stagnant credit score

ryan60600

I suffered a default on my credit card 3 years ago.
had money in my account ready to pay my montly credit card off balance but somehow the direct debit to pay off my credit card somehow got removed.
So for 3 months I had like a £10 balance on my credit until I realised.
So it took my credit score down to like 550 on experian.

Anyway since then, my credit score took about 1.5 years to jump back up to roughly what is is now, 723 (experian) so it's only just in the 'fair' categrory, but in the last 1.5 years barely increased.

For the last 3 years:
I'm on the electoral register
All my banks and phone contract etc are linked to my current address
Credit utilisation is about 3% each month
I've had 2 credit cards for 3.5 years 
I pay off my credit cards in full each month - no defaults in 3 years.
no hard searches


I don't know what else I can possibly do to increase my credit score?
All the advice i've researched just says things i'm already doing.

I spoke to equifax about this, they mentioned one useful thing could have different types of credit, e.g credit cards, loans etc.
Not currently working so I can't take out a loan anyway.

I've seen a few discussions on here saying about loqbox save and cashplus creditbuilder not having any benefit over just paying off credit cards each month, is that true?

/ anything else you can recommend is appreciated, don't understand why my credit score is barely increasing?

thank you

Ryan

ryan60600

P.S I know lenders can't see the specifc score, they just see the report but still...

MattMattMattUK

ryan60600 said:

I suffered a default on my credit card 3 years ago.
had money in my account ready to pay my montly credit card off balance but somehow the direct debit to pay off my credit card somehow got removed.
So for 3 months I had like a £10 balance on my credit until I realised.
So it took my credit score down to like 550 on experian.

Anyway since then, my credit score took about 1.5 years to jump back up to roughly what is is now, 723 (experian) so it's only just in the 'fair' categrory, but in the last 1.5 years barely increased.

For the last 3 years:
I'm on the electoral register
All my banks and phone contract etc are linked to my current address
Credit utilisation is about 3% each month
I've had 2 credit cards for 3.5 years 
I pay off my credit cards in full each month - no defaults in 3 years.
no hard searches


I don't know what else I can possibly do to increase my credit score?
All the advice i've researched just says things i'm already doing.

I spoke to equifax about this, they mentioned one useful thing could have different types of credit, e.g credit cards, loans etc.
Not currently working so I can't take out a loan anyway.

I've seen a few discussions on here saying about loqbox save and cashplus creditbuilder not having any benefit over just paying off credit cards each month, is that true?

/ anything else you can recommend is appreciated, don't understand why my credit score is barely increasing?

thank you

Ryan

ryan60600 said:

P.S I know lenders can't see the specifc score, they just see the report but still...

The score not moving because it is a meaningless marketing gimmick, lenders do not care about it. If you want it to go up, you probably need to open lots of new credit cards with the CRA you want your score to go up with, but that would be negative in terms of other lenders. 

ryan60600

do loqbox and creditbuilder offer any benefits credit cards don't?

and basically you're saying there's no point doing what you mentioned as it's gonna be uneappealing to lenders?

so is there actually anything I can do to make my credit score / credit report become more attractive?

MattMattMattUK

ryan60600 said:

do loqbox and creditbuilder offer any benefits credit cards don't?

Probably not, only those working in the relevant departments at the lenders know and they are never going to tell anyone as that information, together with everything else of how they assess risk and lending is commercially sensitive.

ryan60600 said:

and basically you're saying there's no point doing what you mentioned as it's gonna be uneappealing to lenders?

CRAs want you to open products via them so that they earn commission, borrowing more, or having the facility to borrow more in relation to a credit card, is not going to make you more attractive to other lenders. As an example, if you have recently taken out a loan your chances of getting another loan or a credit card decreases, at least in the short term. You will find however that your score with the CRA that you took out the borrowing through will go up, and your score with all the others will go down.

As another example, the CRAs tell me that a way to increase my "credit score" is to increase my credit card utilisation to between 1% and 35%, they would then try to lend me money to pay it off, or take out a credit card with a balance transfer etc. From the point of view of lenders be carrying debt on a card would make them less likely to lend to me. 

ryan60600 said:

so is there actually anything I can do to make my credit score / credit report become more attractive?

Ignore your score entirely.

Lenders care about people who are able to use credit responsibly, no late payments, no defaults, no CCJs, not carrying debt on credit cards or overdrafts and the basics like having lived at an address for a period of time, being on the electoral roll etc. In terms of being able to borrow you also need to meet their affordability criteria, if you have little to nothing left over every month you are not a good prospect for them to lend to, so income greater than outgoings and earning more overall all factor in.