Thetownend.com

80% => The 4D Q&A forum => Topic started by: Barry Scott on Wednesday, August 4, 2021, 09:21:23



Title: Falling credit score
Post by: Barry Scott on Wednesday, August 4, 2021, 09:21:23
My credit score is getting increasingly shit for no apparent reason. Until a few months ago my score was touching 400 according to Clearviewscore and that was at it's highest ever.

Since then I dropped 75 points because, I think, I stood as guarantor for someone and their address obviously has shit credit (their address was added to my credit score, should it be?). Then this latest report has fallen another 48 points (down to 275...) and all I've done since is apply for a new bank account, since declined.

I've never missed any payments, have cleared many debts early and all credit cards have a balance of £0. Excluding my mortgage my total outstanding debts are a touch over £3k and will be £0 before too long. I've never had any issues with credit ever - I've behaved impeccably.

Would anyone know why my score is dropping like a stone, when in my opinion everything I'm doing should have the opposite effect?

Thanks


Title: Re: Falling credit score
Post by: Sippo on Wednesday, August 4, 2021, 09:42:15
Have you applied for credit cards but still be declined? Every time you apply this affects your credit score.

I'm pretty sure you can pay for a more detailed report.


Title: Re: Falling credit score
Post by: Waffle on Wednesday, August 4, 2021, 09:43:46
So in my experience paying off credit quickly seems to negatively affect my score, which seems backwards I must be honest. Same with being a guarantor, as that links you two of you for a moment. If you have become a guarantor and then applied for a new account it could be two hits, as search and checks hit your score negatively, which have combined and slightly snowballed.

Have a look at another site to get another opinion on it, also usually they should highlight where the score has been affected on the website.


Title: Re: Falling credit score
Post by: Flashheart on Wednesday, August 4, 2021, 09:58:26
In my experience they like people who borrow more - they make more money that way.

A mate of mine, although rather well off, was refused a loan for double glazing once. He had no previous history with loans - which was the problem. He even offered to pay in cash but they refused, he ended up having to use a different company instead.


Title: Falling credit score
Post by: Batch on Wednesday, August 4, 2021, 10:26:50
why was your new bank account application declined? i.e. but adding for the actual reason, but did it contribute to lowering it further?

for reference, In 2017 I missed 1 payment in a cc  by accident. it wiped 55 of my clearscore figure and I didn't get that back for about 18 months

the cc balance was only £20 too!


Title: Re: Falling credit score
Post by: Barry Scott on Wednesday, August 4, 2021, 10:40:37
Have you applied for credit cards but still be declined? Every time you apply this affects your credit score.

I'm pretty sure you can pay for a more detailed report.

Applied for no credit cards. Previously have, but not in the window that things went awry.

I'm going to try and get the address removed that I stood guarantor for and I have to pay for a report before I can do that with experian.

So in my experience paying off credit quickly seems to negatively affect my score, which seems backwards I must be honest. Same with being a guarantor, as that links you two of you for a moment. If you have become a guarantor and then applied for a new account it could be two hits, as search and checks hit your score negatively, which have combined and slightly snowballed.

It says my "hard searches" are "off track" as I've had 4 in a year, so maybe that's hit it. I think the account application was the last.

In my experience they like people who borrow more - they make more money that way.

A mate of mine, although rather well off, was refused a loan for double glazing once. He had no previous history with loans - which was the problem. He even offered to pay in cash but they refused, he ended up having to use a different company instead.

This was my experience. When I needed a credit card, I couldn't get one. In the end I got 2, but it took forever. At the time my credit score was better than now.

why was your new bank account application declined? i.e. but adding for the actual reason, but did it contribute to lowering it further?

I think it said credit score and I don't think it had an effect as no hard search was done. Turns out HSBC (First Direct) did a hard search later on and I think they're giving me the new (joint) account.


Title: Re: Falling credit score
Post by: Berniman on Wednesday, August 4, 2021, 10:40:42
My credit score is top end 900's and I find I maintain that by ensuring that I don't have cards active with available funds that I don't intend to use.  Even though you don't have any debt on the cards, it still sees it as credit available to you, so if you had say 3 cards with £30k worth of credit available across the 3 cards, that is taken account with your score - so cancel any credit cards you don't intend to use.  This will also help when applying for new cards in the future.

