Credit limit and usage effecting credit score

[Deleted User]

Hello all,

I am now completely confused.

My credit score dropped from good to fair because of two new "flags" on my file (Experian) in June:
The total balance of your unsecured accounts has increased
The usage of your credit accounts has increased

My credit accounts are my Barclaycard which I pay in full and the overdraft that I have on my current account (which I have not used at all for at least a year).

Frankly, I do not know what they mean by either of the two.
Potentially: 3 months ago (!!) in January I increased my cc limit from 1,000 to 3,000 and accepted an offer to increase my overdaft from 2,340 to 3,460.
In May I went into the green heavens of "good credit".

The only thing I have done that I can recall as remotely relevant is move some money from my current account into ISA (also with Barclays).
I have not done anything else different recently to have those indicators of higher usage on my cc (the highest it has ever been was just over 700 which I paid even before my monthly balance). I always keep my statements at around GBP 250. The highest statement was GBP 622 in February.

This is the overview from Experian:
Number of credit accounts (including those settled) 2
Amount of available credit (excluding mortgages) £6,018
% of your total credit being used (excluding mortgages) 3%
Amount of outstanding debt (excluding mortgages) £242
Number of accounts overdue 0
Number of missed or late repayments in the last year 0

My two biggest "flaws" :
- I have no settled credit accounts (would getting rid of my overdraft count as such by the way? - adviser in Barclays suggested I did that)
- I am not on electoral roll (and cannot be because I have no right to vote in UK, a note on which I have added to the f-ing Experian piece of no-good paper)

:wall: :eek: :mad:

thebritishbloke

First, stop paying for your credit score. It means absolutely nothing. One of my friends who has zero credit was recently given a higher score than I have, even though I've always made full payments each month etc etc. It's a random number that means nothing.

If you want access to your credit report all the time, get ProtectMyID instead. It's provided by Experian, you just don't get the credit score. It costs £6.99 a month rather than £14.99 a month.

That's their stupid flagging system doing it's job. You're obviously not using a lot of your credit at all.

Closing your overdraft would not count as settled, you'd have to close the entire bank account. It's not worth it though, because then your oldest account has been closed.

Good job adding a notice of correction about the electoral roll at least!

I wouldn't worry about it too much so long as it's still showing green boxes each month

[Deleted User]

Thank you for your response, ..er, British Bloke

I will cancel my Experian, would rather pay 2 pounds a month. I signed up hoping I'd get some of the "professional advice" from the customer service, but those guys seem to know even less than me!
Would rather chat with you guys over here, seems like a better investment of my time

It is just so unfortunate that such an imperfect system plays such a major role in banks' decision-making process

I would need to take out a loan to pay for MBA - and at present I am not sure how to achieve this May need to either forget all about it, or wait for a couple of more years (if not until it is time to retire) when I could get a British passport (= register on electoral roll and potentially lower fees) .

PS> ProtectMyID is no longer available to new customers

Thrugelmir

Deleted_User wrote: »

- I have no settled credit accounts (

Settled accounts refers to personal loans or other fixed term advances. Credit cards or overdrafts amount to revolving credit where irrespective of the current balance. The amount owed could change within minutes. So there's no certainty .

20aday

thebritishbloke wrote: »

First, stop paying for your credit score. It means absolutely nothing. One of my friends who has zero credit was recently given a higher score than I have, even though I've always made full payments each month etc etc. It's a random number that means nothing.

If you want access to your credit report all the time, get ProtectMyID instead. It's provided by Experian, you just don't get the credit score. It costs £6.99 a month rather than £14.99 a month.

That's their stupid flagging system doing it's job. You're obviously not using a lot of your credit at all.

Closing your overdraft would not count as settled, you'd have to close the entire bank account. It's not worth it though, because then your oldest account has been closed.

Good job adding a notice of correction about the electoral roll at least!

I wouldn't worry about it too much so long as it's still showing green boxes each month

BIB: ProtectMyID is no longer available to new customers.

[Deleted User]

By the way, Experian now provide a fraud and search monitoring service for GBP 2.99/ month. Which I have switched to just now

thebritishbloke

Deleted_User wrote: »

By the way, Experian now provide a fraud and search monitoring service for GBP 2.99/ month. Which I have switched to just now

What service is that? I can't find it online.

20aday wrote: »

BIB: ProtectMyID is no longer available to new customers.

Yeah only just noticed this, swear I saw it was still available a couple of weeks ago.

[Deleted User]

A customer services representative told me this over the phone, will see what it is like when my current full membership expires