credit score going down

sarah320636

i am trying to improve my credit score. i took out an Aqua credit card and paid off the 1st month in full. i have also increased my mortgage payments and now appear on the electoral role. i was shocked today to see that my score has gone down by 40 points. can someone give me some advice please?

Thrugelmir

You took out a credit card. That's a negative not a positive. At least in the short term.

DCFC79

40 points is of no meaning, lenders don't see your score, what they are interested in is your credit history so how responsible you are with money.

Gaz83

sarah320636 wrote: »

i am trying to improve my credit score. i took out an Aqua credit card and paid off the 1st month in full. i have also increased my mortgage payments and now appear on the electoral role. i was shocked today to see that my score has gone down by 40 points. can someone give me some advice please?

The best advice you'll get is to completely ignore your ficticious credit score.

[Deleted User]

sarah320636 wrote: »

i am trying to improve my credit score.

It would be more useful, and just as meaningful, to try to change the colour of unicorn poo.

tomxlisa

If I had a pound for every time someone has been told to ignore the score, I would be a rich man.

m4rc

tomxlisa wrote: »

If I had a pound for every time someone has been told to ignore the score, I would be a rich man.

Because it's true! The only person who sees it is you, it means nothing. My 'score' according to Experian is zero, absolutely nothing. The reason - I have just moved and am not yet showing on the electoral role, my credit history wasn't great, and I had a row with British Gas as they refused to believe I moved out of a house 3 months previous even though I had several pieces of evidence and had told them at the time so I refused to pay their bill and they told Experian of the late payments.

So a score of zero, that's bad isn't it?

So bad that Vanquis gave me a £1000 limit increase, Barclays opened me an account with an overdraft (actually two accounts as I like to transfer cash to a cash only account and use that debit card, if it ever got cloned the loss is limited) and Vodafone sold me a phone on contract.

Honestly, believe what you like but your 'score' is useless. Your 'history' is what you focus on, you make this better over a long time by having high credit limits, good repayment history, the right amount of spend to limit (not too high not too low, it's called credit utilisation), no or very few searches so you don't look desperate, very few low credit limit products as these look like sub-prime cards, being on the electoral role, and other stuff. Some lenders may like a landline, some like other things, but none can see your score, they work out if they like you in their own mysterious way!

TakeItAsRed

Ignore the score as everyone else is advising. The longer you have the card and the longer you keep up the payment the -40 in score will turn positive.

The score is as useful as a chocolate tea pot. If you want an indication of your credit worthiness use the eligibility checker on this site. The check is a soft one and wont cause your credit file any harm at all.

chuckley

any change to your credit file generates a lower score, hence why it's meaningless.