I feel my score doesn't accurately reflect my file?

YorkshireBoy

SMF1 wrote: »

Was what I said. Does that not indicate that it was 'sorted' and my file was amended like I said above in my original post?

What you said was...

I've always made payments on time, with the exception of literally a few times, this has been simple mistakes and the payment has been made immediately the following day. I have had no defaults, CCJs or anything else that is deemed derogatory to your credit file.

I recently opened up a full account with Experian having had trouble getting credit for a new car. I saw a full run down of my credit score and anything affecting it.

The only thing that was showing on this report was 4 'Unknown' marks on my account with Shop Direct Ltd (Littlewoods). This wasn't right, so I immediately queried it and raised a complaint, I was called back, and it was sorted there and then with Shop Direct amending my file.

In the first paragraph you admitted to making "a few" late payments. "Mistakes" (on your part) I believed you called them.

Second paragraph is a separator.

Third paragraph says you found "4 unknown marks". You admit to paying late a few times. You said this "wasn't right", yet admit in the first paragraph that you made a few late payments.

The natural deduction is that the two issues are not linked.

SMF1

YorkshireBoy wrote: »

Is the other £1,300 an overdraft? If not, what is it? Different types of credit are assessed in different ways. For example, payday loans (or anything else labelled 'short term lending') are frowned upon by lenders.

YorkshireBoy wrote: »

What you said was...In the first paragraph you admitted to making "a few" late payments. "Mistakes" (on your part) I believed you called them.

Second paragraph is a separator.

Third paragraph says you found "4 unknown marks". You admit to paying late a few times. You said this "wasn't right", yet admit in the first paragraph that you made a few late payments.

The natural deduction is that the two issues are not linked.

I see. Apologies, the late payments either never showed up on my account or was not visible to me any longer at the time of looking at a full report of my account. This was around 3-4 years ago. The ones I questioned were at the beginning of last year. 1 or 2 two missed payments which were paid literally the next day surely does not accrue the reaction of finding it VERY difficult to get credit?

Are regular day to day items like a mobile monthly contract and Sky/Virgin TV & Broadband classed as a finance account? I'm willing to look at reducing my number of finance accounts but I thought that paying items off in full was bad for your credit file as your credit file is being upon showing a history of being able to make payments continuously and on time.

YorkshireBoy

SMF1 wrote: »

1 or 2 two missed payments which were paid literally the next day surely does not accrue the reaction of finding it VERY difficult to get credit?

Could do when thrown into the mix with a £7K debt, and £1,300 which you haven't yet accounted for.

Are regular day to day items like a mobile monthly contract and Sky/Virgin TV & Broadband classed as a finance account?

I have no 'communications' credit accounts on my Equifax file. Can't say for Experian as I haven't had an Experian report for years.

I'm willing to look at reducing my number of finance accounts but I thought that paying items off in full was bad for your credit file as your credit file is being upon showing a history of being able to make payments continuously and on time.

The credit report would still show debt and repayments each month. It's not necessary to pay interest to build a credit rating, assuming you are?

SMF1

I'm just going with what my ClearScore account says. Short term debt total £1500 - Total credit limit £4500. Long term £7k but this takes into account the full cash price of the bike which I will not pay because it's a PCP deal and I intend to walk away at the end of the lease, so in reality that's only £4000.

I understand that even if I close a lot of my accounts, the remaining debt would still show. But I got the impression you were saying that a lot of accounts means less chance of credit.

I'm not paying interest on anything, I try and avoid that as best as I can.

YorkshireBoy

What's the make up of the £1,500 short term debt?

SMF1

YorkshireBoy wrote: »

What's the make up of the £1,500 short term debt?

I've paid a few things off since that was updated last month. It's probably at roughly the £1k mark now.

It included my phone bill, credit card balance and virgin account, plus the remainder of a balance I paid off with Shop Direct.

Dobbibill

Check your call credit report as well via Noddle.
Again, disregard the score as this will be totally different to Clearscore (another reason, the score is worthless)

OP - these are the facts we have so far.....

- You are 23 y/o
- You do not have a long consistent history of accounts with the same providers
- You have made some errors/late payments
- You already have debt -Whilst you have very little outgoings due to living with parents
- the average age of your existing accounts is less than 2yrs old
- you already have a vehicle that you do not own ie the bike
- you are likely to incur much higher living costs in the next few years ie the natural progression is to move out of your parents house....will this/won't this be before/during/after your credit agreement has finished
- Your total credit you would like to be accepted for is £40.5k
- Your income is £25k

This is the overall view of how lenders may see it....they don't have any emotion is the application process....it is simply a risk based decision.

I'm not looking for you to justify any of your choices....they are your choices, I'm just trying to show you how your information looks without any emotion.

On_my_way

Trust me on this, your income is only "decent" if someone else is paying your actual living costs.

Clearly your choice of car etc is up to you but you are probably better off saving your money for the future.

I am less than ten years older than you and regret not saving more. I have a nice life now but without my husband I would not own my own house and I earn twice your wage.

On_my_way

SMF1 wrote: »

Was what I said. Does that not indicate that it was 'sorted' and my file was amended like I said above in my original post?

Also are you saying because I have a decent income I'm less likely to get credit?

It doesn't have to be BRAND NEW, I've also been looking at the same model second hand with low mileage and around 7k knocked off the brand new list price dependant on the optional equipment etc.

The late payments will go against you.

DCFC79

You can be rejected for crdit at any time despite what you think about you think.