Mortgage and credit history
- Thread starter lemonade
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Soldato
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My mortgage was obtained having never had a credit card between either of us.
I obviously had mobile phones, electricity and gas bills and such like. But no credit cards.
Having said that, I have no idea how good my credit rating is.
I obviously had mobile phones, electricity and gas bills and such like. But no credit cards.
Having said that, I have no idea how good my credit rating is.
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www.noddle.co.uk is a half decent way of having a rough look at yer credit score
Just as a heads up, while it is true that not having any/much credit history will lower your chances of getting a mortgage, there are some important things to consider.
You don't just need a credit card / loan to have built up credit history.
Most recurring payments (phone bills, gas and elec) will contribute something to your score.
You can build up your long-term credit score by getting a credit card and paying it off regularly - but if you're looking to get a mortgage in the short-term, then don't start applying for loans / credit cards. Having (or applying for) other means of borrowing now, will actually have a negative effect on your short-term chances of getting a mortgage.
I've never used noodle (above), but the main credit agencies are Experian and Equifax - but you will likely need to pay a registration fee to access your history with them.
Sites like MoneySavingExpert have some very good advice on mortgage applications and credit history.
You don't just need a credit card / loan to have built up credit history.
Most recurring payments (phone bills, gas and elec) will contribute something to your score.
You can build up your long-term credit score by getting a credit card and paying it off regularly - but if you're looking to get a mortgage in the short-term, then don't start applying for loans / credit cards. Having (or applying for) other means of borrowing now, will actually have a negative effect on your short-term chances of getting a mortgage.
I've never used noodle (above), but the main credit agencies are Experian and Equifax - but you will likely need to pay a registration fee to access your history with them.
Sites like MoneySavingExpert have some very good advice on mortgage applications and credit history.
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Yup as div0 mentions experian and equifax are also available to check your credit score.
Noddle is completely free whereas the other tend to require a monthly fee.
Had a quick nosey around...
www.topcashback.co.uk currently have:
£8.92 cashback offer if you take a free 30 day trial of equifax
£5.77 cashback for a free 30 day trial of experian
Also as others have mentioned standard bills gas/electric/water/council tax/mobile phone may also contruibute to your rating so it may not be as bad as you think
Noddle is completely free whereas the other tend to require a monthly fee.
Had a quick nosey around...
www.topcashback.co.uk currently have:
£8.92 cashback offer if you take a free 30 day trial of equifax
£5.77 cashback for a free 30 day trial of experian
Also as others have mentioned standard bills gas/electric/water/council tax/mobile phone may also contruibute to your rating so it may not be as bad as you think
Soldato
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Also bear in mind that if you move house often then that can have a negative impact upon your credit rating. I was warned about this when I left one rental place for another shortly before obtaining my mortgage. It can be a potential sign of financial instability, even though the truth may not be anything like that.
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Yes make sure you're on the electoral roll before applying for anything, waste of a credit check otherwise. Think it takes approx 6 weeks to register ans show up fully.
Fantastic bits of info, mucho gracias people, this is really helpful. I might have a stain on my history then as one of council tax payment once failed because my card got blocked, other than I don't have much. Do student tuition loans count? Still paying that off 
One thing I remembered I have got quite a few rent arrears in the past, due to the stupid housing association never giving an accurant rent fee and changing it regauarly so I've underpaid a lot of times, but paid back the owed amounts straight away. Do rent payments to private housing association count towards credit history?
Possibly / probably (at a guess)?
Only real way to be sure is to check your credit history.
If you do have any 'black marks' in your history then you can apply to have them removed (at least in certain circumstances).
As before, I'd really recommend reading some stuff like this: http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/loans/credit-rating-credit-score
Only real way to be sure is to check your credit history.
If you do have any 'black marks' in your history then you can apply to have them removed (at least in certain circumstances).
As before, I'd really recommend reading some stuff like this: http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/loans/credit-rating-credit-score
You can get your statutory credit file by law for £2 from each of the 3 agencies. No need to pay monthly subscriptions to access it. Also the "score" is meaningless. It's the history that matters.
