Credit score has dropped 300 points in 1 month... help!

hart89

I will be applying for a mortgage sometime in December, had offer accepted on an apartment and am a FTB. I had an email from Experian saying my credit score had been updated... it has dropped from around 960 to 614 since last month!! And now im panicking!!!


Will this affect my mortgage application?? I have read that it is just a number, but surely it means something and will have some effect.


It says the negatives are:-
1. I am not on the electoral register - I moved house in September and in October I applied to change my address on the register, I had a letter last week saying they'd received my application and it will be updated in early December.
2. I have applied to open new accounts which were Vodafone (new internet provider), welsh water (new account in rented flat) and Natwest (myself and my partner opened a joint account to pay bills out of)


My credit card limit is £6700, and I am near the limit, but for a while now have been over £6300, but am now nearer to £6500. The only other thing that is different is my car finance deal was finishing 29th novemer, I paid the balloon payment on it yesterday which was £6300, but not sure if that would be on that report or not and whether it would have good/bad effect on score


The other thing is there's quite a few searches on my account I.e car insurance search, loan search, mortgage searches (but soft searches as far as I know)


Any advice is welcome.... or reassurance!! Thanks

[Deleted User]

It's fine.

Your credit score is a made up number that doesn't reflect your credit worthiness. It means nothing and has no effect on anything.

Just ensure you are managing your credit well. You could do with get away from your card limit.

woofdonkey

Is there a section on your report that explains negative/ positive factors? This is probably more useful than the score. But a very recent house move and very high credit card utilisation may work against you.
Personally, I'd wait until the electoral roll updates and the car payment shows before doing a mortgage application.

ACG

I always tell people to ignore the score as it is worthless. But it can be an indication of something. Have you had a look through your report to see if there are any issues such as late payments/defaults?

Why are you doing so many searches a month before applying for a Mortgage? If you have an agreement in principle, you have an agreement in principle. Doing 5 of the things is never going to help you even if they are soft footprints, best case scenario is no impact at all.

cjv

My mortgage application was submitted yesterday and one hard credit search carried out, today my score has dropped by 200 because of this. Ignore your score, lenders don't use it.

Avoid applying for anymore credit as more hard searches may have a negative effect on your credit history.

hart89

I have searched on compare the market for car insurance, did a search for loan comparisons, and also did a search for mortgages... but didn't realise that single search on a comparison site would show up as multiple searches on my credit file. I wont be doing anymore.

So I paid off car finance yesterday, and i checked my electoral letter, i should be on the register on December 3rd. So would I be ok to do mortgage application anytime after the 3rd or better to wait until my credit file has updated in a month?

hart89

And no missed payments or defaults. The only two negatives (which weren't on my file last month) is not being on the electoral register since moving , which should be sorted on 3rd if dec, and opening new accounts (vodafone broadband, Welsh water and natwest joint account )

[Deleted User]

hart89 wrote: »

Ii checked my electoral letter, i should be on the register on December 3rd.

Remember that the date you go on the ER isn't the same as the date the CRAs get updated by the council, which could be several months later, although many do it in January.

You may need to manually force it through with the CRAs.

hart89

Just to add I havnt done several DIPs , I've just put my details in a mortgage calculator or comparison site, as I didn't think that would show up

hart89

What do you mean by manually force it through the CRA ? How do I do that?

What about the car finance balloon payment, will that show up from now?

[Deleted User]

If the council doesn't send their update, you could contact the CRAs and see if they will accept your letter as proof of you being on the ER and make a manual adjustment.

Your balloon payment will show up once the lender has done their monthly reporting.