Credit score not showing any credit?

Ben8282

leostar wrote: »

But it had not occurred to me to change it on 3 empty credit cards that I no longer use (the ones i used to shift my credit card debt around for 0% offers) or my phone contract. My Car Finance is also in the old address as I am in the process of renewing and getting a new car, so the new address has not yet been confirmed.

This is the cause of your problems.
Get everything updated to new address immediately.
Ensure that you are on electoral roll at new address and ensure updated electoral roll entry is reflected on credit report. This may unfortunately take a little time.
Ignore advice to cancel the unused cards for the moment. Make sure all address changes go through and are reflected on the credit report before you even think about cancelling anything.
DO NOT make any further applications until ALL addresses are changed on credit report and you are clearly shown as being on the electoral roll at your new address
As there is no evidence at this stage to imply that the existence of available credit on your empty cards is causing a problem, do not cancel them.
I don't know how many credit cards you have, what the balances and credit limits are etc but consider the following. Let us assume you have just the 4 cards, one with a £2500 balance and the other 3 with a 0 balance. Let us then assume all cards have a £2500 credit limit. Based on the above example, your utilisation ration will currently be 25%. Good. Cancel the 3 unused cards and your utilisation ratio will suddenly become 100%. Bad. Bad. Bad.
I think your credit rating will go back to what it was and possibly improve with the 0 balances on the repaid cards once the addresses have been updated. Remember though that things may take a little time. Short time at current address is of course a negative factor as are any hard searches which may have been made in respect of the loan application.
Also being overdrawn is not good. It would look much better if the £2000 was on a credit card and your current account was not overdrawn. Being overdrawn looks much much worse than having a £2000 balance on a credit card. Now I am not suggesting that you take a £2000 cash advance on a credit card. That would look bad. Instead start spending on the unused cards until the overdraft is cleared. Either make small (but above minimum) monthly payments on the card(s) that you use for spending or, if any of the unused cards offer 0% balance transfer offers, spend on one card and by the spend from another. Or, if you are very lucky, one of the cards may even be offering 0% existing customer money transfers. If this is the care, use this facility to clear overdraft. If such offers are or become available you could also use them to clear the interest bearing balance from the other credit card as well.
My advice to you is not to make any further credit applications for at least 6 months.

leostar

Ben8282 wrote: »

This is the cause of your problems.
Get everything updated to new address immediately.
Ensure that you are on electoral roll at new address and ensure updated electoral roll entry is reflected on credit report. This may unfortunately take a little time.
Ignore advice to cancel the unused cards for the moment. Make sure all address changes go through and are reflected on the credit report before you even think about cancelling anything.
DO NOT make any further applications until ALL addresses are changed on credit report and you are clearly shown as being on the electoral roll at your new address
As there is no evidence at this stage to imply that the existence of available credit on your empty cards is causing a problem, do not cancel them.
I don't know how many credit cards you have, what the balances and credit limits are etc but consider the following. Let us assume you have just the 4 cards, one with a £2500 balance and the other 3 with a 0 balance. Let us then assume all cards have a £2500 credit limit. Based on the above example, your utilisation ration will currently be 25%. Good. Cancel the 3 unused cards and your utilisation ratio will suddenly become 100%. Bad. Bad. Bad.
I think your credit rating will go back to what it was and possibly improve with the 0 balances on the repaid cards once the addresses have been updated. Remember though that things may take a little time. Short time at current address is of course a negative factor as are any hard searches which may have been made in respect of the loan application.
Also being overdrawn is not good. It would look much better if the £2000 was on a credit card and your current account was not overdrawn. Being overdrawn looks much much worse than having a £2000 balance on a credit card. Now I am not suggesting that you take a £2000 cash advance on a credit card. That would look bad. Instead start spending on the unused cards until the overdraft is cleared. Either make small (but above minimum) monthly payments on the card(s) that you use for spending or, if any of the unused cards offer 0% balance transfer offers, spend on one card and by the spend from another. Or, if you are very lucky, one of the cards may even be offering 0% existing customer money transfers. If this is the care, use this facility to clear overdraft. If such offers are or become available you could also use them to clear the interest bearing balance from the other credit card as well.
My advice to you is not to make any further credit applications for at least 6 months.

This is really, really helpful. Thank you for taking the time to write that for me. I am already on the Electoral Roll here at my new address, I changed everything immediately except my old CC's and I have now rectified this. I'll take on your advice and see where I am in a few months. Thanks again!