Help to navigate credit history

Archers84

Hi all

Back in early 2012 I had a period of unemployment for a few months that eventually led to me entering into a debt management plan. This resulted in half a dozen defaults being registered against me although payments in to the DMP were made on time & in full every month. I was eventually fully debt free in December 2016 and now have one credit card which I pay the full balance on each month, plus a phone contract.

My wife & I are now looking at buying our first house. I've raised the fact of my defaults with our IFA, who has contacted Nationwide and they've said that it should be ok if my accounts have been well managed over the last 2/3 years. I believe they have been, as mentioned all my DMP payments were made on time & in full plus I have always paid the full credit balance on my card and my phone contract & all other bills have been paid ontime. We're about to apply for a decision in principle but I'm very nervous as to whether we're going to be successful or not. We were advised to take out a current account & savings account with Nationwide and that process has knocked my credit score back from being 'fair' to be 'poor' :sad:

To this end, I'm really trying to find some professional help to review my credit history & give an opinion & some advice. As the payments to the various lenders only ceased in Dec 2016, I'm not sure how this is viewed even if the default itself was registered back in 2012/13, or if there's anything I should be challenging in the file itself.

Are there any recommendations for people who can help navigate a credit file? I've tried looking online but seem to end up at either a debt help charity (I have no debt so don't think appropriate) or the bogus looking credit repair companies.

Any help, advice or guidance welcomed.

Thanks in advance!

[Deleted User]

If you post up the details of the accounts here, I'm sure you'll get some views. Otherwise, you need a decent mortgage broker. A few pointers though -

- Your credit files show 6 years of history - so defaults and closed accounts fall off at that point
- Negative factors have less impact as they get older
- You have three credit files - Call CRedit, Experian and Equifax. You need to check all three
- Credit scores and ratings are made up - ignore them completely, only look at the data on your files. Your file is no better or worse for the current account search.
- Different lenders have different criteria - there is generally a lender for just about anyone, at the right price.

You'll probably need another couple of years before accessing anything half decent in the way of mortgage. But a bigger deposit will help.