Your Credit Rating: How it works and How to improve it Discussion Area

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• we asked for a loan repayment before xmas and were turned down by the bank (Lloyds), when we attempted to find out the reason, we were told we didn't fit the criteria but no-one was able to give me a copy of the criteria, so they blamed our credit rating (both clear) then said the branch had vetoed it, the branch denied it. we still didn't get the holiday, but we have complained and the last letter said our credit scoring was the cause and we needed to check our credit rating (which are both clear) so we are going to complain to the ombudsman. and although we couldn't have a loan holiday the bank increased my husbands credit card limit by £2000. we only wanted to not pay for one month about £450, obviously the credit card has a higher rate of interest.
  Polly
• Help please, i recently applied for a mortgage on an existing property and was told that the money I was asking for would be considerably reduced because I had a lot of credit cards with high credit limits. I started to pay off these cards and cancel them but was then told by one of the companies that this wouldn't look good for my credit rating and any changes could take 3 months or more to come into effect! Please what is the truth here, should I close or not? should I just reduce the credit limit?
• I have a CIFAS report registered on my credit report from somone fraudulantly trying to gain a credit card in my name will this effect my ability to get credit or loans in the future/
  Neil A
• If you have an account you are going to close, is it better to close the account after asking for an increase in your credit limit or not?
  As a higher credit limit will be shown on your account for 3 years (I believe) so it would show you have had a good history of credit on the higher amount compared to showing it on a lower credit amount.
• I tried to get a credit card because I was going touring in Canada and was advised that I would need one. I was refused and solved that problem by being added as a second signatory to my daughter's card. Tried again prior to going on a cruise where on board bill had to be settled via a credit card registered with cruise company on embarkation. Refused again. This time I persuaded my husband to get one, against his better judgement, which he did, with me as second signatory.
  Why am I always refused? Apparantly I have NO credit history. Although I have never had credit in my own name we did have a JOINT i.e. in both names mortgage, (never defaulted, now paid off) this has never been credited to me only to my husband. We have a joint current account and savings account too. But apparantly his credit rating is excellent and I have none. Why should this be? God help me if I am ever left on my own. BTW I deal with all our financial affairs, DH wouldn't know where to start.
• Does anyone know exactly how to view the free credit report and such on Experian? I applied, got no confirmation which annoyed me but managed to get in after a while and it says I'll be charged just under £5 for a report. Was there a special link I missed?
• This is my first post; sorry if it is in the wrong forum, I am hoping someone can give me some advice.
  I applied for an unsecured personal loan today (via my mortgage provider The Halifax) in order to buy a new car, and I was refused the loan. The reason they gave me was that my credit score was poor. I moved house 13 months ago and took a new mortgage out with the Halifax, prior to that I had been with them for 14 years having never defaulted on a payment (or with any one else for that matter). The only other credit I have taken out in the past 18 months was last September for an M&S More card in order to BT from Barclaycard. (Thanks for the advice on this Martin ), this was approved & I was given a £5000 credit limit.
  When I got refused my loan today, I asked the Halifax who supplied their data, they said it was Experian. I checked my credit record with them (cost me £20!) and I noticed there was an entry in Sep 06 where "The account has defaulted", this was for £17 to British Gas (BG). I have not been a BG customer since moving from my old address 13 months ago.
  On the day I moved I gave BG the final meter reading, and one week later I received my final bill in which I was in credit for £1.69 (which I never received by the way). After that I never heard anything from them again.
  When I moved in Nov 05, my old house was sold in part exchange to the developer of my new house, so in effect they became the owner of my old house on the day I moved. The house remained empty for 4 months before being resold, hence the £17 use of electricity.
  My questions are: How do I convince BG that I was not liable for this £17 charge in the first place, & how do I get this entry deleted from my credit record. Should I be seeking legal advice regarding this?
  Many thanks for any help you can give.
• Jay78, many thanks for your reply.
  Yes I do have proof that the developer became the new owner on that date, this is all documented in the exchange of contracts. I can't say that I have anything in writing from the developer saying they are liable for the electricity used (or any other charges for that matter) from this date. But if I am no longer the owner/occupier how can I still be liable for this, or can I be?
  I have a bill from BG dated 26/11/05 for electricity used from 01/11/05-21/11/05 (the date I moved) for £1.69CR. At the bottom of the bill it states "This is your last bill for this address" & "This credit will be refunded to you in due course".
