Credit History.... Help!

[Scrappy01]

I have had bad credit, a number of defaults and a CCJ. Everything has now been removed except for 3 cards with some late payment information and arrangement on up to 2007, in late 2006 or 2007 these cards were all paid off.

 

I have checked my file with Experian and they give me a credit score of 900 out of 1000 and they say that I am "very credit worthy and low risk" and that nothing is having a negative impact on my scrore.

 

For some reason though I still cannot get credit. I applied for a Virgin credit card so I could get away from my high interest Capital One card. They refused me. I also applied for a job with the Co-Operative bank and they refused me the job (I believe on the grounds of my credit history). I'm going for another job tomorrow and might have to be Security Cleared so really panicing that this will fail too.

 

Can anyone help me to figure out what's going on......?!?!?

[izools]

DON'T trust the credit score figures you get from Experian.

 

They are nothing more than a marketing gimick. The same can be said for Call Credit.

 

Every creditor has a different score sheet and will give you a different score based on the same information, depending on what their score sheet weights the most / least.

 

I (others may disagree) have found the Equifax score to be very useful. Not because the score itself is accurate, but because it gives very useful guidelines in regard to what is positively and negatively affecting your score.

 

If you've had missed payments / arrangements to pay in the last three years you'll have great difficulty getting a card like Virgin / MBNA.

 

Check to see what Equifax say and go from there

[izools]

Also do you mind sharing a little about the default removal with Vodafone? As I'm trying to get the same done for my other half at the moment

[Scrappy01]

I called Virgin yesterday after posting and they said that its not anything such as late payments etc thats preventing me from getting their card.

 

Apparently its because I already have a credit card with a balance but I only pay minimum payment. I only have a £500 limit and its not up to that but they say that with my salary they would expect me to clear it each month. I did point out I had a mortgage and other bills to pay so clearing up to £500 a month wasn't really possible.

 

I thought that was a rubbish excuse to be fair. Surely they like people who only pay minimum payment. If I paid it of every month then they would never make a penny out of me. But then I suppose their card is 0% for 16 months so they wouldn't make anything anyway as I was going to balance transfer but hey ho.

 

I will drag out my paper work for Vodafone and let you know what I did. I will say though that the default was incorrect. They defaulted me twice on 2 different months and they also had the dates incorrect by some months. They wouldn't admit any wrong doing on their part, but all of a sudden the record disappeard from my credit files!

[izools]

I remember when I applied for an MBNA card many years ago and they turned me down because my cards were too close to their limits.

 

I can see their point though, if you have a card with a small limit, you should be able to clear most of it each month. Keep in mind MBNA / Virgin normally accept people with whom they feel comfortable handing out £2500+ limits to.

 

It might be worth considering an RBS Group card like the Tesco credit card as they can be more lenient and have a rate for risk policy so they may just give you a higher interest rate (still WAAAAY lower than Crapital 1) rather than saying no.

 

I'd wait a few months before applying though as two credit card applications in quick succession mighn't look great.

 

RE: Vodafone, thanks for any input you can offer - I suppose I should SAR them to try and find as many discrepancies as possible and pull them up on every single one. As it stands I've sent their compliance team a letter demanding removal of the default on the basis that 1) a final reminder / paper default notice was never issued and 2) the DCA agreed to remove the default notice altogether if the balance was cleared in full (which it was).

 

Just waiting to see what they come back with...

 

... Good luck with Tesco when you decide to re-apply (as I say, try to wait for as long as you can bear to) ...