lived in the house? have you considered a set aside application?

It doesn't show on my credit report, but does show on my credit score, no idea why!

Why do you think it is affecting your score if it is not showing on your file?

The recent defaults are not going to help, but if they are all settled and as they are all relatively small you may well find a lender prepared to offer you a mortgage. Probably not one of the high street lenders with the best rates but a more specialist lender. Those lenders tend to charge higher fees and offer a lower ltv. How much are you hoping to borrow on a mortgage and what deposit do you hope to have saved by the end of 2014?
When you are close to wanting to apply I'd approach an independent whole of market mortgage broker with copies of your credit reports for you both from all 3 agencies so that they can see the whole situation.

Regarding the Lowell default, when you find out what it is have a think about whether the default date is likely correct. If its really something you defaulted on much earlier then it may be worth challenging the date to try to get it re-dated to an earlier date.

Fruit_and_Nut_Case

Mrshilton wrote: »

It doesn't show on my credit report, but does show on my credit score, no idea why!

Only Experian and yourself will see this so-called score, so don't worry too much.

Mrshilton

Hi I'm unsure of the date of the CCJ, I know it must have been 2008 sometime. Basically I moved from a property in with my now husband and notified STW that I was moving, I have letters they sent to my new address confirming that I had moved house. Approximately a year after this we applied for a mortgage and were declined, when I checked my credit score there was the CCJ! When i called them about it they stated I hadn't informed them I was moving and they had continued to charge me water rates for an address I no longer lived it, despite them also charging the new tenant, so they basically were charging two people! I approached citizens advice at the time about applying to Northampton court to have it set aside, but they advised me I could try but apparently STW are notorious for this kind of activity. I was going to apply and had the forms when my husband stopped providing an income and everything became extremely tight financially and I fell pregnant, so I stupidly let it slip. I'm not so stressed about it as it should be taken off next year as it will reach the 6 years. I asked Equifax which month it will be taken, but they were about as useful as a chocolate bar in a cooker!

I thought it was affecting my score as it was shown as a big red box next to my score, but like I say it isn't listed on my report, only shown next to the score as a negative factor on my report. On the actual report it has no information under CCJs.

We were hoping to look for a property about the 180,000 mark, unfortunately we live in a pretty expensive area, that amount would probably get us a 3 bed semi, we don't really want to move out of the area because our son will be settled at school (he starts tomorrow!), plus we know we can easily afford a mortgage of this amount even on one salary.

My husband already has a business mortgage through a local building society so we would probably approach them to help us, he has equity in the commercial property, so hopefully that will help!

I have a feeling the Lowells debt was a debt they purchased from Orange many moons ago and they have automatically filed it as a default as soon as they bought it from them, even though at the time they had never contacted me, I could be wrong but I'm betting that's what it is, the !!!!!!s!

Mrshilton

Hmmm interesting just googled STW and CCJ and there are loads of people around the same time who had the same thing happen to them, I'm definitely going to look into having it set aside if its not due to come off soon!

tinkerbell28

Being honest....with that kind of mortgage you're going to really need a 20% deposit min with recent defaults, I'd say. Even then I don't think it will be easy.