HELP: I wrecked my Credit Score badly

northernsnow

Hi everybody,
First of all thank you for maintaining such a thriving community. Perhaps some of the things that I am going to say are horrifying, and I do apologise for them. I regret doing them and I will eventually pay the consequences. There is a financial ombudsman around here. I know it is not like it is a dementor, but I am afraid to speak out some things.
My credit scores are bad. Proper bad.
Clearscore: 280 out of 700
Noodle: 543 (I do not remember the maximum). Tier 1 (really bad).
Experian: 594 (poor)

Now, here are the things that are affecting my credit score. I am an EU national, and some of the things I know now were unknown to me:

Moving a lot. And I do mean a lot. And registering all the addresses (stupid me for not using the Royal Mail redirection service). When I told T-mobile to send me the bills to a PO BOX, it actually got recorded on the system of the Credit Agencies. This in only one year, since I arrived into the UK.

Applying for a lot of accounts. At so point, I was turned down SO MANY TIMES UNFAIRLY WHEN I TRIED TO OPEN MY FIRST ACCOUNT, that I kept on applying and applying and applying. It says on my file over 54 applications (including soft searches, current account applications and credit card applications for people with bad credit). The problem with this is, SOME OF THOSE APPLICATIONS WERE NEVER COMPLETED. I would always receive a letter very late by post asking me to call into branch with ID. And when I got into branch, for some obtuse reason they would not accept my Spanish EU Card, and only wanted my passport (which I did not have). Some other applications arrived SO late, that when I called the bank they simply said: "Just apply again, we cannot find your application".

Bank jittery: This is my fault. I remained unsatisfied with banks, and at some point I had the target of having always a bank counter nearby. With so many closures, this was not possible. At some other point I tried to set up accounts to get the maximum profit out of them (like 5% TSB, 3% BoS). This was just a huge mistake. I did not know this would affect my score so badly (opening so many). I have taken a toll and closed all of them by using the switching facility, and will remain with TSB and a savings company.

The disaster I created:

My bank changed my name. Period. And this is something common to most spaniards. I had 4 names AAAA BBBB CCCC DDDD. One bank had it as AAAA CCCC-DDDD, another AAAA BBBB CCCC DDDD, another as AAAA DDDDD. I remember having an account with Lloyds and Halifax and BoS and the teller saying that I was three customers at the same time and she did not know how to fix it.

To make things far more complicated, I changed my name. I THEN RECEIVED A SHOUT OUT BY THE SPANISH AUTHORITIES SAYING I COULD NOT DO THAT AND WOULD REMAIN WITH TWO NAMES IN TWO COUNTRIES. And guess what, I closed ALL MY ACCOUNTS and opened them again under my new name. And again, I had to reverse my name, this time to something agreed with the registrar of Spain and myself, so that my name would only be BBBB AAAA CCCC.

The bad things I did:

I applied for bank accounts with non accurate residence information. I told the banks I had been three years in the UK. This was out of desperation at first. But when I read that all the financial corporations could caught me lying, I had to keep on with my original version. Somehow, so many addresses and names made them lost track of the very old accounts. I DO NOT FEEL PROUD OF THIS AND I REGRET IT A LOT. I remember in one of the applications for N&P, that I received an email saying that my information had been passed to CIFAS (the very first name)

What I have done so far:

Over the last months: Unify all my financial details under my correct last name.

Get the ClearCash Prepaid Card (part of CashPlus Group), and pay the monthly fee hoping to improve my score. (About 9.99GBP)

Signed up for Credit Improver (look it up on this webpage). A sort of credit company that gives you credit, but in reality you are paying to them without ever having a credit facility. In exchange, they will pass your details on when it finishes and mark it as a completed loan.

Register on the electoral roll

Stop moving houses! I know live in an affordable room, in the lovely countryside, with my education centre and my work nearby.

Things that I have on my credit file:

• An overdraft facility of 250GBP in Bank of Scotland. It appears on my credit file as available credit. On the "clean up" of accounts, should I close this account? It is one of the first accounts that I got when I arrived into the UK. Will it sink my credit score because I do not have available credit?

• I have accounts under my former name missing. Should I tell them?

• There is nothing recorded on the section of CIFAS. Should I register with them? (I am scared of this, a lot).

• There is information missing on my balance. This is partly my fault for moving my momey so much, and my landlords' for not letting me pay by bank transfer. The rest of the money vanished pretty quickly, so maybe at the end of each monht they just saw the account near to 0.