Also council tax doesn't go on your credit file. It is not credit! Although a CCJ would if you got one through none payment.
Also council tax doesn't go on your credit file. It is not credit! Although a CCJ would if you got one through none payment.
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get yerself on noddle, its a good starting point mate
Just been round the houses myself with my credit history. I would strongly advise checking out Experian or similar even for the free trial.
I Applied for a Sainsburys credit card recently to help build a bit more credit history for a mortgage and also to take advantage of the extra nectar points they had on offer only to be turned down even though I've never had an issue getting credit in the past (contracts, car finance etc). I didn't need the credit card so not the end of the world but it got me wondering what was wrong.
Cue the 30-day Experian trial to see what was wrong. As it initially stood it looked like I hadn't got much credit history even though my credit score was 890?! Just warnings all over stating I might be turned down for credit because the accounts that were showing were for less than 12 months (current and previously paid off)
Checked deeper into it only to find out that they had no record of me on the electoral role for my current address even though I've been on there at my current address since 2011. Got that sorted with the council who confirmed this was the case, no idea why it hadn't been passed to Experian. I also discovered that a few of my bank accounts weren't on there because Lloyds TSB updated the address on my account incorrectly (they basically left out the house number and street name and just used the building name and postcode!) even after I'd written it out in full for them on the change of address form.
Now I have all of these bits sorted my credit score has gone up and I have no warnings or messages on my account to indicate I may have issues getting credit.
It's pee'd me right off though because there's no reason for any of this to have been missing in the first place and I now have a credit search on my account for credit I was declined for!
I Applied for a Sainsburys credit card recently to help build a bit more credit history for a mortgage and also to take advantage of the extra nectar points they had on offer only to be turned down even though I've never had an issue getting credit in the past (contracts, car finance etc). I didn't need the credit card so not the end of the world but it got me wondering what was wrong.
Cue the 30-day Experian trial to see what was wrong. As it initially stood it looked like I hadn't got much credit history even though my credit score was 890?! Just warnings all over stating I might be turned down for credit because the accounts that were showing were for less than 12 months (current and previously paid off)
Checked deeper into it only to find out that they had no record of me on the electoral role for my current address even though I've been on there at my current address since 2011. Got that sorted with the council who confirmed this was the case, no idea why it hadn't been passed to Experian. I also discovered that a few of my bank accounts weren't on there because Lloyds TSB updated the address on my account incorrectly (they basically left out the house number and street name and just used the building name and postcode!) even after I'd written it out in full for them on the change of address form.
Now I have all of these bits sorted my credit score has gone up and I have no warnings or messages on my account to indicate I may have issues getting credit.
It's pee'd me right off though because there's no reason for any of this to have been missing in the first place and I now have a credit search on my account for credit I was declined for!
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The guy dealing with my mortgage stuff got back to me and said it has been turned down because my crediting rating is too low, yet apparently if I pay 30k deposit I can get a mortgage. Doesn't really make much sense.
Whats the quickest way to get the rating up? I've signed up to experian but will have to wait for the pin to arrive and then see if possibly I have nay issues such as cokecans.
Really peed off as this may be the only chance I can buy a property and this silly credit rating thing has now put everything down the drain.
Whats the quickest way to get the rating up? I've signed up to experian but will have to wait for the pin to arrive and then see if possibly I have nay issues such as cokecans.
Really peed off as this may be the only chance I can buy a property and this silly credit rating thing has now put everything down the drain.
I'm totally not an expert at this, but I assume their system takes in to account your income, expenditure and history. There's probably some figure the system says you can afford at an acceptable risk, which means in this case you need to pay more deposit as the figure is less than you think.
There might be something immediately obvious when you check out your report from the 3 main credit people - an account which is showing unpaid, an incorrect status or financial link, etc. Or you might need to work out what they're seeing as unacceptable risk and reduce it, but that probably won't be a quick process.
Noddle are maybe the least respected of the bunch but they do offer a free service, one of the others let me view online quickly and the other made me wait for a code by letter. You can get statutory reports from each of them for 2 quid too, though they're just information without much explanation as they want you to buy their products.