This pesky default

[Deleted User]

Chappaz wrote: »

It does make you wonder just what it takes to be considered for these 900+ ratings. Would be interesting to take a peak into the report of someone who does have that.

Could be anyone - 18 years olds, bankrupts and other random groups, to name but a few.

Ignore the score.

m4rc

Chappaz wrote: »

Thanks m4fc. Very helpful.

I just wasn't sure how much of a difference it was making.

I have had a 4 year longer-term debt (car finance) and I've never missed a single payment. There's also nothing else wrong per se other than the default, so I was a little surprised at how "poor" my score is.

I know the score is meaningless, but I've been declined for some pretty basic credit in the past couple of years. I even went to buy a new phone contract recently and I wasn't automatically accepted, so I had to satisfy them with employment details etc over the phone.

Can a lack of any credit card history really make THAT much of a difference? It almost seems like every person in the UK must have a CC at some point just to build any sort of reasonable credit report - even if they never actually need credit.

Anyway, I've already got myself an Aqua rewards credit card which I've started using. I'll keep the credit utilisation low and pay it off in full every month to see how that goes. Clearscore also seem to be showing up as a negative that my available credit is low, so hopefully that will rise soon.

Would you say that it's better for me to have two credit cards? Would my report history build up faster if there were two satisfied credit payments on my report every month instead of just one?

Thanks for your advice.

Can it make that much of a difference having no credit history? Absoloutely. Ultimately lenders lend on a gamble. What are the odds of us getting our money back. No lending is a guaranteed return, but some people are going to be less likely (on paper at least) to miss a payment or cause any bother. They work it out through an algorithm of many different things - everything from your relationship status, number of dependents, occupation, how low you spend in each address and many more things. They can do what they want, but they are basically making a gamble with each transaction.

Due to near-recent global financial issues lenders are not so generous, there was a time where you could pretty much get credit if you could prove you were over 18, had an address and a pulse. I'm pretty sure the pulse was optional to some. These days they are a lot more risk averse.

That doesn't mean you can't get credit, it means you won't get credit from most lenders, and they won't be the best deals - higher APRs, lower credit limits, less offers like balance transfers.

Ultimately once you've built up a decent credit history you will have lenders wanting to lend to you, rather than you wanting lenders to lend to you, so they will offer lower and lower interest rest and better deals. I'm sure you are aware that you can get long zero percent deals, which basically means if you don't miss repayments it's free finance. You just have to have a track history that's immaculate, and all the other ducks need to be lined up. Mess up though and you can go back to the bottom of the pile, that's why people say set up a direct debit, don't ever miss a payment. People think it doesn't really matter, but it really does.

It's hard when you are starting out, you've seen that by struggling to get a mobile contract. However it will get easier.

It's good you got the Aqua card,onc eyouve had it a few months apply for Barclaycard Initial, or Capital One in that order (in my opinion). Spend and pay it back. Repeat. Things get easier

Edit - I would get a second card, lenders can't see that it's a credit builder card, they don't see who it's from, the only thing that can give it away is the credit limit, but it doesn't hurt to have a second. Personally I found it easier and easier to get credit the more I had.