Fairness for UK consumers in credit reporting?

Davburnett

Hi

Can anyone tell me, does the UK promote accuracy and fairness in credit reporting for consumers? The US has, for many years, had the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) and I have been prompted to look into this as I am completely unable to change my credit report in a positive way.

I have a very healthy income and although I do have one negative on my Experian report in the form of a default over 2 years ago, I also have 6 positives. They are:

9 settled non-mail order accounts
the average age of my credit accounts is 34 months
the highest credit on a single revolving credit account is £1.2K
my total non-mortgage credit balance is £19.2K
I'm using 4 non-mortgage credit accounts
the usage of my available credit indicates a lower risk

These are all verbatim from Experian as my positives. We have been living in a council rented house for years as I cannot get a mortgage and my Experian credit rating is 493. Because of this I feel my ability to improve my families lives has been severely hampered.

Any pointers are greatly appreciated.

David

fermi

Any company you apply to will not care about or see Experian's score or option of what is a +ve or -ve.

They will just take the factual data from your report and apply their own criteria.

See: http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/loans/what-credit-scores-mean

Superscrooge

A default on your credit file is always going to be a huge negative as far as lenders are concerned.

Any mortgage provider is going to be hesitant to lend you money. How do they know you won't default again?

Westminster

19.2k of unsecured credit doesn't sound very positive to me - do you have an income above 50k?

Thrugelmir

Davburnett wrote: »

Any pointers are greatly appreciated.

How much of a deposit have you managed to save?

meer53

Unfortunately, the ability to improve your family's like has been hampered by you getting a default. It's only fair that your default is reported alongside the positive info on your credit file. Lenders don't like defaults so they don't really look at the positives, just the negatives. If i were lending money, thats how i would look at it too.

Ben8282

The highest credit limit on any credit card you have is £1.2K but you have £19.2K non-mortgage debt? This sounds very negative to me.
I would also strongly disagree with the statement that your use of available credit indicates low risk. I would say the opposite.

jamesd

Davburnett wrote: »

Can anyone tell me, does the UK promote accuracy and fairness in credit reporting for consumers?

Of course. All data in a report has to be accurate.

Davburnett wrote: »

I am completely unable to change my credit report in a positive way.

You screwed it up badly with the default and that severely reduces the benefit of any positive information included.

Davburnett wrote: »

I have a very healthy income

Given the 19.2k of unsecured debt I take that to mean in excess of £60k per year, certainly in excess of 40k.

Davburnett wrote: »

the usage of my available credit indicates a lower risk

Maybe, assuming it's say under 50% and that if you used 100% of it you would not be at more than perhaps 30% of your income.

Davburnett wrote: »

We have been living in a council rented house for years as I cannot get a mortgage and my Experian credit rating is 493. Because of this I feel my ability to improve my families lives has been severely hampered.

It has been, at a minimum by the default and perhaps by a debt or potential debt to income level that could be undesirably high. I assume that the default is being accurately reported and hence is fair.

Davburnett wrote: »

Any pointers are greatly appreciated

Your situation will improve markedly in about four years once the default leaves your visible credit record. Ensure that you do not acquire so much as a late payment entry in the meantime.

A mortgage now may well be possible depending on the amount involved in the default. The potential mortgage amount maybe limited significantly by the amount of unsecured credit you're using.

Davburnett

Hi

Yes my income is above £50K.

David

Davburnett

jamesd wrote: »

Of course. All data in a report has to be accurate.

You screwed it up badly with the default and that severely reduces the benefit of any positive information included.

Given the 19.2k of unsecured debt I take that to mean in excess of £60k per year, certainly in excess of 40k.

Maybe, assuming it's say under 50% and that if you used 100% of it you would not be at more than perhaps 30% of your income.

It has been, at a minimum by the default and perhaps by a debt or potential debt to income level that could be undesirably high. I assume that the default is being accurately reported and hence is fair.

Your situation will improve markedly in about four years once the default leaves your visible credit record. Ensure that you do not acquire so much as a late payment entry in the meantime.

A mortgage now may well be possible depending on the amount involved in the default. The potential mortgage amount maybe limited significantly by the amount of unsecured credit you're using.

Thanks for taking the time to reply. Yes my income is above £60k and in terms of a deposit I currently have around £40k. We were hoping to apply towards the end of the year by which time deposit will be higher again. Circa £60k. My concern regarding my credit rating improving over the next 4 years is that I'm currently 38 and by 42, I'd expect lenders to look unfavorably upon my age.

jamesd

Given your circumstances a mortgage broker is likely to be helpful. It'll cost money but should give you a decent chance of success somewhere.