• I would phone British Gas and check where they got the £17 from? Was it for the period when you were in the property or not? It could have been for example because BG estimated the reading for when you moved out, and then a proper reading was received, and they re-issued the final bill.
  If you have contract exchange proof then you don't need to prove electricity would be no longer your responsibility, because that would go without saying.
  If you provided them a forwarding address then they should have issued all correspondance to your new address so you should have known they were chasing you for £17. I'm not sure whether default information can be removed off the credit report information though, but it's worth asking.
• anniecave, thanks for your reply.
  On the day I moved I phoned through the meter reading to BG on a special number dedicated for people moving, the bill that I was sent (£1.69cr) was as a result of that reading. This bill was sent to my new address & stated that it was for electricity used at my old address so they did have my forwarding address.
  I did phone BG yesterday (Sat) & spoke to customer services, but they were unable to access my account fully because the account is technically closed, so they were not able to tell me exactly what the £17 is for. They claim that several reminders were sent to my NEW address! To me this is BS as I am not the type of person who ignores final reminders. They were also able to tell me that the meter was read by BG in Feb 05 & again in Feb 06, three months after I moved out. I was told that the debt was with their debt collection agency & I would have to phone them on Monday in order to settle the debt.
• My husband and I were chidminders. Doing really well until one of our minded familys decided to move on giving us four weeks notice ok she was in her right to that but she was a big bulk of our earnings. We could'nt get replacement. We had a couple of credit cards so we rang them and told the situation but they said they couldnt doing anything until we defaulted. We tried telling them Hubby got new job and trying to sell house but would not listen we had so much grief. Anyway we are now debt free as sold house etc but our cred rating is low because of these companys. What can we do?????
  Terri :confused:
• I'm in my early twenties and am looking to improve my credit rating.
  I have a basic bank account and high interest (supposedly) account with HSBC, I have gone overdrawn a couple of times but apart form that everything is fine. I have lots of cash in both now with a nice steady income.
  I also have a bank account which I rarely use with Barclays with a few quid in it.
  A couple of months ago I applied for the Alliance & Leicester Premier Direct Current Account. However I was turned down, they told me it was because of my credit score.
  So now I that am fairly financially secure, I was to know what the best ways are to increase my credit score. I was thinking about applying for a Capital One or MBNA credit card which I use quite a bit and pay off every month, but if I was to apply then I might not be accepted anyway.
  So, I'm hoping you clever clogs can advise me please.
• Hi all, I'm wondering if someone can give me some advice. Having been clearing up my finances recently, I checked my credit rating on being turned down for a 0% credit card. It turned out Vodafone, with whom I had cancelled my contract 2 years ago, had an incorrect charge of £2000 outstanding against me as well as 6 fictitious missed payments! My rating as a result is "very poor" - 395/1000. I have phoned Vodafone and they are wiping the information - but in the time I have had this rating I took out a loan with Northern Rock at a higher interest rate than "standard" due to my poor credit rating, if that makes sense. So I am out of pocket, have been turned down for things when I shouldn't have been, etc. I have 2 questions really - 1) How quickly will my credit rating get back to normal, and 2) Should I be looking to Vodafone for some sort of compensation? I'd be really grateful for any help.
• Hi, can anyone help?
  I've been successfully rate tarting now for a couple of years and have worked my way through 4 credit cards with 'interest free balance transfers with no fee' deals getting shorter and more hard to come by. After reading info. about credit scoring etc. i considered getting a card which charges a handling fee this time as i feared i may get refused on my new card application. In the end however, i decided to chance going for another short deal with Sainsburys with a view to paying off my balance over the coming months and becoming debt free by summer. Sadly i have been refused... Any suggestions on what to do next? I'm assuming i've been refused as i don't make the credit card companies any money (i have never paid any interest or handling fees on any of the cards i've had, nor have i ever spent on them).
  I do have savings enough to pay off the debt in full, but would rather leave my hard earned cash in its high interest account for as long as possible.
  I am more concerned about my credit rating in the future.
  I've only cancelled one of my previous cards so could this be why i was refused on my last application?
  I'm looking for suggestions on what to do next as i assume loads of people must be in the same situation as me if they've been successfully tarting!!
  Incidently, i recently married and have kept my maiden name. When applying for the latest card however, i obviously told them of my new marital status. Would this affect my application?