How long does it take for your Credit Score to repair itself?

Wesleyharrison

Hi folks,

I'm new around here so I hope this is allowed.

Can anyone tell me how long it takes for a credit score to repair itself? When I was young, I was quite frivolous with the offers I was receiving left, right, and Centre and nobody really reigned me in. I have paid off most of them, but some are just standing at a £0 balance on my report so I'm guessing I just need to wait for them to drop off?

How long does this take? And after they drop off, will my credit score go higher?

Fireflyaway

Are you talking about defaults? They will stay on file 6 years from when you first defaulted. I have defaults but have seen my score improve over the past year because I have tried to be careful in my other financial behaviour. Unless you are planning a mortgage don't worry too much. Even then you may still get accepted depending on the amount etc.

Chappaz

I started building my score in September 2016 with a credit card and finance for something I needed (could have paid cash, as I've always done, but I thought I'd use them to bulk out my sparse credit history).

Ironically, it's the credit checks for these which dinged my report, so even now, my score is less than it was before I started.

The score doesn't mean much though, but I suspect it will be another year of regular use before I've made serious improvements to it. Perhaps even longer. As much as I keep trying to find ways to move it along faster, it's seems to be a case of being patient.

Wesleyharrison

So it's unlikely that my credit score will never be good again? Haha.

I don't have any plans for a mortgage, my anxiety just causes me to worry about things like this.

Chappaz

Defaults and any other nasty things only stay on the file for 6 years. If you can go enough time with regularly using credit responsibility and without adding any new marks to your file, you'll end up with a very healthy looking credit file eventually.

Do you actually have any defaults? Building up problematic debt does not necessarily mean that your credit file will have any black marks providing that you've always made at least the minimum payments.

Wesleyharrison

I don't have any CCJ's, but I think I have a few defaults.

DCFC79

Its a case of being patient, spending only what you have/what you can afford and paying a credit card off in full.

No 1 will reign you in when your spending left right and centre, it needs self control to stop.

Chappaz

Wesleyharrison wrote: »

I don't have any CCJ's, but I think I have a few defaults.

You just have to wait for those to clear - 6 years from when the default happened.

But keep building good history in the mean time. What you may find is that your score doesn't change that much because it's being bogged down by the defaults, but when they drop off, it will suddenly shoot up and you'll have a much healthier looking credit file overall.