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Credit score

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Just checked via Experian and my score is 714. I have 2 late payments but everything else is up to date. I am struggling to keep up my credit card payments and considering a DMP but wondering if I should just continue paying in order not to make my score worse.

I pay £500 of debts as minimum payments each month and have a 1k overdraft that I always use. Step change said with a DMP my payments will reduce to £97 per month but take about 7 years to pay off debts. Not sure what to do. I would love the extra disposable income by being free of the huge debt but not sure if I am making a mistake as my credit score may not be that bad at the moment.

Advise please...

Comments

  • Gaz83
    Gaz83 Posts: 4,047 Forumite
    1,000 Posts Combo Breaker
    Credit scores are worthless and are pretty much made up by the company. No lender will ever see them.

    If you are paying them, then why do you want to reduce? What do you plan to do with the 'disposable income'?
    "Facism arrives as your friend. It will restore your honour, make you feel proud, protect your house, give you a job, clean up the neighbourhood, remind you of how great you once were, clear out the venal and the corrupt, remove anything you feel is unlike you... [it] doesn't walk in saying, "our programme means militias, mass imprisonments, transportations, war and persecution."
  • The_Boss
    The_Boss Posts: 5,858 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Photogenic Name Dropper
    You don't have a credit score. The number you're referring to is a made up number generated by Experian that fails to include crucial data that lenders consider.
  • Tixy
    Tixy Posts: 31,455 Forumite
    How are you managing payments at the moment? Are you reusing the credit cards after you have paid them off each month?

    Being on a DMP will certainly trash your credit report but you need to decide if realistically you can continue as you are.

    It may be worth posting on the debt free wannabe section and posting up a statement of affairs (income/expenditure before debt repayments/list of debts and payments) to see if people there can help you find ways to manage your payments better (by saving money elsewhere or increasing your income etc).

    If you could afford to carry on paying the £500 a month towards your debts how long will it take you to clear them?
    A smile enriches those who receive without making poorer those who give
    or "It costs nowt to be nice"
  • tgirl
    tgirl Posts: 52 Forumite
    The problem is I don't think I can keep up and I'm finding it hard to manage all the other bills. It would help if interest was stopped but I don't know how to go about it. Half of my payments are interest.
  • tgirl wrote: »
    Half of my payments are interest.
    It's probably not much consolation but there are some people whose payments appear to be 90-95% interest. Hang in there.
    Are you for real? - Glass Half Empty??
    :coffee:
  • amjad87
    amjad87 Posts: 9 Forumite
    I think most companies assess on how lucrative you are to them. As oppose the true scoring system if that even exists.

    Even I have been turned down many times. Never missed payments & always paid on time.
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