Default dropped off and rating did too

shelmodine

Can someone give me some advise please?

I've been trying to clean up my files for over a year now after having been very reckless with a few credit agreements and not realising the impact on my rating.

Long story short- a default dropped off my record this week and due to the age of it actually lowered my score!

I have another default from 3 years ago when I cancelled my phone and got huffy with ee.... Me being stubborn over £50 cost me bad! Other than that I have no debt except a aquacard I got 8 months ago with a £400 balance I pay off in full each month.

I've got 4 credit agreements, averaging out 27 months. The default is the only blemish.

I realise 'the score' is meaningless as I'm the only one who sees it but my 'very poor' rating is soul destroying as I'm looking to get a mortgage soon and at face value no one is going to want to go near me!

Can anyone suggest anything I can do to improve the picture other than sitting on my hands, paying my bills on time and cursing my old bad habits?

fermi

One less default is only going to help not hinder, no matter what nonsense the CRA score says.

Unfortunately the default 3 years ago is likely to be the major limiting factor I think? Not insurmountable, especially if you have more recent positive data, but that default may limit options and deals a bit depending on where you go.

shelmodine

Seems like I stuck in a merry go round. I can't build my rating without getting new lines of credit. If I get new lines of credit the age of these drags my score down.... My score is so low I would struggle anyway.

Would it be worth cancelling my credit card? That would increase the average of my credit agreements wouldn't it?.... Or would that fact it's still on my report still count even if I closed it?

shortcrust

Your post shows just how meaningless the scores are. A defaulted account dropping off actually lowers the score! Madness.

shelmodine wrote: »

....Can anyone suggest anything I can do to improve the picture other than sitting on my hands, paying my bills on time and cursing my old bad habits?

No! You just need to keep on doing what you're doing. This is the problem with the 'scores' and the advice people get from agencies about bad and good factors. It makes people think they need be doing things all the time. Lenders like boring consistency.

aNom

shelmodine wrote: »

Seems like I stuck in a merry go round. I can't build my rating without getting new lines of credit. If I get new lines of credit the age of these drags my score down.... My score is so low I would struggle anyway.

Would it be worth cancelling my credit card? That would increase the average of my credit agreements wouldn't it?.... Or would that fact it's still on my report still count even if I closed it?

Your credit score isn't the be-all and end all, it's an indication of how the credit reference agency would rate you if they were to provide you with credit however each and every lender will have their own criteria for scoring you and will only take into account the actual information within your report and not your score to do so.

Whilst others on this board will claim that the score is a randomly generated number and is to be ignored completely, others, like myself believe it gives you an indication of how lenders might potentially see you as a customer.

The top and bottom of it is to simply manage your finances in a way that ensures that you can service all financial obligations and don't stretch yourself - if you do this your credit file will/should improve over time. :-)

shortcrust

aNom wrote: »

Your credit score isn't the be-all and end all, it's an indication of how the credit reference agency would rate you if they were to provide you with credit however each and every lender will have their own criteria for scoring you and will only take into account the actual information within your report and not your score to do so.

Whilst others on this board will claim that the score is a randomly generated number and is to be ignored completely, others, like myself believe it gives you an indication of how lenders might potentially see you as a customer.

The top and bottom of it is to simply manage your finances in a way that ensures that you can service all financial obligations and don't stretch yourself - if you do this your credit file will/should improve over time. :-)

I don't think many people argue it's randomly generated. We all know that it's calculated from a range of factors. However, different lenders are looking for different things. Some might view an account closure as positive because it's reduced available credit to a level that's deem acceptable in a potential borrower. Another might see the same change as a negative because they're more focused on utilisation of credit. The change can only make the score move in one direction. That's why it's meaningless. That's why you have people on here with a score of 999 who can't get an Aqua card and others with low scores can get standard cards with five figure limits. Saying something's meaningless isn't the same as saying it's random.

I'm getting increasingly worried by the way people are making lots of financial decisions based solely on a wish to improve their score. It's counterproductive. Have one or two cards and run them well. That's literally all you need to do. But people aren't doing that because some agency gives them a 'to do' list and a number to check each month.