How long does it take to improve your credit scoring???

Sparkles81_2

Hi,

My husband has recently found out that his credit scoring is not good, and he is regarded as someone with a fair credit score.

As a result we cannot get a loan that we wanted to get.

On speaking to an underwriting from the Halifax, he said the reason my husband's credit score is low is because of a missed mortgage payment back in December 2006.

This is true we missed our 30th December 2006 mortgage payment as my husband's work paid everyone late (mixed up on there part). I remember ringing the mortgage company and telling them this and forewarning them that the payment would be late. I duly rang and paid the mortgage as soon as my husband was paid. The mortgage company (C & G) said everything was fine and all was well.

Apparently they have marked our credit file as a missed payment, which is wasn't it was just late by about 5 days.

My husband did one of those free credit file things, so we have this on our file.

Any advice as to how to improve our crediting scoring would be great.

Many thanks

angelavdavis

Missed payments will appear on the credit file for 6 years.

Different lenders have different criteria for scoring individuals and also use different credit agencies - your rating from one agency might be different from another.

Check the report carefully as there might be other items on it that are causing you problems, such as not appearing on the electoral role or having incorrect information on it.

Was the loan in joint names? Might be worth checking yours too.

One tip is to cancel any old credit or store cards that you are no longer using as effectively, lenders see this as "available" credit - even if you have cut up the card, you need to cancel the account.

I think you should speak to your lender challenging them about the mark on the file to see if this can be amended, following it up with a letter sent recorded delivery confirming the situation. I would then get a note put on the file relating to the late payment. Essentially, their missed payment mark is incorrect - so they are technically breaching Data Protection placing incorrect information on the file (bit contentious this one as they could argue that your late payment amounts to a missed payment). You could have actually changed your direct debit date for that month which would have helped.

I also always always recommend you follow up phone calls to banks with letters (pref. sent recorded) confirming your conversation, this will help you when you need to challenge them in future. I do this more now that everyone has to deal with call centres as they are so prone to making mistakes or not updating files with essential information relating to your call.

Here is link to a site that will explain the process about credit files.

Martin also has an article here on improving your credit file rating that might be worth reading through too.

If its any consolation, I had an excellent rating two months ago, applied for two credit cards - one cashback and one to stooze. I then applied for the Capital One cashback because it was a higher cashback rate and was told that my credit rating meant I was refused! I suspect that Capital one saw me as too good at paying off my credit cards (I cleared them in June), so they weren't likely to make a lot of money from me!

rog2

Six years seems a bit harsh for a payment that was only five days late.

angelavdavis

Yes it does, but basically, the mark will sit on file for that long! I was late on a payment on my IKEA card back in 2001, its only JUST disappeared from my credit file, even though I closed down the card in 2004!