my rubbish credit rating! what can i do?

beautyqueen88

hi im currently trying to improve my credit rating as me and my partner are looking to get a mortgage i've had a look at my credit report on experian and iv never made any late payments or anything but my score is still down as been very poor. i wondered if you have an overdraft and dip into it quite alot does this affect your score at all or doesnt it matter? does it show up when lenders do a search how often you use your overdraft?

any help appreciated as its all slightly confusing to me

CLAPTON

Why is your credit rating so poor if you have no late payments... are you on the electroral roll or are you down as linked to someone with poor credit rating or what..

What creditors like to see is a history of paying debts on time so you really need to get a credit card, use it regularly and pay in full each month and on time so your credit record shows that you deal with credit well.
ODs are bit more problematic... sometimes they don't show anyway, but some creditors view always being in an OD as 'poor' money management.

Mortgage lenders tend to want to see, no adverse credit record comments, a decent deposit , regular earning

beautyqueen88

yes im on the electoral role i dont have any bad things on my credit report i just dont really have any credit at all im only 18 so i've never had any credit cards to pay off and no one will give me a credit card so that i can prove i can manage one properly.

all i have on there is a store card which i have only used once and the balance was settled in full straight away.

see know i think i've damged my report because i kept applying for differant credit cards when i got refused the first time so now all those searches show up

but how am i supposed to build my credit if no one will give me a credit card to do that with! its a nightmare

beautyqueen88

do you think if i used my store card more and kept paying it off in full on time then that would help in the same way a credit card would?

jonesMUFCforever

If you are only 18 then that is the reason you have a low credit score. You have not had time to build up a score.

Don't spend on cards just for the sake of it - paying your bills on time will mean more to a lender in the future.
If you are thinking of getting a mortgage then saving a substantial amount for the deposit should be your main aim.

If you pay everything else on time then everything else should drop into place.