Late payments, I've had a few BUT now...

Graham1982

Dear all:

Sorry for the pun on what could be a serious topic:

Right, I have posted a few times on these forums so I don't think I need to go into a load of details about my financial history as it would be repeated and boring.

In sum, for approximately a decade I was financially irresponsible, not for irresponsible reasons but ultimately, I missed a few payments on my credit card/mobile phone (this shows up in the Totally Money credit report) and I also did the same with Anglian Water but these were late payments.

In any case, I would say over a year ago I started taking steps to not make my situation any worse (making payments on time, not having late payments etc) and then in January of this year I paid off and closed old accounts such as a loan and a store card and removed an overdraft facility.

In any case Totally Money says I have no missed/late payments in the last 12 months (this is correct as far as I am concerned).

Credit Karma however says one of the things effecting my score (yes meaningless) is a recent late payment. Now I am SURE I have not made a late payment/missed a payment for over a year so my question is twofold:

1 How do I investigate this?
2 I understand missed/late payments have a reduced effect over time.

Now, I am looking to move abroad (keeping all payments correct and not taking out more credit etc during a two year period). Will late payments from what would be FOUR years ago by that time be a deal breaker in-terms of a mortgage when I com back if hypothetically my credit utuliasation is low on a credit card and I have no other overheads/issues?

Thanks

Graham

[Deleted User]

Any late payments will show on your file. So if it's not there, it doesn't exist. The CRA warnings and tips aren't always grounded in reality.

No reason you couldn't get a mortgage with 4 year old defaults, although not every lender will be interested. However, a gap of two years may be more impactful. Make sure you use a good broker.

PixelPound

If you check your credit REPORT and no recent late payments are showing then nothing to worry about - the indicators use very generic text and it could be its flagged the 2 year old late payment marker and saying its recent.

As ZX81 states it will be less of a problem in time especially using a good broker. Make sure you are using the credit you have e.g. see if something you pay by DD will accept continuous card payments and set up your credit cards for them and pay CC in full by DD so that it shows they are being used whilst you are away rather than unused for 2 years and marked as dormant (it is a small issue but if you are wanting to show good credit history over the next two years, might be useful)