Unsure what to do?

Fireflyaway

My credit score is poor - average but one consistent negative was that my cc available credit was low. It was low as it was a capital one card for poor credit. I closed it. Now the issue seems to be because I don't have a credit card at all!
If I apply for another card I'm guessing that will appear as a negative because 1 its an application for credit 2 the credit limit will likely be low again and 3 I won't have had the account long.
Not sure what to do now. I want to improve things for a mortgage application. A few weeks back my experian score was 'excellent' (by accident I think) and I wish I had applied for a mainstream card then!

binaryuniverse

Relax. It's not the end of the world. Ideally you should have kept your first card open, and just used it for a few payments and paid off in full, each month.

Tesco seem quite happy to give out cards to 'poor' scorers. And give pretty generous limits, from what I've found. Give them a go. If they don't take you, then you may need to apply for a credit builder card again.

And do not fret about the score. It's pretty meaningless. Especially so since it has little history to base a score on.
And do not worry about a few searches on your report. Again, that's not a big issue.

Fireflyaway

Thanks. I closed the first card because they told me they wouldn't increase the £200 limit for another year. I was thinking of trying tesco actually. I hate this silly game! I couldn't care what my score is so long as I can get a mortgage.

Candyapple

How long away are you from applying for a mortgage? I ask because it may not even be worth getting a card if it's going to be within the next 6 months.

Don't forget that if anything goes wrong with your mortgage application and lets say the broker needs to find another lender, the last thing you want is more hard searches on your file than necessary.

Fireflyaway

Won't be applying till just before our tenancy ends in 18 months. I just got myself a tesco card. That was quick. Limit is still only £250! Hope to run it perfectly and get an increase before mortgage application..... Don't see much else I can do. I pay my bills on time, I'm on electoral register, I think its the 2 defaults but nothing I can do there.

Candyapple

Do you have a bank account / mobile phone contract? Are either of those showing on all 3 of your files?

Don't forget to set up a DD to take the full payment with Tesco and just spend as you normally would and wait for the DD to collect payment. Tesco send out credit limit increase letters usually after 1 year based on how you've ran the account - don't bother wasting your time trying to increase it before then because it will auto-decline.

Fireflyaway

I have bank accounts showing and mobile too. I guess I just need to be patient.