Repairing Credit After 6 Years Of Bad Credit

Rayjay

X

Hello

I!!!8217;m after some advise please regarding repairing my credit rating.

A few years ago I ran into financial difficulty and my personal debt spiralled out of control. I defaulted on several agreements, mostly were payday loans and mobile phone contracts. I managed to get a few defaults removed however seven remained. Fast forward to 2017, I paid the the outstanding defaults and they now appear as settled (some partially) on my credit file. Six will drop off before MAY 2019 and the last one MARCH 2020.

My credit score has slowly been improving and I!!!8217;m becoming eligible for credit cards again. Today I applied and was accepted for a Capital One Platinum card £1250 starting limit! To my surprise I was recently accepted for a FULL Santander 123 Current Account (MFC debit/offline) so the future is looking bright. When shall I try for a mainstream credit card?

How do I decide what account/credit cards to keep open or close without damaging my credit rating? I was going to close everything and start from scratch but was advised not to do this as I have some positive history associated with my open accounts.

I!!!8217;ve had the following facilities from the below dates:

1. Nationwide Flex Basic (April 2016)
2. HSBC Basic/Upgrade After 3-6 Months (March 2018)
3. Santander 123 Current (May 2018)


1. Vanquis £500 39% (April 2016)
2. Marbles £450 59% (April 2017)
3. Capital One £1250 29% (TODAY)

If you were in my position, what you keep open/closed (transfer etc) in order to effectively start from scratch and build a very good credit history. The goal is to purchase our first property in 3 Years.


Many Thanks

RayJ

[Deleted User]

I'd keep them all until you have a more established credit history.

Rayjay

Thank you for your reply. Anyone else?

[Deleted User]

As above - there’s not really much more to add