I also have one card that I constantly use (i don't carry much cash).  So i do all of my spending on that credit card and pay it off monthly.  There is the odd month in there where I don't pay it off completely but never more than 2 or 3 months without paying it off.  I also make sure that the credit card I use as "cash" gets me some benefits - i.e. at the moment I use a Tesco cc which I get clubcard points for every pound I spend and pay off..

Also, make sure you have no credit agreements sat dormant that you have forgotten about.  e.g. if you have bought a TV from Currys on the buy now pay in 6 months deal - that credit agreement will still be in place even after you have paid it off - this will also show as credit available to you and will be taken into account with your credit score.

That's my 2 pence worth anyway..


Title: Re: Falling credit score
Post by: 4D on Wednesday, August 4, 2021, 10:48:55
How do you find out your CS? Never bothered before.


Title: Re: Falling credit score
Post by: swindonmaniac on Wednesday, August 4, 2021, 10:55:51
How do you find out your CS? Never bothered before.
Ask in the County Ground Hotel,  they'll soon tell you.   Flash's rating is that low he has to put all of his beers on everyone else's cards.


Title: Falling credit score
Post by: Batch on Wednesday, August 4, 2021, 10:58:41
900s Bernie!

that's a different scale from clearscore! they only go to to 705.

edit: oh wait, bazza is using clearview. my mistake


Title: Re: Falling credit score
Post by: 4D on Wednesday, August 4, 2021, 11:07:28
Ask in the County Ground Hotel,  they'll soon tell you.   Flash's rating is that low he has to put all of his beers on everyone else's cards.

I always pay cash. Don't think flash has bought me a pint in there  :hmmm:


Title: Re: Falling credit score
Post by: swindonmaniac on Wednesday, August 4, 2021, 11:10:06
He's never bought anyone one in there !.


Title: Re: Falling credit score
Post by: Legends-Lounge on Wednesday, August 4, 2021, 11:13:11
It is an interesting industry. I have never been refused credit, never defaulted on a loan, never flipped a credit card for one with 0% always paid the mortgage in full and on time (except the recent covid deferral window) and always paid loans off. I have never bothered to seek a credit rating and work on the principle that as long as I have access to the credit I need when I need it my score is ok.


Title: Re: Falling credit score
Post by: Berniman on Wednesday, August 4, 2021, 11:25:48
900s Bernie!

that's a different scale from clearscore! they only go to to 705.

edit: oh wait, bazza is using clearview. my mistake

I use Experian - the App is very good and sends you an alert every month when the score is updated - FOC as well if you don't want the paid for added options of all of the details - currently on 999 which is the max  :toocool: but it tends to fluxuate between 950 - 999


Title: Re: Falling credit score
Post by: Berniman on Wednesday, August 4, 2021, 11:27:46
How do you find out your CS? Never bothered before.

I downloaded the Experian App - only have to input a few details and it does it for you


Title: Falling credit score
Post by: Batch on Wednesday, August 4, 2021, 11:43:43
huh. my experian is also 999. Took 3 minutes to do!


clearscore (Equifax) is 506/705


Title: Re: Falling credit score
Post by: Barry Scott on Wednesday, August 4, 2021, 11:50:50
My credit score is top end 900's and I find I maintain that by ensuring that I don't have cards active with available funds that I don't intend to use.  Even though you don't have any debt on the cards, it still sees it as credit available to you, so if you had say 3 cards with £30k worth of credit available across the 3 cards, that is taken account with your score - so cancel any credit cards you don't intend to use.  This will also help when applying for new cards in the future.

Interesting, thanks. I'll do that as I have no intention of using any of the ones I currently have.

Also, make sure you have no credit agreements sat dormant that you have forgotten about.  e.g. if you have bought a TV from Currys on the buy now pay in 6 months deal - that credit agreement will still be in place even after you have paid it off - this will also show as credit available to you and will be taken into account with your credit score.

And how do I go about removing them? I have 2 sat on my credit score with a zero balance.

