It sounds like a bad diagnosis: you have a poor, bad, or adverse credit score when it comes to getting a mortgage. At this point, no one would touch you with a bargepole, right?
Bad credit is not the end of the world, though. When people try to get credit, up to one in four are turned down, and the reasons can be more complicated than you might think. Let's look at why your application for a mortgage may have been turned down.
Reference Source
In the UK, there are three main agencies that do credit checks or credit references on people. These agencies can tell you about your past loans and credit cards, as well as any County Court judgments that are on your file (CCJs). When you sign the credit agreement, you usually agree that the agency can give the information to the lender. CCJs are put on your file automatically and will stay there for 6 years. You can ask these agencies for a copy of your "statutory credit file," and by law, they can't charge you more than GBP2 to send it to you.
Contact:
Call 0870 060 1414 to talk to Credit plc.
Equifax plc on 0870 010 2091
Experian Ltd at 0870 241 6212
You'll need to give your name, date of birth, and all of your addresses from the last six years. If you own a business, give information about the business as well, as it may give other information.
Scores for credit
Credit scoring is not the same as your credit file. Banks and lenders use a point system to figure out how much of a risk it would be to lend you money. In fact, this system isn't very clear and seems to involve secret steps that banks don't want to talk about. They use things like how long you've been on the voter list, how many times you've moved recently, how many jobs you've had in the past few years, and how often you've applied for credit to decide whether or not to give you credit.
There are also some odd cases that get turned down, like people who have never been in debt in their whole lives. If you've never had a credit card, loan, or overdraft, this could work against you. The more credit requests you've been approved for, the more likely the lender is to see you as a safe bet. Also, people with unusual jobs may be turned down no matter how much money they make.
