confused and dazed

decdec01

first post but frequent reader went bankrupt in aug09,after nearly 6 years ready to start afresh,would like to buy a house for 80k and put 40k down.At moment credit files full of defaults etc,have to move out of rented house shortly,is it poss to get mortgage now or best to wait and rent for 6 months then try. any advice will be appreciated

National_Debtline

Hi decdec01,

If you went bankrupt in August 2009 then your bankruptcy will be nearly ready to come off your file (August 2015), which will start to help improve your score; and most defaults are registered before a bankruptcy so they must be very close to coming off (6 years from the date of default). All of this will help to improve your score but it is difficult to say whether that will be enough for a mortgage.

Be careful, credit scores are affected by a lot of different things all at the same time (age, financial history, financial associations, being on the electoral role and searches), so once your bankruptcy and defaults drop off, that will be better, but the score may still not instantly improve. If you do apply for a mortgage(s) but are declined then you will leave a ‘search’ on your file. Too many of these can be damaging to your score (but they normally only stay on the file for 12months).

Have a read of our factsheet to help weigh up your choices - https://www.nationaldebtline.org/EW/factsheets/Pages/05 EW Credit reference agencies and credit reports/Default.aspx

Laura
@natdebtline