Advise on credit

Dogfood09

Hi all,

First post so please go easy...

So.... my credit score is very poor according to experian and I'm looking to improve it. Here's the background.
Was living with my ex , and to be honest we were living beyond our means, I purchased a new motorcycle in 2016 on finance for £4,500 ( never missed a payment ), shortly after that i got into some debt, and two of my credit cards went in to default, along with a small loan, to cut a long story short I had sleepless nights worrying about my debt, and my relationship was being effected...anyway in December last year we split up and I moved in with my sister, I was very content with that as it gave me the ability to pay huge chunks of my debts... then I January I had my bike stolen....the insurance pay out was only enough to cover what I owed to the finance company so I was left with no bike and no money to get one. I was rejected finance on a new bike as my situation got worse after I purchased it. So now I'm stuck in limbo...paying £500 a month to travel to work. I can still pay off a lot of my debt each month so the questions are...

1. Do I pay off my debts as quick as possible and hope my score improves ( I like the idea of being debt free )
2.do I pay the bare minimum and prove that I can pay on time and gain trust back again and maybe my score may raise quicker.

My goal : I need to repair my score to get a new bike and save more money each month intead of wasting it on train tickets/taxi appx an extra £400 saving each month, to put towards me getting a place of my own again..
Or do I have no hope of repairing my score for years and years therefore being stuck with my sister for a loooooong time:rotfl:

Sorry if I posted this in the wrong place and sorry for the novel.

Many thanks
Steve

Dobbibill

Hi Steve/Dogfood - welcome to the forum.

The severity of damage to your credit history depends on how far the problems went with your previous debts.

Were they late/missed payments/defaults/CCJs?
Have you been making any payments towards them?
How much is owed and on which facility?

Can you get a pushbike instead for the time being to save money and pay more off your debt? (the summer is coming soon)

Dogfood09

They are mainly late and missed, went months without paying...got stuck in the payday loan horror show ( never again ) and couldn't afford to pay them back and ignored their calls and communication...was bad times.... I think I would kill myself cycling 45 miles a day lol

Dobbibill

If you had a payday loan cycle then your credit reports are not going to look particularly inviting to lenders.

The further in the distance the problems are, the lesser their impact.

In your situation - and not wanting to kill myself with 45 miles a day on a pushbike - I would probably look for a 2nd hand, cheap bike and pay the minimum on the debts until you get enough together for it.

As soon as you've got a cheapy bike, throw everything you can at your debts and get rid ASAP.

[Deleted User]

Dogfood09 wrote: »

My goal : I need to repair my score

No. Your goal is to improve your credit history.

You can repair your score by going bankrupt but that won't help anyone. That's why scores are not used by anyone.

Always pay any credit off in full. Paying minimum payments demonstrates that you can't afford credit.

Dogfood09

If I was to pay it all off, which would take about 3 to 4 months to be debt free. I would obviously have no more payments to make, therefore no history of making payments to shown I am beginning to be trusted again, would my rating not get better? I'm guessing it will be years before I would be able to acquire credit again ??

[Deleted User]

You don!!!8217;t have a rating to improve.

Your bad debts will stay on file 6 years from the date of default

[Deleted User]

Dogfood09 wrote: »

If I was to pay it all off, which would take about 3 to 4 months to be debt free. I would obviously have no more payments to make, therefore no history of making payments to shown I am beginning to be trusted again, would my rating not get better? I'm guessing it will be years before I would be able to acquire credit again ??

You get a sub prime credit card, use it and clear in full each month.