Moneysavingexpert.com/ Your Credit Rating discussion area

xxdiddiexx

There have been some attempts to use the Data Protection Act to get Companies and CRA's to stop processing data. There is a lot of discussion going on about it over at the Consumer Action Group. Some have had success, some not, some have been to court and received compensation, some are still going through the process of taking legal action.

Pop over there you may be pleasantly surprised.
http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/legalities/29074-victory-last-against-cras.html

kanchhelskis

Dear Guys A Girls Just Checked My Credit Rating And Was Astonished To See It Was 482 Very Poor It Said. What I Cant Understand Is Im In A Very Good Financial Position I Have Loads Of Savings Acounts Could Someone Please Tell Me Why My Score Is Bad Thanks In Advance!

BARGAINHUNTER!

Hi

I have just applied for a small mortgage of £46K from ING and was very surprised to be turned down due to my credit rating. I have accessed my experian file, and notice that there is a record of non-payment of an old mobile phone contract with 3.

To cut a long story short, I cancelled my contract with 3 last Jan by letter, and cancelled my direct debit. They kept sending me bills and I kept telling them the contract had been cancelled. I have copies of lots of letters back and forth. Basically, I put the bills into dispute. On 9 December 2006, I finally had had enough as it was obvious that 3 were not going to budge so I paid them the £129 owing to get rid of them. Looking at my credit report, it is showing as missed payments, even though I was disputing the bills! Also, the last time 3 sent any info to experian was in August, they haven't bothered to update it since, hence it still showing as outstanding! I have phoned 3 who have confirmed that the bill is now settled and I have asked them to update my credit file, and I have also emailed experian to explain the situation, in the hope that they can put a note against my file.

I need to apply for a new mortgage asap. Once this enty is corrected to show settled will I be able to do this? Or will there be a delay before I can re-apply for an ING mortgage?

Also, yesterday I ordered a pair of boots for my son from Littlewoods catalogue. I got £15 off for being a new customer, provided I opened a credit account. I applied online, and the total bill for the boots came to £22 including the discount. I have now received an email from Littlewoods to say that I have been turned down for a credit account! I was only applying to get the £15 off - I was going to send a cheque for the full amount when the bill came! Has this also damaged my chances of getting a mortgage? I didn't think about it at the time or else I would never have done it. All my other entries are fine - all bills paid promptly and on time (apart from 3 bill which wasn't paid due to it being put in dispute!!)


I have never ever had a problem obtaining credit in the past so this has come as a bit of a shock to me!

razorphish

Hi

I just wanted to know if anyone recommends https://www.checkmyfile.com for Credit Monitor - Unlimited Access to all 3 Agencies
quarterly access for £14.95

This seems lot cheaper than getting free trial (which i cant get anymore as i did last year with experian)

Does anybody recommend me going ahead with checkmyfile.com

Thanks

Cherylc_2

This is my first time on the chat forum and I need help , advice , my daughter 19 living at home wanted to apply for a loan , I searched the net and completed a form with her details ,to search for the best available deal. She has been to see Black Horse today who have qouted her a loan at 29% ,due to the fact there have been so many searches on her. In my ignorance I did not realise that every loan company would credit score her I just assumed that they would look for the best deals available and then it would be up to her to apply. Is there anything I can do to remove these searches as it was a pure mistake . Many thanks

jmfwilts

If you have an Orange mobile phone contract and have ever had a month or two when you have been in credit check your credit file. I had three bills, three months in a row where I was in credit (they owed me for a big !!!! up they made). As I was in credit, no direct debit was taken from my account, until the fourth bill where I owed them again. However, on my credit file it looked like I had missed three months worth of payments in a row. Thankfully I wrote to credit control at Orange and they corrected my file. It could have had a very negative impact on my ability to obtain credit.:mad:

PaulW922

Cherylc wrote:

This is my first time on the chat forum and I need help , advice , my daughter 19 living at home wanted to apply for a loan , I searched the net and completed a form with her details ,to search for the best available deal. She has been to see Black Horse today who have qouted her a loan at 29% ,due to the fact there have been so many searches on her. In my ignorance I did not realise that every loan company would credit score her I just assumed that they would look for the best deals available and then it would be up to her to apply. Is there anything I can do to remove these searches as it was a pure mistake . Many thanks

Cherylc

The answer is that there is probably little you can do. Each time your daughter made an 'application' she would have agreed, under the terms and conditions, to a credit search. The information can only be removed if your daughter can demonstrate that she did not authorise the search, or if the lender was wrong in making the search. I doubt you can demonstrate either, unless you are prepared to say you made the applications without her consent (not a good idea). Just not having understood the T&Cs won't be sufficient. You could write to each company and explain that you thought you were just asking for a quotation, and see what they say. Most will probably ignore you but it will only cost you the price of a stamp.

However those searches will vanish from Experian and Equifax after a year (2 years at Callcredit but they are not much of a CRA). Furthermore as the months go by those searches will become older and will carry less signifigance. After three months they will not count against your daughter so much and will lose further signifigance after six months.

I'd suggest she avoids making any applications for three months. In the meantime, she could take out that 29% APR loan, but that will be very expensive. If your credit is OK why not consider taking out a loan for her in your own name? The searches registered against her will not show against your credit file.

There is the facility for a 'quotation search' whereby the credit search only shows itself to other lenders if you go ahead with the loan, but most automated/on-line facilities probably won't allow for that.

PaulW922

kanchhelskis wrote:

Dear Guys A Girls Just Checked My Credit Rating And Was Astonished To See It Was 482 Very Poor It Said. What I Cant Understand Is Im In A Very Good Financial Position I Have Loads Of Savings Acounts Could Someone Please Tell Me Why My Score Is Bad Thanks In Advance!

That credit rating is only Experian/Equifax's estimate of your standing. Different lenders assess you in different ways and the rating you have been given won't be shown to potential lenders.

As to why your ratings is low - being of good financial standing does not necessarily make you a good credit risk. If you have had little credit in the past then you will not be demonstrating much experience at managing it. Equally, having money in savings accounts will not be shown at any CRAs and again that does not mean you will be a good risk.

Some lenders report all types of account conduct. Others such as NatWest and RBS only report you to the CRAs if you default. What you need, as well as being on the electoral roll, is a few credit accounts/bank accounts that report your good conduct. If you do that over the next few months and don't default on anything your score should improve. Credit cards and bank accounts that report good as well as bad conduct include Lloyds, Abbey,Citibank, HSBC and also capital One, the latter of which is an easy to get card, and despite the interest rate worth having just to build a bit of a score.

Contract mobile phones also report good conduct, as do some TV rental companies.

As you have your credit report it should be quite easy to look and see if you have much credit history recorded.

tracy17_2

MSE_Dan wrote:

This discussion relates to the updated Your Credit Rating article.

Click Reply to discuss.

I currently have large credit card debt. If I pay it all off at once, will this cancel out my bad credit rating and allow my to get a loan?

ish

I have only 1 credit card which is a BarclayCard for student (hence i am a student) i used to have a credit limit of £600 but now they sent me a letter saying its reduced to £260 and my ability to withdraw cash using it has been revoked (even though i dont use it to withdraw cash).

I have always paid my account in full EVERY MONTH! Never late payments, i just want to know why they would do this