900s Bernie!

that's a different scale from clearscore! they only go to to 705.

edit: oh wait, bazza is using clearview. my mistake

My mistake, it is Clearscore not the scummy advertising intelligence company. Which also means it's Equifax I need a report form, not experian as I thought.


Title: Re: Falling credit score
Post by: Barry Scott on Wednesday, August 4, 2021, 12:06:21
Just checked the Experian app, it shows me as 934. Think there's a flaw somewhere.


Title: Re: Falling credit score
Post by: Samdy Gray on Wednesday, August 4, 2021, 12:28:31
Ignore credit scores. They are vanity and used to flog worthless credit monitoring services. Lenders don't use these scores when assessing you for credit, they all have their own metrics.

Obviously be concerned about missed payments and defaults etc, but don't get worked up about a falling credit score if there's nothing obvious that's caused it


Title: Re: Falling credit score
Post by: Nemo on Wednesday, August 4, 2021, 12:32:39
My Experian credit score still thinks I live where I did five years ago, been two house moves since then and been on the electoral register the whole time. They're just not very good, as far as I can see. Got a mortgage a few months back with no issues.


Title: Re: Falling credit score
Post by: RobertT on Wednesday, August 4, 2021, 12:32:58
The online free to use scoring systems are a replica of the actual scoring systems used by the main agencies.  None of them are accurate, they are a guide.  You can of course pay to get your actual report, but it will still be marginally different by scoring agency (in all likelihood).

The single biggest factor in your score is payment history.  As Batch described, missing even a single payment is a red flag to the scoring algorithm and takes a long time to recover.  Multiple late payments will savage your score.

Credit cards and any loans that work in a way you can dip into are a bit weird, but are also a major factor.  Having next to zero balance is best <10%, although completely zero balance does very little else because it doesn't help the payment category.  Anything over 10% of total balances starts to knock your score down.  Total credit limit is also used as a factor, which links into Berni's point - having decent credit limit helps with the % of balance score element, BUT, too high a credit limt can start to hit your score if it is above a certain factor of your income.

On to the actual issue you are probably facing - acting as a guarantor in the credit scoring world is, I believe, no different to taking out the loan yourself.  You are essentially tagged to that loan and it will be used to factor in your score.  The act of credit checking you probably occurred during the application.  Credit checks negatively impact your score - that is how that is supposed to work to stop you applying for loads of credit quickly and beating the system.  The ping against your score will recover within two or three months.  You may also get a negative hit once the new loan opens and is registered on your file - each new account brings the age of your credit down on average, which is a factor as well.  The longer you hold credit, the better for the scoring system.  Again, this one recovers quickly.  So long as the loan is paid, within a couple of months you should be back to where you were.


Title: Re: Falling credit score
Post by: Berniman on Wednesday, August 4, 2021, 13:43:22
Interesting, thanks. I'll do that as I have no intention of using any of the ones I currently have.

And how do I go about removing them? I have 2 sat on my credit score with a zero balance.

My mistake, it is Clearscore not the scummy advertising intelligence company. Which also means it's Equifax I need a report form, not experian as I thought.

The only way to remove them is to contact the company and ask them to close your account.  They always ask you why, and my answer is always I don't want it affecting my credit score.  Ask them to confirm closeur by post.  It usually takes 3 to 4 weeks to be reflected on your credit score, depending on when you do it in the month.

Unless you have an online account, some of them allow you to close online..  I know I cancelled a Curry's account online from a TV I had brought previously as mentioned above.


Title: Re: Falling credit score
Post by: Sippo on Wednesday, August 4, 2021, 13:51:15
Ignore credit scores. They are vanity and used to flog worthless credit monitoring services. Lenders don't use these scores when assessing you for credit, they all have their own metrics.

Obviously be concerned about missed payments and defaults etc, but don't get worked up about a falling credit score if there's nothing obvious that's caused it

If any knows then it's TEF's one and only Martin Lewis.


Title: Re: Falling credit score
Post by: Barry Scott on Monday, August 9, 2021, 09:37:12
Thanks all, apps deleted, less fucks soon to be given.