Sorry for the big text. Any advice. Am I on the right track? What else can I do?
My aim is to remain with two or three bank account providers and one savings provider.

northernsnow

Oh, I forgot! It gets better. I applied for payday loans on an emergency and all of them were refused. I have been an idiot, I know.

I also need something to budget. I do not know how to carry out a weekly shopping. I always end up over or underspending

DevCoder

If you fraudulently applied for accounts by stating you had been living in the UK for 3 years then you may well be on the NHunter database or have a CIFAS marker next to your name if anyone has found out.

This would account for a lot.

http://www.nhunter.co.uk
https://www.cifas.org.uk

The fact there is nothing recorded on a CIFAS section of a credit agency doesn't mean a lot to be honest, if the credit agency isn't the one that that is being reported by the institution that has submitted the marker to NHunter/CIFAS then it won't appear (although it should appear on the others).

You need to ask CIFAS/Nhunter if there are any markers against you.

DevCoder

You do know that your score means nothing? No lender/FI ever sees that.

Ignore the score its whats on your credit report (and what markers if any you have) that lenders/FI's see...

northernsnow

Hi krisdorey.

If I apply to CIFAS and something pops up,what do I do? How do I react?

Will they call me?

Thanks

LplateSaver

northernsnow wrote: »

• There is information missing on my balance. This is partly my fault for moving my momey so much, and my landlords' for not letting me pay by bank transfer. The rest of the money vanished pretty quickly, so maybe at the end of each monht they just saw the account near to 0.

Don't worry about that. 0 is good it means you're not overdrawn. Balances above 0 don't get reported.

LplateSaver

northernsnow wrote: »

Hi krisdorey.

If I apply to CIFAS and something pops up,what do I do? How do I react?

Will they call me?

Thanks

Also this is the form for cifas https://www.cifas.org.uk/secure/contentPORT/uploads/documents/External%20-%20SAR%20Form.pdf

But hopefully you've been rejected because of too many searches and not a fraud marker. I sillily extended the length of time I'd been in the country when I first arrived too. :eek:

northernsnow

Hi. Thanks everybody for your tips. I will get hands on with CIFAS and National Hunters.

Can somebody give me guidance on whether I am doing ok with the plans to rebuild the credit score? (prepaid loan, prepaid card, etc.). Anything else I can do?

And if I did not complete the bank applications (even tho there are searches), can I somehow claim for them to be removed.

Thanks.

aymz1983

As people have said before, the 'scores' are meaningless, so don't put too much emphasis on them. Although if they ever did mean anything, at one point in my life mine was 0. Literally 0! So yeah, it's been a long slog but I'm getting there.

Rebuilding your credit file doesn't happen overnight, it will take time, and I think if you an accept that it will, it makes for an easier journey.
I don't know much about CIFAS markers etc but as a previous poster said, you can check to see what they have on you (if anything). If there is nothing, well there is a weight off of your mind.

the only other things I can suggest, from experience more than anything, is to make sure you're on the electoral roll for where you live, whch I see you've done. Don't keep moving! Don't make any new credit applications for the foreseeable future. You mention you find it hard to budget for a weekly shop, so the last thing you want to do is find yourself in further debt which you can't manage.

The searches on your file usually disappear after about 6 months, or sometimes less, so they won't stay on for a significant period of time. Just because you didnt complete the applications doesnt mean the searches should be removed - they are valid searches by the company to check you and should remain.

keep going with the pre-paid cards if they help your credit file. A lot of people on here use something called YNAB (You Need A Budget). If you have a look through the forum there is a thread dedicated to it. It is very good for managing your money, it lets you know where every penny is and needs to go. Very very helpful for money management.

The forums here are excellent and helpful. There are lots of ideas and even fun challenges you can do so they are worth taking a look at, and over time, you'll begin building yourself a good credit file but hopefully more importantly, you'll have more financial knowledge to keep yourself in the black.

And stay away from payday loans! I know you know they're bad but a reminder won't hurt! Even if you had one and paid it off no issues the darn things will haunt you!

thriftylass

northernsnow wrote: »

I also need something to budget. I do not know how to carry out a weekly shopping. I always end up over or underspending

I can't advice much on the rest but this. Start off by keeping a record of all your spending for a month or longer so you know where your money goes.

BTW what's the problem with underspending???

Then write a list of things you will need during the week, for breakfast, lunches and dinners, plus snacks, drinks, toiletries. And stick to it. Go to the shop when you are not rushed or hungry. Really only buy what's on the list. Over the weeks it will become second nature.