Need help to improve my credit rating

rudz

I recently obtained my credit report from Annualcreditreport.co.uk and this is what they had to say

There's been bad information in the following areas
"Payment Track Record" & "Credit Application & Searches"

Under Payment Track Record, this is the information mentioned

There are no accounts reported on your credit report.

This could be for a number of reasons

• perhaps you aren’t very ‘credit active’
• maybe your credit accounts are reported to other credit reference agencies and not the one we searched
• perhaps the lenders you use aren’t among the 200 or so that share information. Many of the largest lenders do, but bearing in mind that there are thousands of lenders, most do not.
• maybe you’ve paid off all your debt
• some types of financial activities aren’t currently shown on credit reports, including Student Loans, current account overdrafts, some types of bank personal loan and loan accounts, utility bills, rates and some telephone bills.

Under "Credit Application & Searches" this the information shown

There are no credit application or search footprints on your credit report.

This may be for a good reason, and is not always bad news:

• some applications leave only ‘enquiry’ footprints
• some lenders don’t search you if your score is high enough (or so low that you wouldn’t pass the ‘cut off’ score on their scorecard)
• search footprints are left only at the credit reference agency searched so your financial activity will be spread around three credit reference agencies
• compared to other information on your credit report, searches are only displayed for a relatively short period

Too many searches in a short period of time can indicate desperation for credit, or even can ring fraud warning bells. Too few searches demonstrate a person who is relatively credit inactive. That’s not a crime. At both ends of the scale, the level of searches can have an impact on your file although lenders can interpret their importance differently.

Contrary to old wives’ tales, adding searches to your credit report won’t blacklist you for credit. Even comparatively high numbers of searches only has a limited impact on your credit rating.

I have an HSBC credit card with a £7500 credit limit, I borrow actively on my card and have never missed a payment, I have direct debit setup with my council, thames water, Gas & Electricity companies, 3 mobile, Carphonewarehouse & Virgin Media, I have always paid up ontime, why am I not credit active , everytime I try to get a Debenham's card I get refused, everytime I try to take out a phone contract I get asked to pay a £100 deposit, what is it that I need to do to improve my credit , it is very depressing, what am I doing wrong ? any advise would be greatfully received

*Very sorry about the length of the post, please bear with me*

Oh, I am registered on the Electoral Roll by the way

System

rudz wrote: »

I recently obtained my credit report from Annualcreditreport.co.uk and this is what they had to say

There's been bad information in the following areas
"Payment Track Record" & "Credit Application & Searches"

Under Payment Track Record, this is the information mentioned

There are no accounts reported on your credit report.

This could be for a number of reasons

• perhaps you aren’t very ‘credit active’
• maybe your credit accounts are reported to other credit reference agencies and not the one we searched
• perhaps the lenders you use aren’t among the 200 or so that share information. Many of the largest lenders do, but bearing in mind that there are thousands of lenders, most do not.
• maybe you’ve paid off all your debt
• some types of financial activities aren’t currently shown on credit reports, including Student Loans, current account overdrafts, some types of bank personal loan and loan accounts, utility bills, rates and some telephone bills.

Under "Credit Application & Searches" this the information shown

There are no credit application or search footprints on your credit report.

This may be for a good reason, and is not always bad news:

• some applications leave only ‘enquiry’ footprints
• some lenders don’t search you if your score is high enough (or so low that you wouldn’t pass the ‘cut off’ score on their scorecard)
• search footprints are left only at the credit reference agency searched so your financial activity will be spread around three credit reference agencies
• compared to other information on your credit report, searches are only displayed for a relatively short period

Too many searches in a short period of time can indicate desperation for credit, or even can ring fraud warning bells. Too few searches demonstrate a person who is relatively credit inactive. That’s not a crime. At both ends of the scale, the level of searches can have an impact on your file although lenders can interpret their importance differently.

Contrary to old wives’ tales, adding searches to your credit report won’t blacklist you for credit. Even comparatively high numbers of searches only has a limited impact on your credit rating.

I have an HSBC credit card with a £7500 credit limit, I borrow actively on my card and have never missed a payment, I have direct debit setup with my council, thames water, Gas & Electricity companies, 3 mobile, Carphonewarehouse & Virgin Media, I have always paid up ontime, why am I not credit active , everytime I try to get a Debenham's card I get refused, everytime I try to take out a phone contract I get asked to pay a £100 deposit, what is it that I need to do to improve my credit , it is very depressing, what am I doing wrong ? any advise would be greatfully received

*Very sorry about the length of the post, please bear with me*

Oh, I am registered on the Electoral Roll by the way

Personally I would obtain your credit reports yourself by going direct to the three credit reference agencies (Experian, Equifax, Callcredit). They'll only cost you £2 each.

Experian are the most widely used agency, and if Annualcreditreport.co.uk don't search that particular agency (they say they only search one) you won't be getting the full picture.

So get your reports direct and check the content for incorrect information which could be stopping you get credit.

Regards
UNDERGROUND

CLAPTON

as already suggested get copies of your three credit reports.

if these are OK then it may simply be that there is insufficient credit on your reports
HSBC dont always report to the agencies and things like council tax, utilities don't either.

So get some awful CC like Cap 1, barclaycard initial, vanquis .. use then every month for normal spending... they all charge awful rates of interest but as you will be paying infull each month that wont matter.

YorkshireBoy

A credit report from 'annualcreditreport' is worth exactly what you paid for it, ie NOTHING!!! (And while we're on the subject, don't waste your money on a 'checkmyfile' report either).

Unless 'annualcreditreport' have changed their policy recently (and I think not), they only search CallCredit.

Check out this thread:

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=499066

rudz

Thanks for your replies guys, I did get my credit reports off Experian & Equifax a while ago, it pretty much said the same thing, I asked HSBC and they said they do not report unless I had defaulted a payment or something , so if I get a Cap 1, barclaycard initial, vanquish CC and used it frequently and paid up on time would that help ? I really don't want another CC, but if that is the only way forward, I'll go for it

System

rudz wrote: »

Thanks for your replies guys, I did get my credit reports off Experian & Equifax a while ago, it pretty much said the same thing, I asked HSBC and they said they do not report unless I had defaulted a payment or something , so if I get a Cap 1, barclaycard initial, vanquish CC and used it frequently and paid up on time would that help ? I really don't want another CC, but if that is the only way forward, I'll go for it

How long ago is a while ago? It may be worth getting them again as things can change fairly quckly with your report.

It certainly is an option to get the above mentioned cards as a means of building a solid payment history, just don't borrow on them with their horrific APR's!! I used Cap1 and Vanquis to build a good history and have just started to get accepted for a mainstream card after just over a year.

Regards
UNDERGROUND

rudz

I'd got the Experian and Equifax credit reports done mid of this year, I have just applied for Capital One and Vanquis credit cards, Capital One said they were not able to make a decision online and they'll get back to me, this comes as no surprise, I probably would have to fax my Council Tax bill and my bank statement or credit card statement before they'll give me a card, Vanquis will get back to me in 14 days, incase I get them both can I link these cards to my HSBC current account and pay online ? Thanks again for taking time to help me out

CLAPTON

you will be able to set up DDs to pay the CCs or you can use your HSBC online banking to pay if you choose.

rudz

Thanks for all your replies, hope you all have a happy and healthy new year :T