rebuilding my credit/ getting a mortgage advice needed.

Billythekid13

so Starting from the top.

8 years ago i was 19, working full time, living with parents and 'living the dream', i didn't have any savings, i spent as i earnt, had a personal loan to buy a fancy sports car. blah blah
This was fine for for a year or so, but for some reason i decided to better myself and go to university, i assumed id get a job and carry on as i was,this didn't happen.
To make matters worse halfway through my first year studentloans decided they were giving me to much, so stopped giving me as much maintenance loan, and asked for £600 of the money they 'overpaid' me back.
fast forward 6 months and id run out of money, was living on credit cards and dropping out of uni with a huge pile of debt, £6k personal loan, £1.5k Credit cards, student loan overpayments, phone bills, etc etc about £12k in total

I moved back in with my parents but still struggled to find work. all my bills Defaulted (2010) and were passed on to collectors.

Today, I am back in full time work (4 years now) with a pretty good job, i'm Married and i 'own' a very nice house (mortgage is in my wifes name) a have cleared all of my debts except my personal loan (£5k left) which i have a payment schedule that i have been paying for 4 years.

So now for the Questions.

Can i start rebuilding my credit rating while i still have defaults on my file?
or do i have to wait for them to drop off?

What is the best way to do that? Credit card? get a fresh loan and pay off the old one so i am no longer 'behind'

Me and my wife would like to buy a better house,we can afford it with both our salaries, but due to my defaults i cant be named on the mortgage so she can only get half the mortgage what we would want. is there anyway round this?

Am i trying to run before i can walk? should i wait until the defaults drop off, then start worrying about this?

longtermplanner

First priority is to pay off the old loan.

If you can afford a bigger mortgage, presumably either your savings are piling up or you are paying off her mortgage fast? This will all help with getting a bigger joint mortgage.

tonitarzan

true, how can you get a mortgage and afford to pay that when your running away from your debts, no offence

Billythekid13

Who said anything about running away from debts? i am paying everything in full, unlike lots of people on here who avoid them or try to pay as little as possible.

currently all our spare money is going on this house, we bought a project and have put in 3 years of hard work to double its value (hence how we can start affording a better house)
I could pay of the loan quicker, but i didn't think it would make much difference as the defaults are on until 2016, as long as it was paid off by then. Hence why i asked the questions.

CreditCrunchie

You can definitely start looking at improving your file now. Are you planning to apply for any major credit soon (new mortgage)? If not then i'd say take a punt on one or two of the subprime credit cards like Aqua, Vanquis, or Capital One. If they knock you back your file will have chance to recover within 3 - 6 months. if they accept then use these cards and pay off in full every month to get some nice green ticks on your file. In 12 months you should then be in a position to get back in to the mainstream market. Another 6 - 12 months with mainstream cards and you will be in a much better position once your defaults drop off and you're ready to look in to re-mortgaging etc.