Settled Pay Day loans and credit rating

SavingsDrive87

Hello,

I wondered if anyone could help me? I used Wonga about 2 years ago. I'm not going to say stupidly because I didn't have anywhere else to turn. I hadn't been out of university very long and was in an entry level job and unable to pay the rent or bills for a particularly tough couple of months when some unexpected costs hit me.

I paid the loan off at the start of each month, then I would get another loan towards the end of the month when my funds ran low. In total I took out 4 loans but paid each one back either on or before the due date. I didn't roll any of these loans over.

Now I'm in a very different situation, I have established myself in a career, I have a good salary, savings and other than a student loan which is paid back more like a tax, I am debt free. :beer:

Apparently I have an excellent credit score as I have lots of settled debts and no missed repayments, but this must be some sort of joke as I am unable to obtain credit. I was turned down for a credit card recently, I wanted a Tesco clubcard credit card to collect points, with the plan to pay it back in full each month (its a little sad but I'm collecitng avios points)

Has anyone come across this before, can I remove the settled wonga debts? Or as I think the answer might be, I need to wait 6 years for these to be removed? Any advice, help, greatly appreciated

Thrugelmir

SavingsDrive87 wrote: »

Has anyone come across this before, can I remove the settled wonga debts? Or as I think the answer might be, I need to wait 6 years for these to be removed?

They won't be removed. Credit file history remains for 6 years. Over which they drop off.

The PDL's are a historical record of your finances. So you'll need to bite the bullet and accept the consequences.

Tixy

In terms of the effect on your ability to get credit, this will likely lessen the older they get.

Do you have other existing credit accounts? is the tesco card the first thing you have applied for since the payday loans?

Which credit reference agency did you obtain your file from? and is that definitely the same agency that tesco searched? (can you see the search from them on your file)

The_Boss

SavingsDrive87 wrote: »

Apparently I have an excellent credit score as I have lots of settled debts and no missed repayments, but this must be some sort of joke as I am unable to obtain credit.

Yes, it is some sort of joke - you don't have a credit score, nor does anybody, so anything that gives you a 'score' or makes you believe you have one is an incredulous joke that's not worth bothering with.

pmd123

In addition to the advice above, I believe that Tesco are one of the choosiest companies around, and won't give credit out unless your record is squeaky clean. I't may be worth applying with another company for a credit card, however this will not help your accumulation of club card points.