If you are wondering why you were refused credit recently, and think that you do have an excellent credit score, think again! There are more than a hundred things affecting your credit file and there might be things that reduce your credit score without you knowing it. The truth is that many people think they have a good credit rating and are not confident enough to face their full credit report, although that is the key to being able to consolidate any kind of bad credit you might currently have.
So you think you do not have bad credit? There must be a reason why your repayments are harder to meet each month and you are paying more and more interest on your credit card, or making just the minimum repayment, making it almost impossible to clear your credit card debt in a reasonable time.
You are not alone: studies show that almost one million people are struggling with their debt repayments month by month, and cannot find a way out. You have to face the facts: there is no way out of bad credit unless you do see clearly about your finances. The only way to see the information your creditors or credit companies make a decision by is to get a copy of your personal credit file.
A number of things that do affect your credit score and you might not even have thought about it:
The time you have lived at your current address. Creditors like to see that you are a responsible person and are not moving every couple of months, and are able to keep paying your bills long term. You need to make sure that every time you move to a new property it is clear from debt and you do immediately register at the Electoral Register for voting at the local Council.
The number of people living at your address and the number of dependants you have. Credit companies take into consideration household incomes and outgoings and if you are the only person in the household who works or has a guaranteed income, and your partner stays at home with the 3 kids, it is much riskier to lend you money in case you lose your job, there will be no emergency funds to cover your bad credit. Therefore you can have a generally good credit rating, but the bank can still decide not to lend you money.
You can be over-committed. You might have a perfect credit history, but lenders might still decide that they do not want to lend you more money, as your credit exceeds a given percentage of your income. There is nothing you can do about, as it is their money, and cannot make an argument over it, the only option for you is to start consolidating your existing credit at the same time as taking on new credit. That is a good way to avoid bad credit as well.