Preparing credit report

CatchFazed

Hello,

A number of people on this board were very helpful with my last query so hoping to get some help on a few points.

We're about to apply for a mortgage through a broker, and I've gathered my statutory reports from Equifax and Experian. On my accounts section I have two late payments to a Debenhams (Santander) account from 2007, and the account was closed and settled in August 2009. They we're totally my own fault - I had an erratic work payment in place and I was simply late paying them. They aren't in consecutive months. How likely is this to affect my mortgage application?

My second question is on whether to close my credit cards, which I've been paying off this year in preparation for applying. They are:

Nationwide £0 balance, £3500 limit
Lloyds £0 balance, £4750 limit
Virgin £2300 balance, £3500 limit
Barclaycard £2123 balance, £6000 limit

They recently upped my Barclaycard limit to £11000, but I asked them to take it down to £6k.

I ask because there seems to be mixed information about whether it's best to have less access to credit, or a lower debt to limit ratio!

Any thoughts you have greatly appreciated!

H

jacobtheamish

A couple of late payments more than 12 months ago should not be a concern to a lender.

A good target to aim for is a 0.45 debt to income ratio, one or two credit cards well managed would be absolutely fine.

CatchFazed

Thanks Jacobtheamish. Am always mystified by the dark arts of lending!

H