What am I doing wrong?

Thrugelmir

edin08 wrote: »

They have both now been paid in full and are fully satisfied.

When did you settle the debts?

edin08

They were both settled around 3 months after they were defaulted, so both defaults have been satisfied for over 5 years.

Round_The_Bend

Other posters have previously suggested that Barclaycard are one of the more forgiving credit card providers, in terms of offering credit cards before the six years is up. MBNA may be a possibility too. Both have their own eligibility soft searches, so why don't you give them a try. The links are:

http://www.barclaycard.co.uk/personal/credit-cards#/?filter=1321067642253

https://apply.mbna.co.uk/UKNeoCCapp/entry?sc=1OCMCPLIMD00556&mc=OCMCPL006RC

I assume that TSB will be similar to Lloyds, with whom I hold my personal account, in which case you will most likely have to wait for your defaults to drop off your credit file; at least, this was my experience.

Once your defaults drop off, you should be able to pick and choose your provider, given your circumstances.

Keep paying off your current credit cards, in full, every month and I imagine that you should be good to go, in December, when you look to apply for your mortgage. By the way, you do realise, don't you, that other providers to whom you apply are unable to see which providers your current credit cards are with, so the issue of prime and sub prime lenders isn't really relevant?

edin08

Thanks for the reply.

I realise they can't tell who the provider is, but they can view the credit limits and from that they will be able to - reasonably - conclude that it is a sub-prime credit card. I think I may simply close the credit card accounts in a few months.

Thanks once again for all the replies!

Round_The_Bend

Chances are that your credit limits will have been increased significantly by the time that you need to apply for your mortgage and even if the lender recognises that it's a sub prime lender, this is probably of less importance than your having established a reliable repayment history. Some posters also suggest that closing down cards can have a more negative impact upon your rating.

I just checked the increases in credit limits on my Aqua card. I started off at £600, which was increased to £1500 after four months, then to £2700, after a further five, and then to £4100, after another six months. It's not a bad card and good for use abroad, as it doesn't charge foreign exchange commissions.

Did you try either of the eligibility checkers suggested?

Dandytf

It won't do any harm to wait-3-6 months after December.......at the very least stop applying for cards meanwhile.

edin08

I don't think I need to stop applying for cards, I think you may have misinterpreted my message - I mainly use soft searches, the only full application for a card on my account is with my own bank two months ago.

It won't do any harm, but it's also pointless - I don't want to pay another 6 months of rent if I can avoid it.

m4rc

I don't think closing the card accounts will help at all, if you want to improve your credit file that's going backwards as you will have even less credit so it's harder to assess if you are a good or bad risk.

If you can't get a bank account I'm not sure anyone will give you a mortgage in 6 months. There are lenders who will loan to people with defaults and CCJ's once over a few years old, and it will of course help once the defaults don't show anymore. However I would think you should be doing all you can to show potential lenders you can pay your bills on time every month, not closing accounts and have nothing to show. I have spent the last year sorting out my credit file and as time goes on and credit limits increase and my records of good payments keep adding on I get offered more and more credit. It was hard in the beginning and I got rejected for everything I applied but once I got a sub-prime card and kept the payments things changed very quickly.

I hope you do get approved for a mortgage in 6 months, I just wanted to offer my thoughts as it may well be a harder slog than that, depending on he size of your deposit etc - if you have 30-40% I think it's gets a bit easier as you are obviously less of a risk. Good luck

edin08

Thanks for your reply m4rk.

The only reason I can see for my troubles accessing credit just now is the two satisfied defaults that will have both dropped off in 6 months time - I'm hopeful I will be able to get a mortgage as soon as the final one drops off in December.

I've got just over 5 years of credit history - I've had numerous accounts, all been paid on time with no late payments and never once gone off the limit - I quite literally have a sea of green ticks, and the only negative point on my credit report is that I have a default on my account. It's just frustrating that two satisfied defaults from over 5 years ago can still have such a huge impact on my access to credit - but, it is completely understandable!

I appreciate what folk have said about keeping the credit card accounts open, so I shall do just that.

Thanks once again everyone for your replies!

matttye

I was accepted for credit cards with capital one, aqua and luma, but declined by barclaycard.

As soon as my final default dropped off I applied for a 123 credit card and was given it.