Panicking too much?

Naicitrom

I've lurked this forum and other sites over the last few months looking for tips on clearing my modest-but-high-interest credit card debt with a view to eventually being in a good position to finance a car on a decent deal. Had a bit of a shakeup last month when my old man handed me £5k to buy a car with, and after a week thinking about my options and a nervous couple of messages just to make sure he didn't think I was taking the p***, I used that money to clear 5 of 7k credit card debt. Still waiting for one card balance to update on Experian but my score has already increased by 100 or so.
Now, I've seen enough of this forum to know that the numerical score doesn't mean a lot but, although it has gone up and presumably will go up a bit more when Barclaycard update, it's not as high as I was hoping and the couple of soft searches I've done today are turning up at 20% interest.

So now I'm panicking a bit.

The main headlines on my credit file right now, barring card balance, are a default that will drop off in November this year for a £400 balance that was paid in full straight away, and one nine-month old late payment to Yorkshire Water. There are a couple of other late payments but they're years old so presumably wouldn't factor TOO much.

Am I worrying too much? If I waited until November would I suddenly see a huge drop in interest quotes? Or maybe I'm looking in the wrong places? Zopa and Nationwide soft searches turned up pretty much the same deal on a personal loan, but should I be speaking to my bank/car dealers instead?

Thanks for your time.

DCFC79

Maybe the late paymentsummer won't be an issue or maybe they will.

How high do you want the score that you can only see to be ?

Naicitrom

999, obviously.

[Deleted User]

Great. I can confirm your score is now 999.

Naicitrom

Thank you both for ignoring my real questions and pointing out that number value of my file is meaningless. Looking through threads in this forum today I've seen your names multiple times really driving it home. Excellent start to my mse forum experience.

DCFC79

Naicitrom wrote: »

Thank you both for ignoring my real questions and pointing out that number value of my file is meaningless. Looking through threads in this forum today I've seen your names multiple times really driving it home. Excellent start to my mse forum experience.

As for the late payments there's no hard or fast rule that all lenders have to treat late payments that are old the same, some may well be lenient with them.

Your bank is a good place to ask for a loan as they know your finances but they may not offer a decent rate whereas other banks/lenders might offer a better rate.

A tip don't take it to heart if you get a loan you deem to be high.

OP apologies if my first response was too harsh, it wasn't meant to be.

Smodlet

Welcome to the forum.

I would think twice before using the finance company your car dealer recommends; after all, they do so only because there is something in it for them. I presume you have tried the eligibility calculators on here for credit cards? They do not leave a trace, they are "soft" searches.

To the old hands - Courtesy costs nothing. "MSE requests that you give new posters a chance"... ring any bells? After about twenty-odd posts, it seems, OP's are regarded as fair game but not this early. ... yes, I've been guilty, too, but only when it seemed obvious it was a wind-up thread. This one seems genuine to me... and if I was wrong, I apologise.

[Deleted User]

Finance secured on a car is certainly easier but not necessarily cheaper.

Basically you need time. Simple as that. The longer and cleaner (but not empty) your file the better.

Pixie5740

Why if people know that the scores don't mean anything and aren't used by lenders do they then continue to put stock in the score going up or down?

Finance from a car dealership isn't necessarily a bad thing. Dealerships make more money selling finance than they do cars so by taking their finance you can negotiate a better price for the car, that could make the dealership finance the better financial decision. Although I don't really advocate paying interest to buy a depreciating asset.

Naicitrom

Seems that even the mere mention of the words 'credit score' bring out the brigade around here. For a forum dedicated to credit files and RATINGS, I thought I might find someone with experience who could advise me on just how much the couple of marks on file were affecting my chances of a low rate loan/finance deal or whether it was worth holding out for a few months til it clears. Seems I just fuelled the condescending circle jerk. Mods can feel free to delete this thread, worthless as it turned out to be.

Pixie5740

1) Lenders don't publish their acceptance criteria.

2) If lenders don't see never mind use the credit scores made up by the credit reference agencies how can these made up numbers have any impact on your application for credit?