Building A Report

tomxlisa

Hi there

Needed some advice on the best way to go with rebuilding my credit report, I have recently checked all three of my reports (call credit, experian, equifax) and they are all clear from the bad bits, I was a little silly when I was younger and got a few defaults but it looks as if they have all dropped off, no CCJs not that I ever had one of them but they are clear too as they should be, anyways the only thing on there now is my catalogue account which I have had for a about 2 years which I have never missed a payment on but that's it, I am currently not on the electoral roll on the report but have recently added myself too it, I have just applied to capital one for a credit card purely to try and build my credit history as like I say it's clear apart from the catalogue and credit searches which I will not apply for anything else now and wait for them to drop off also, I did apply for a Halifax credit card today though as I applied for a Halifax current account a couple of weeks ago and got accepted with a £250 overdraft the reason I got this account was to build a credit history also, am I going in the right direction or can you give me any other tips with how to improve my report, by the way I got declined for the Halifax credit card so I am guessing this is because i am not on the electoral roll yet or lack of credit history.

Thrugelmir

What's you aim?

Using credit facilities in a responsible manner builds a good history. There's no point in obtaining more credit than you actually need.

Electoral history is a basic requirement for lenders. As it's what ties your history together. Remember to pay your "other" bills on time.

tomxlisa

The aim is to have a strong credit report where in the future if I do want a better credit card with a more reasonable rate I have the best chances of getting it, and say if I want a mortgage in the future, just a decent credit file so I have the best chances of getting the best products and not just high rate products for people with bad credit or no credit history.

tomxlisa

Any other advice or am I on the right road to building the history with the credit card?.

Experian_company_representative

Hi Tomxlisa,

It certainly sounds like you are on the right track to rebuild your credit history.

If the older defaults have now dropped off your report, keeping the accounts that you have open up to date, and limiting the number of applications will mean that the positive information on your report will start to build.

Our Ask James page covers rebuilding a good credit history which you may find useful here.

Kind regards
Neil

tomxlisa

Thanks for the info, when do you think i could get better cards then, at the moment i have managed to open a capital one account, a argos store card account and i have a catalogue account open which has been for the past 2 years, the other two accounts are very recent, i would like to get myself into a position where i can apply for better cards like the tesco credit card, basically something with a better APR and something designed for people with a good credit history.

tomxlisa

Advice anyone?.

Dobbibill

You have plenty of credit facilities at the moment with the credit card and catalogue and not forgetting Argos.

Run these perfectly, paying off in full each month for several months but I would stop applying for credit now.

You don't want to go overkill with applications.

Sometimes, after running accounts for a period of time, the providers offer a credit limit increase. When this happens, it will give you an indication that things are going in the right direction.

It is not something that can be built/rebuilt in a few weeks/months. It is going to take years but can start to improve after maybe 6 months or so.

HTH

tomxlisa

Thanks for your reply,

I have gone a bit over the top on applying for credit recently so not gonna apply for anything else again until at least I know I have a really good chance of being accepted, the next time I apply for anything I want it to be for a mainstream card, do you have to pay it off every month, will it affect you if you don't, I know your pay interest but will it have any negative affect on the credit reports, I am lucky to have got what I have really as I know I am not on the electoral roll, but have recently applied to be on there, also the only thing on my files are the catalogue account so again lucky as I have a very thin file.

Dobbibill

tomxlisa wrote: »

do you have to pay it off every month, will it affect you if you don't, I know your pay interest but will it have any negative affect on the credit reports

In a nutshell, yes it will because you will be building up debt.

If you are looking to build/rebuild your Credit worthiness then you should be looking to pay in full. Using your credit card for regular spending such as fuel (if you drive) or groceries and then paying off in full is ideal. Setting up a Direct Debit is also best, just because if you miss the payment date, even by one day, you will have a late payment and this will impact you negatively.

What you are trying to prove is that you are responsible with lending/credit facilities. Building up ongoing debt is not going to evidence this. Paying off in full will. You should also be aiming to clear you catalogue balance too (if you have one).

If in the future you look to apply/reapply for a mortgage, they check your affordability, ongoing debt repayments for existing credit will impact this and could be the difference between a positive or negative response.

HTH

tomxlisa

Just a quick question about interest while we are talking about paying in full every month, if i don't pay back in full is the interest added to the outstanding balance or do you not see the interest amount on the statement, also if i don't pay off the balance in full, then i know i would pay interest on that balance but what about any new purchases, would they still be interest free until the next statement date?.