Have I shot myself in the foot

markfj

Hi all

So, I recently, applied for several current accounts and a couple of savings accounts, as my plan as to save money into higher interest accounts for a mortgage. I literally did about 4-5 of these in a month.

However, a flat came up on the market whch should be affordable if I was to remortgage my current flat, so I wanted to view it and make an offer accordingly

Having just checked my Experian report, it displayed poor, giving the following reasons:

1.You have no settled non-mail order credit accounts.

2.The average age of your credit accounts is 4 months.

3.You have opened 2 new credit accounts in the last 6 months

4.You are not on the Electoral Roll

So going through the points above:

1. I have a Credit card which I pay the full balance due every month, I guess this refers to the extra remaining, which I can afford to pay of now if it made a difference

2. I was with barclays for 15+ years, but switched to First Direct as I was fed up with barclays service

3. that will be the accounts i first mentioned

4. Not sure why I wouldnt be on the electrol role as I voted the last Election? however I went straight online to register again.

Giving the above info, I know points 2 and 3 are time related and nothing I can do about now and should sort themselves out, is it now not a very good time to look at a mortgage based on the above info, even though I always pay my current mortgage off without issues and have money in savings?

I applied for a Halifax Calrity Card recently as Im going abroad soon and got one, ive, same wth my tesco credit card that I pay in full, and my bank accounts I just opened, all without issue
Thanks

markfj

So i just looked on Equifax and paid to see my score there

They confirm I am on the Electorol roll and gave a "Good" Credit Score:
You have a score of 435 .Your score is highly predictive that you would be a good candidate for credit. You are above the average for UK borrowers. Most credit grantors would consider this score good. While many factors other than your score influence the decision to grant credit, you will probably not be turned down for loans based on your score alone. Review the Risk Signals below to identify areas that may be negatively impacting your score.Find out more about automatic credit decisions

Abit mythed now, I thought i'd have a good one, so how does Experian and Equifax say the opposite based on the same info?!

Kim_13

I believe a settled non-mail order account would mean a closed account that was not a catalogue. Your old Barclays account should show as such if it was closed within the last 6 years.

Clearing your credit card balance would only really help if you were using a high percentage of your available credit overall or had the card itself at a high utilisation.

markfj

Kim_13 wrote: »

I believe a settled non-mail order account would mean a closed account that was not a catalogue. Your old Barclays account should show as such if it was closed within the last 6 years.

Clearing your credit card balance would only really help if you were using a high percentage of your available credit overall or had the card itself at a high utilisation.

Ok Thanks for that you might well be right about the Barclays account then, as it was only last month I switched.

As for my credit card, I really dont spend loads on it, and then its paid in full each month.

It is odd how experian and Equifax differ so much on me though

Dobbibill

Obviously long standing accounts give a good history of credit but please don't read too much into what the CRA's say, they don't provide credit or know what your income is so are limited to what they are basing their predictions on.

Speak to your chosen lender and see what they have to say.

markfj

Ok Thanks, I should have a decent chance as I plan to use the same lender as my current Mortgage and after checking "Check my File" they also show positive.

I will do as suggested and speak to my proposed lender and take it from there

Thanks

YorkshireBoy

markfj wrote: »

...after checking "Check my File" they also show positive.

They will do, since they get very little information from Experian...as stated in their T&Cs.


How much money have you spent getting these 3 reports and scores? Hopefully they were all free trials?

markfj

YorkshireBoy wrote: »

They will do, since they get very little information from Experian...as stated in their T&Cs.


How much money have you spent getting these 3 reports and scores? Hopefully they were all free trials?

Yes they were all free trials.

chanz4

the Barclays account may not be on there, as ones opened prior to 2004 were not as they didn't have the reporting rights in the terms