Trying to improve likelihood of getting a mortgage

lil_Amz99

So I came to these threads tonight as me and my partner have decided we would like to buy a house hopefully next year and was looking up ways to improve our credit scores but have found out these are not relevant so now I'm stumped!

I have a couple of credit cards only 1 with a small balance (£30) which I am just paying the minimum payment on, I have had loans, phone contracts, sofa finance in the past all paid as they should have been and now settled.
I work 30 hours per week on £14k.

My partner works fulltime on £25k and has a couple of credit cards with zero balance but he has had bad debts in the past. The biggest (17k) is no longer on his credit file but he has a car finance payment he defaulted on which is with debt collection company.

He is currently disputing the debt and this is "under investigation" with them at the moment.

I am hoping that they will write this debt off or at least reduce it but if not we will have to set up a regular payment to them.

So now I know that the credit scores arent what I need to be focusing on, what can I do improve our situation and liklihood of being accepted for a mortgage?!

(On Noddle he is 1/5 I am 3/5)

Thanks in advance for any advice

[Deleted User]

Why are you only paying min payment on a £30 balance? When do you expect to be able to pay if off?

You need to clear the debts, then demonstrate sound behaviour for a few years - the easiest way is to use a credit card regularly and paying it off in full each month.

lil_Amz99

We get married in 8 weeks so every spare penny is going to that at the moment, I will pay the whole amount off after the wedding

I was also told by a friend that this might help...? is this true?

Tixy

Does he still owe the £17k that no longer shows on his credit file? is he making payments towards it?

Will his other debts be paid off in full before you apply for a mortgage?

What is the date of default on the account that still shows on file?

In terms of your credit card, it would really be better to pay off in full each month, even if you then put an equivalent £30 purchase back on the card each month. But if you will clear it soon anyway and are not applying for a mortgage for a year then its no big deal.

lil_Amz99

Yes he still owes the £17k although he hasnt acknowledged this debt for over 6 years so that is our next thing to look into. He makes no payments towards it at all.

The Car debt we are disputing as he doesn't agree with it but we will have to pay it before we apply for a mortgage if they wont cancel it. The date is december 2012 and no payment has been made since then

Tixy

If the debt is statute barred then I imagine you would have a good case to not declare it on a mortgage application (even though technically the money is still owed).

If a debt had dropped off file but wasn't yet statute barred then he would definitely need to have declared it on application.

lil_Amz99

I'm not sure if it is or not as for a while they had his phone number and he has taken calls from them. We cant remember exactly how long ago this was but possibly less than 6 years

Could the mortgage company find out about this if it not statute barred?

Tixy

Telephone contact doesn't count as a 'cause of action' in terms of when a debt would become statute barred.

It has to be a payment, or a written acknowledgement from him.

In terms of a mortgage company finding out - if not statute barred and if the creditor did successfully take court action then the CCJ would be on public record / his credit file. If this happened after the mortgage was taken out they could still find out about it.

Take a look at first few posts on this to help establish if this is likely already statute barred - Statute barred debts and the Limitation Acts
Anyone chasing for payment on this at all recently?

lil_Amz99

Ah ok that is good to know thank you! I thought the phone calls would count!

He has no CCJ against him as we checked his credit file with experian and noddle. NO one has chased this one for months now and although we have moved house quite a lot they are usually very quick to find him so possible they have given up *fingers crossed* lol

chanz4

for 17k, expect court action

Tixy

Unusual for a debt of that size to become statute barred. Usually get a creditor or debt collector trying to take court action before it becomes statute barred. But not unheard of, so hopefully for him it is already statute barred.

Does the credit file show all addresses for the last 6years (so no chance of a CCJ having already being obtained at an address that isn't showing on his file)?

If he is chased again and if he thinks it is statute barred then probably best to send a letter to say so (one of the templates), rather than just ignore.
Ideally he'd then get a written response that agrees they are not in a position to take any further action.