Rating dropped, about to apply for mortgage

jayutd

Hi,

My partner and I have been looking to purchase a house for over a year and finally found one, we have put a reserve down and going though the motions. I was about to apply for a mortgage through a lender this week, when I found out my credit score has dropped two ratings, I had a near perfect score with Experian and it’s now dropped to “fair” within 1 month.

It turns out the credit card I closed 2 months ago, had a pending charge for a car park purchase and it didn’t show up on my statement until the following month. It didn’t show on my online banking dashboard as I closed the account.

The outstanding amount was only £6 but it has really knocked my score down. Will this prevent me from getting a good rate mortgage?

I did try to pay it off when the statement was sent after 1 month, but the customer advisor said it was a mistake and I had nothing to pay, I’m picking this up separately as a complaint.

is there anything that can be done in the mean time? I’m pretty gutted that after being careful all year, I’ve messed up at the last hurdle.

emmajones1976

Luckily for you, the three digit scores are meaningless and only provided for entertainment purposes.  

jayutd

emmajones1976 said:

Luckily for you, the three digit scores are meaningless and only provided for entertainment purposes.  

Seriously? What’s the point I them then lol?

emmajones1976

To try and sell people credit cards. Lenders dont see it.

jayutd

So no difference between 0 and a 999 score?

TadleyBaggie

Since no one, except you, can see the made up number...yes!

penners324

You get the credit card provider to report your account as £0 owed. What's happened to the £6 on it?

Ebe_Scrooge

jayutd said:

emmajones1976 said:

Luckily for you, the three digit scores are meaningless and only provided for entertainment purposes.  

Seriously? What’s the point I them then lol?

As others have said, the score is nothing more than a marketing gimmick.  Being charitable, it is - at best - an indication that something has changed in your credit circumstances.  The score will gradually rise over a period of stability, and will fall in response to any change in your credit circumstances, whether good or bad.  Open a new account, take out a new loan, close a credit card - your score will fall.  Win the lottery, pay off your mortgage and all your debts, sit pretty with zero debt and twenty million quid tucked away in the bank - your score will fall.

[Deleted User]

jayutd said:

emmajones1976 said:

Luckily for you, the three digit scores are meaningless and only provided for entertainment purposes.  

Seriously? What’s the point I them then lol?

The point is that the CRAs want to move us to the US style system when a score is the be all and end all of your life, by normalising credit "scores" in the mindset of the public, it becomes easier to "incentivise" politicians to support them.

jayutd

penners324 said:

You get the credit card provider to report your account as £0 owed. What's happened to the £6 on it?

They said it’s not possible to change, I know it’s BS so logged a complaint. They said they have 40 days to respond which doesn’t help with my mortgage application

jayutd

So lenders might mind if I’ve missed two months of payments?