Never been in debt, WHY do I have a 'Very poor' credit score?

[nickjonesuk]

Hi,

 

I have difficulty getting credit, couldn't even get a contract from Orange, but Virgin Mobile took me on! Anyway...

 

Having checked on Experian, I have a score of 540! Which is Very Poor.

 

I have NEVER had a credit card, I have an overdraft of £600 which has been paid for the last 2 months. I have NO loans. I AM on the electoral roll. I am 20 years old this month. I DO have a generous income and I DO have every intention of paying my bills.

 

The only credit accounts I have now are SKY and VIRGIN MOBILE. 6 months ago I missed 2 payments with Virgin Media (Telewest) but both were paid by debit card the day after I noticed the Direct Debit had bounced.

 

I have applied for several small loans and credit cards over the last 12 months. It is really getting on my wick because I need finance of £3500 to buy a used car as I am starting work as a private hire taxi driver.

 

My friend is 21, 4 credit cards, £1000 overdraft, missed LOADS of payments in the past (12 months ago) and he has the same score as me.

 

Please help me, I feel like I am getting no where. Is anybody else in the same boat as me?

 

Thanks,

Nick J

[42man]

Try asking your current bank for a credit card.....if you have a Debit Card / Cheque Guarantee card the next step for the bank to add value to their service is usually for them to give you a credit card....

[rory32]

I have applied for several small loans and credit cards over the last 12 months.

And if you have been declined for them this hurts your credit rating. You need to allow at least a few months between each.

[nickjonesuk]

My bank Natwest wouldn't give me one. I do have a chq guarantee card. They wouldn't up my overdraft from £600 to £700 when I had some rough months after xmas either.

[Having_A_Knightmare]

You think yours is bad yo want to see mine:D

[missmoneypenny1]

this credit score thing is ridiculous, my boyfriend has never been in debt in his life, never had a loan and never had a credit card, however he has a house and has never missed a mortgage payment - but guess wot he has been refused a credit card !

 

people that dont have loans, credit cards etc , often get refused cos the lenders cant see how they have been running credit agreements and they have a low credit score as they havent had a lot of credit.

 

shouldnt it be the other way round? it seems the more in debt you are to credit cards and loans the more credit you can get ????

 

i would try and take out a small loan of 500.00 and start to build a credit rating for yourself. DO NOT ring round to try and get a loan, this will damage your credit rating even more.

 

as for your overdraft even though you have ran it well, bank overdrafts often dont show on your credit file.

 

you need to build it up slowly i am afraid and then you will be able to get credit.

[alexteh]

Much as I hate to, it might be worth trying to get some easy credit items just to build up a bit of a credit history. Crapital One have a "guaranteed" mastercard which they will give almost anyone although you may have to pay a deposit or alternatively the catalog companies (littlewoods, etc) offer credit to almost anyone with a pulse (including an old neighbour of mine's pet cat) which you could use just to build up some good payment history. What you need is regular monthlty payments to an account not a one-off borrow money and repay it all. Good luck

[monopoly23]

You think 540 is bad? Ive got a rating of about 330. Ive had one loan of £1000 which was paid in full over 1 year and 1 credit card which has no missed payments. Im also on the electoral roll.

 

The only thing this score can be down to is the fact that I made a few loan and credit card applications in the months running up to xmas last year - and I was turned down for them all. Its ridiculous.

[alexteh]

I think mine is negative

[sequenci]

1. your age

2. the fact you don't have much credit

3. you're probably living with parents or in rented accomodation

[nickjonesuk]

Well good to see its not just me, thought I had done something wrong! I have made quite a number of applications in the last 12 months which is probobly what is down to, the number of 'footprints' on my account.

 

As I said I did have Virgin Media for a year, had Vodafone for 18 months, never missed one payment with them! and that was £40/month. I did try and get a £800 loan before xmas actually, and I got turned down. Will just have to wait and see. Not fair in my opinion, like you said, will just have to wait

[patrickq1]

i am probably -540 lol

[The Phantom]

So does this credit scoring mean the higher the figure the better ?

D'OH - I always thought it was the other way around, the lower the better...

Recently got told my scoring was 800 something & I got turned down for changing gas / electricity suppliers (new supplier did a credit check and didn't want me although I wanted to pay by monthly DD), then I tried another supplier and they took me no problem. Different thresholds I suppose

[nickjonesuk]

Yes, different thresholds for different companies. Example, Orange wouldn't take me on for £35 month in Phones4u but Virgin did 2 minutes later for £35, oranges loss of a £630 contract!