Credit rating boosting
- Thread starter squarehead94
- Start date
And watch his credit rating decrease?????
You need to have credit t have the best credit rating. Lots of people fall into this trap of not having a credit car,loan, overdraft and then finding they cant even get a mobile phone contract.
The trick is to have loans,borrowings but always pay it back each month on time.
Soldato
Credit score seems to be as much of a dark horse as car insurance prices.
In April this year (when i checked my score for the first time) it was 509 with the only "negative" being that I wasn't on the electoral role. I signed up to the electoral role and my score dropped to 440 in May
No other changes in credit, spending etc etc..
During the next month I opened a Santander 123 Account and changed the overdraft limit on my Halifax Current Account from £0 to £1000 and my score went up to 461.
@shifty:
Then it dropped to 448 in July when nothing changed. Went up to 471 in August when EE performed a hard credit search. Dropped to 391 in September when my EE contract started
Up to 412 in October when my car loan finally showed up and then up to 444 in November when my O2 contract showed as ended.
In April this year (when i checked my score for the first time) it was 509 with the only "negative" being that I wasn't on the electoral role. I signed up to the electoral role and my score dropped to 440 in May
No other changes in credit, spending etc etc.. During the next month I opened a Santander 123 Account and changed the overdraft limit on my Halifax Current Account from £0 to £1000 and my score went up to 461.
@shifty:
Then it dropped to 448 in July when nothing changed. Went up to 471 in August when EE performed a hard credit search. Dropped to 391 in September when my EE contract started
Up to 412 in October when my car loan finally showed up and then up to 444 in November when my O2 contract showed as ended.
Soldato
- Joined
- 29 Jul 2013
- Posts
- 8,573
I don't think that the 0% overdraft from your student account affects your rating.
I was in my overdraft for a lot of Uni, but since leaving I've not gone in my overdraft at all and am now at very near the 999 rating that I'm after.
I'd have thought it'll be the overdrafts with interest that aren't doing you so much good.
I was in my overdraft for a lot of Uni, but since leaving I've not gone in my overdraft at all and am now at very near the 999 rating that I'm after.
I'd have thought it'll be the overdrafts with interest that aren't doing you so much good.
![[TW]Fox](/data/man-of-honor/2009.png){kind=avatar}
Then you've not looked very hard! Its a credit facility and is therefore on the file with a zero balance if you are not using it.
That's my point...
If he pays off the credit card, stops going into is overdraft all the time and spends responsibly. Otherwise all you see is someone who can't manage their money and always going into their overdraft... I wouldn't borrow money to someone like that.
Once he's done that. Then he can do the good old pay on a credit card and pay it off every month.
There's a difference in managing your debts and just being in debt.
Soldato
[TW]Fox;30210529 said:
It's not on the file of either Equifax or Experian. When I set up my business a number of years ago I used my overdraft ALL the time for about two years. Never showed.....I was then and still am now a fully paid member of credit expert.
Also Google will back up this fact.
Last edited:
I do fairly well
Generally, at any one time I have...
A 0pc BT card with 1-2k on it so a "free loan" I even got cash back for last one just to take it out, no fee either !
My Amex that I pay off each month
My tesco for where Amex doesn't work
No overdraft
My creditors score goes between excellent and very good randomly
I am not on the electoral roll for some reason. Don't know why
Having credit but paying it off sensibly is what what is best.
Have a credit card is good, use it well.
I think I have 20k of available credit or something and use about 2k of it before its paid off.
Seems to work well.
Obviously missing a payment is the big no no.
In the OPs shoes, I'd simply look at what is costing more, and deal with that first.
If you can, apply for a BT switch card so you can concentrate on the overdraft first
Generally, at any one time I have...
A 0pc BT card with 1-2k on it so a "free loan" I even got cash back for last one just to take it out, no fee either !
My Amex that I pay off each month
My tesco for where Amex doesn't work
No overdraft
My creditors score goes between excellent and very good randomly
I am not on the electoral roll for some reason. Don't know why
Having credit but paying it off sensibly is what what is best.
Have a credit card is good, use it well.
I think I have 20k of available credit or something and use about 2k of it before its paid off.
