Understanding Your Credit Report
In the current economic climate having a less than healthy credit record can seriously affect a person's ability to arrange finance of any kind.
For a person to be able to repair a bad credit record they first of all need to understand what it is that is causing the problem.
So what is it that makes a credit record bad? Payment Profile There are a number of elements that contribute to a person's credit record either positively or negatively.
The first thing that a lender looks at when they carry out a credit search in assessing an application for finance is a healthy repayment history.
Quite often when applying for finance for the first time, just the fact that there is no regular payment history in a person's credit file can be enough to put the lender off.
If this is the case then it is often enough to take on some form of easy to get in-store type credit, and make sure that all payments are made regularly.
The easiest and quickest way to achieve this is to take out a payment plan for the purchase of some white goods or perhaps a new PC, quite often if you have a debit card that will be enough to qualify you for this type of finance.
All you need to do then is maintain all the repayments so the lenders can see that you are a prompt payer.
Electoral Register Making sure that an applicant is registered on the electoral register is also of the utmost importance.
Lenders like to be able to see where an applicant has lived since the age of 18 and any gaps are frowned upon.
As such always ensure that if you change your address that you update the electoral register as soon as you possibly can.
County Court Judgments Any county court judgments (CCJ's) that show up on a credit record will have a serious impact on a person's ability to arrange finance.
If there are any outstanding CCJ's they should be cleared as a matter of urgency, if they are cleared very quickly after being applied they can be removed without having to wait for the normal 6 years that they stay on a credit record.
Defaults As with County Court Judgements any defaults that show up on a credit report will have a serious impact on a person's ability to lend.
However unlike with CCJ's it is difficult to get a default removed from a credit file a lender will often mark a default as satisfied but will rarely be removed without the lenders hand being forced.
Get a Copy of Your Credit Record Before applying for finance of any kind it makes sense to get a copy of your credit file from either one or both the major credit bureaux Experian or Equifax.
Once you are aware what problems there are on your credit record you have a fair chance of repairing it.
Once you have a copy of your credit file in front of you, it is important that you check that there are no errors contained within it, if you find that ther are you should contact the credit bureaux concerned and request that they rectify the issue.
For a person to be able to repair a bad credit record they first of all need to understand what it is that is causing the problem.
So what is it that makes a credit record bad? Payment Profile There are a number of elements that contribute to a person's credit record either positively or negatively.
The first thing that a lender looks at when they carry out a credit search in assessing an application for finance is a healthy repayment history.
Quite often when applying for finance for the first time, just the fact that there is no regular payment history in a person's credit file can be enough to put the lender off.
If this is the case then it is often enough to take on some form of easy to get in-store type credit, and make sure that all payments are made regularly.
The easiest and quickest way to achieve this is to take out a payment plan for the purchase of some white goods or perhaps a new PC, quite often if you have a debit card that will be enough to qualify you for this type of finance.
All you need to do then is maintain all the repayments so the lenders can see that you are a prompt payer.
Electoral Register Making sure that an applicant is registered on the electoral register is also of the utmost importance.
Lenders like to be able to see where an applicant has lived since the age of 18 and any gaps are frowned upon.
As such always ensure that if you change your address that you update the electoral register as soon as you possibly can.
County Court Judgments Any county court judgments (CCJ's) that show up on a credit record will have a serious impact on a person's ability to arrange finance.
If there are any outstanding CCJ's they should be cleared as a matter of urgency, if they are cleared very quickly after being applied they can be removed without having to wait for the normal 6 years that they stay on a credit record.
Defaults As with County Court Judgements any defaults that show up on a credit report will have a serious impact on a person's ability to lend.
However unlike with CCJ's it is difficult to get a default removed from a credit file a lender will often mark a default as satisfied but will rarely be removed without the lenders hand being forced.
Get a Copy of Your Credit Record Before applying for finance of any kind it makes sense to get a copy of your credit file from either one or both the major credit bureaux Experian or Equifax.
Once you are aware what problems there are on your credit record you have a fair chance of repairing it.
Once you have a copy of your credit file in front of you, it is important that you check that there are no errors contained within it, if you find that ther are you should contact the credit bureaux concerned and request that they rectify the issue.
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