Poor credit score - moving house

nndh1_2

Firstly I hope this is the correct forum as was unsure whether to put under renting or credit ratings.....

My partner and I are looking for some advice please. We have been asked to move out of our rental property in september as the owner has returned from living abroad after just several months due to personal reasons. When we signed up to the property it was agreed it would be without doubt 3+ years despite initially signing for 12 months. Anyway, that's another issue....

Basically we have a huge concern on how we will get a property to rent come september. We have a few thousand pounds debt in credit cards (taken out personally but mostly used to build our business as we are self employed). Our long term plan was to sit tight in our current property with a view to moving to london in a few years (makes business sense). We were struggling with our payments so were advised to speak to 'step change'. They advised to make a very low payment each month, so we took this option to basically concentrate on paying the larger debts then resume full payment on other cards when getting this under better control.

Now at the time we thought we were staying put so didnt need to be too concerned about credit rating, our aim was to organise our debts and pay them off.

We have no idea what to do now. Had we known we would have to move in Sept we would never have gone ahead with this payment option and just muddled through as best we could.

So really we just need advice please.

- Do we go back to making full payments (we may not be able to save enough to move house though so that could then become another problem). But im not sure this will even rectify our credit in time?

- Are we best to try arrange a payment plan? I.e. pay 'step change' a direct debit of an agreed amount which they distribute amongst creditors? Will this look any better on credit file than our current £1 payments? Keep in mind our credit file currently shows we are already making reduced payments.

- Or call the creditors ourselves and try offer a settlement (obviously lower than the actual debt). This is an iffy option as it would mean selling alot of our stock off in a hurry meaning selling most likely at cost price - there's no guarantee we could raise enough funds to pay all in only 12 weeks plus not great for the business either. And what would this likely show as on credit score? Settled? Part settled? And is that going to look any better anyway?

Basically this is a financial/renting help request, we are worried sick and so frustrated as we were only trying to do what we thought was right. We dont want to go bankrupt or anything, our business works but we just took out a bit too much credit to get started and so our overheads are too high.

Please can anyone give any advise? Keep in mind we have no guarantor and are self employed. We have never missed a rent payment and can get good references.

We have just 12 weeks to try save our credit score, what do we do??? We are desperate and very worried. 😯

mwarby

As I understand it most landlords can only get a report with public info on it (ccj/bankruptcy/insolvency)

If you don't have you should be OK on credit rating agency front, it's then the landlords agents affordability check, which involves verifying your income and filling in questionnaire

Hope this helps

DCFC79

Your credit rating is of no use to landlords nor lenders as no one can see it.

nndh1_2

Hi guys, thanks both for replying. So just to clarify, when estate agents use referencing agencies to carry out checks do you know what they are looking for? Obviously a reference from previous landlords but i thought they checked to see how your credit score looked on the whole to check your'e reliable with keeping up with payments etc.

Would you please clarify what a reference agency would check for so we are clear and not so worried anymore ��

Many thanks for your help

DCFC79

nndh1 wrote: »

Obviously a reference from previous landlords but i thought they checked to see how your credit score looked on the whole to check your'e reliable with keeping up with payments etc.

Good luck with a landlord seeing your credit score, no 1 can see it.

Did you google for an answer ?

Does this answer your question ?

http://www.experian.co.uk/consumer/questions/askjames370.html

mwarby

Is worth bearing in mind many ,landlord/agents will be unclear on the details of the credit check. Their report will have a score (generated by the agency which made the report), this core is as made up as any other, but based on less information.

However a lot of landlords/agents will think the check is more through and will get the same score as you see from a consumer service. This is a result of how they've been sold the service they use, not necessarily what they actually get from provider.

I would be wary of any landlord\agent who want you to provide a printout from a credit check yourself, as that will show much more than they could get elsewhere(more than any lender could get in fact)

My experience of moving a few months back (I had a guarantor, due to IVA, but even that was a pain), suggested many\most agents thought you had a single definitive score.