Yet to check them all for free, use noddle.
co.uk for Callcredit and sign up to both
Experian.co.uk and
equifax.co.uk for free month long trials of their outrageously expensive credit monitoring services – then once you’ve got your file, cancel asap.
And don’t feel the need to pay to ‘find your credit score’. These are just a lose indication at best. Each lender scores differently and uses far more info than just your credit file.
6. Avoid lots of applications in a short space of time. Almost every card or loan application leaves a file footprint. Too many of these, especially close together, hurt future applications. The system’s anti-shopping around, as if you’re offered a worse rate than that advertised, you’ll want to apply elsewhere.
So space out and prioritise applications. Due a new mortgage? Don’t apply for minor things like cashback credit cards a week before.
7. Get unfair defaults removed. If there’s a default on your file that isn’t fair, for example, if you didn’t pay a catalogue loan as it failed to deliver the goods, it’s important to get it removed.
First complain to the lender and if that fails, write to the credit reference agency to ask it to add a short Notice of Correction to your credit file. For example, “It was for a swimsuit from a catalogue firm and it never arrived.”
This will slow down applications, as most credit companies will review these manually, but a slow yes is better than a “no”. Finally, complain to
www.financial–ombudsman.
org.uk.
8. Use a bizarre trick to (re)build your creditworthiness. Rejection’s likely if your history makes you look a bad credit citizen, yet lenders can reject those who’ve never had credit due to lack of data.
The answer’s to get a credit card, just to do about £50 a month of normal spending on it (never withdraw cash), then repay IN FULL by direct debit each month so there’s no interest. After six months to a year, you’ll start to look a better credit citizen.
The catch 22 is ‘how do you get a credit card if you’ve poor credit?’ The answer’s specialist credit rebuild cards - I’ve a full list of cards and help to find which you’re most likely to be accepted for at
www.mse.me/creditrebuild.
9. Be consistent, even on different applications, to avoid fraud scoring. Fraud scoring is credit scoring’s secret cousin. Among other things, these specialist agencies map how consistent your applications are, even to totally different firms. So if you’ve a couple of mobiles or job titles, use exactly the same one every time you apply.
10. Beware joint mortgages, loans and bank accounts. It’s not whether you kiss, live together, hold hands or are married that links credit files. It’s simply whether you have a joint credit agreement (mortgages, loans, bank accounts and sometimes utility bills - joint credit cards don’t exist).
This means their credit history can be looked at when assessing whether to lend to you. If theirs is bad, avoid any joint products.
@MoneySavingExpert 13
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