No Credit / Bad Credit - Same Thing?

Willing2Learn

Credit_Struggle wrote: »

… Last 6 months I have had probably around 9 credit searches.

:eek: That will look so bad to prospective lenders...

BoGoF wrote: »

… You really need to wait 6 months at least before any credit application.

I fully agree

Credit_Struggle

Perfect, thanks for the advice with regards to this.

Credit_Struggle

My Equifax strangely only shows 1 search in the last 6 months.

[Deleted User]

Amex are picky with their customers.

Given the low limits on the cards you already have I’d say you have a thin credit file and you just need to responsibly use what you currently have then they applying again.

Where you live (a “good area”) makes no odds to a prospective lender.

Credit_Struggle

Thanks Gary for the advice. I thought areas where you lived sometimes influenced lenders, shows how little I know.

Candyapple

Your eligibility is not solely based on one factor; any combination of the following factors might be taken into consideration:

- amount of existing debt
- amount of existing available credit
- history of settled accounts
- average age of accounts held
- history of incurring defaults
- number of recent applications for credit
- age
- whether single, married, widowed, separated or divorced
- whether home-owner, tenant or living with parents
- whether you have any dependants
- whether they consider you have enough disposable income
- whether you're on the electoral register and for how long
- current employment status
- length of time with current employer
- salary

This is by no means an exhaustive list and how each credit-provider assesses you is different; some companies may not consider many of these factors, some may consider even more. Certain factors may not carry any weight and some might dictate the decision-making process completely - you'll never know.

There is no one rule and the only way you'll know is if you apply and are accepted; ultimately, it's up to each company whether they want to give you a credit card/loan etc or not and on what terms. They have no obligation to lend to anyone nor explain or justify their lending criteria.

Not forgetting that you supposedly earn £75k but only have 4 credit cards which are all subprime and have numerous hard searches on your file. Both of these are massive red flags to potential lenders.

If you want an Amex or any form of mainstream credit so bad I suggest you make NO searches whatsoever for the next 12 months at least, so all your previous searches drop off some of your files. Remember, not all the CRAs clear the searches after 1 year, Call Credit will hold details of hard searches for 2 years.

Next, make sure you set up a DD to clear the FULL balance on all your credit cards. You have subprime cards, there is absolutely no reason for you to hold a balance on them, spend on them and use them but the balance should be cleared once the statement has been produced.

This will also mean that your credit history will grow and you'll have 1 year's worth of additional green zeroes working in your favour and hopefully you won't have moved again so your address stability goes up too.

System

Credit_Struggle wrote: »

Thanks Gary for the advice. I thought areas where you lived sometimes influenced lenders, shows how little I know.

It does for insurances. But not credit.

PRAISETHESUN

Credit_Struggle wrote: »

My Equifax strangely only shows 1 search in the last 6 months.

You need to check your reports for all three CRAs (Experian, Equifax and TransUnion) since not every lender reports to every CRA. Ignore the scores and focus on your history - 9 searches in 6 months is definitely going to hurt your chances getting anything other than sub-prime cards, so I'd hold off for 6-12 months without any further applications before applying for your Amex. Make sure you are managing your cards well in the meantime - pay them off in full, and avoid missing any payments!

As for whether or not bad credit is better/worse then having no credit, the end result is usually the same in terms of eligibility for products (ie. you can't get any cards). Personally I've felt it more restrictive to have no/limited credit history compared to a more more substantial period of bad credit history, as many lenders won't even let you apply without 3 years history, even if you've only got positive things on your files.

Credit_Struggle

CandyApple - thanks for your response. I was under the impression the lender doing the credit search couldn’t see who if my credit card would be subprime or not, am I incorrect here?

I have no reason to inflate my salary and that was part of my appeal, sending proof of that (which actually worked with Amazon).

I always do clear my balance in full and always will. I no reason to use the cards at all apart from adding history or using and paying them.

PRAISETHESUN - thank you for your advice.

Credit_Struggle

You are all correct though, credit searches are high and I will hold off for 6 months at least. However when moving utilities and new landline and mobile in my case was unavoidable.