Seems to work well.
Obviously missing a payment is the big no no.
In the OPs shoes, I'd simply look at what is costing more, and deal with that first.
If you can, apply for a BT switch card so you can concentrate on the overdraft first
Caporegime
Is it a British hobby to constantly look at your credit score?
Only when you want something to do with it.
Current accounts with an overdraft show on my credit file with all the credit references.
Why wouldn't they? They are credit!
It really won't chap, an overdraft is borrowed money, ergo it's credit and will show on a credit report.
That's a fact.
Man of Honour
Your overdraft absolutely does show up on your credit file!
EDIT
An overdraft is also often one of the highest interest pieces of credit you have. Get rid if this is the case, I used a low interest life of balance transfer to clear mine which saves me around £50 a month in outgoings.
EDIT
An overdraft is also often one of the highest interest pieces of credit you have. Get rid if this is the case, I used a low interest life of balance transfer to clear mine which saves me around £50 a month in outgoings.
Very much this.
All was well and good with two of the main credit rating companies, I then tried out one of the newer free ones and I saw a debt from years ago which was still outstanding. Around £1k if I re-call.
Which is why I think the whole credit rating thing is a load of financial black magic.
Paid off the debt, but to this day it's never appeared on the main providers.
Keeping your credit card balance only up to a third of its limit helps a lot with credit ratings from what I've seen. It seems to be a fine balance, that if you have too much credit it goes against you as does not having any at all.
To echo the point above in the last point.
Using a percentage of the credit is called(i think) the utilisation amount or something to that effect, from reading money saving expert and various sources it seems around 25% is seen as a good amount to be using showing you can manage the debt.
I.e. £1000 limit and only ever going to around £250 of this limit.
However, I'm unsure of how a zero % interest card changes this in the following example, i.e. if you shift a £900 balance to a £1200 limit 0% card, i.e. thus using 75% of the amount of the credit. I suppose a credit lender is going to be unaware of the terms of the credit card to which you already have credit upon, thus appearing more risky?
Using a percentage of the credit is called(i think) the utilisation amount or something to that effect, from reading money saving expert and various sources it seems around 25% is seen as a good amount to be using showing you can manage the debt.
I.e. £1000 limit and only ever going to around £250 of this limit.
However, I'm unsure of how a zero % interest card changes this in the following example, i.e. if you shift a £900 balance to a £1200 limit 0% card, i.e. thus using 75% of the amount of the credit. I suppose a credit lender is going to be unaware of the terms of the credit card to which you already have credit upon, thus appearing more risky?
Soldato
When I used it,it never existed on mine.
Soldato
My credit rating was shot to pieces after my business went belly up. I couldn't even get a bank account.
I opened a Cashplus account and used their credit builder to start repairing things and used it as a bank (you can do direct debits, transfers and have your salary paid in).
After about 12 months I got a Vanquis card application in the post. I felt certain I would be rejected and to be honest didn't want a credit card but applied to see how bad things really were.
I got it and used their leaflet which tells you how much to spend and to pay it back in full each month.
Now I am flooded with offers and finally have a high street bank with overdraft etc.
One thing it has taught me is never to run up any debts again. If I can't afford to buy outright I have to save or do without. Granted I don't have anything but I prefer that to debt.
I opened a Cashplus account and used their credit builder to start repairing things and used it as a bank (you can do direct debits, transfers and have your salary paid in).
After about 12 months I got a Vanquis card application in the post. I felt certain I would be rejected and to be honest didn't want a credit card but applied to see how bad things really were.
I got it and used their leaflet which tells you how much to spend and to pay it back in full each month.
Now I am flooded with offers and finally have a high street bank with overdraft etc.
One thing it has taught me is never to run up any debts again. If I can't afford to buy outright I have to save or do without. Granted I don't have anything but I prefer that to debt.
You sound literally identical to myself, using the cashplus card to get paid in Israeli shekels (sp?) was an experience I never want to repeat, that gave me a crash course in IBAN and BIC codes
As for Vanquis whilst their rates are high they are a great well managed company - although I wouldn't want to default on a months payment on the limit