How to remove credit mark on file ? Help?!

[secular39]

So after 10 years of saving and waiting on the housing register for 15 years, I have saved up money enough to put a deposit on our first home. However, I am unable to obtain a loan for a mortgage as I have this stupid credit mark on my record. It was silly, it was many many years ago (when I was a student) and I was excited about having an overdraft but took very long to pay it all off. Anyway, I settled the debt three years ago and by the end of this year, the 6 year credit mark should be off. But I want to try and get rid of it now- I have found a great property and don't want to lose it... please help!

Not sure you can remove it, but speak to a mortgage broker who can advise you where might accept mortgages with older credit issues on file

I used to work in this field. Im many years out of date but to my knowledge it works in exactly the same way as it used to:

There is no blanket credit mark that says you shouldn’t get a loan. You have ‘good’ data and ‘bad’ data that is held about you. But what different companies class as ‘good’ and ‘bad’ is different because they all have different acceptance models built on how they expect their particular customers to behave.

Good data will be things like you have loans and pay on time every month, or that you have had loans in the past and paid them back. And you haven’t suddenly opened loads of credit account in the last few months. If you’ve repaid before you’re likely to again. This will be added to socioeconomic data - the rules on what’s allowed to be used in this change more regularly so I could be out of date on what’s allowed but it’s things like if you’ve lived in the same house for 20 years you tend to be a better credit risk than someone who moves every 6 months.

so if it’s 5 1/2 years since you were a dodgy payer with your overdraft then simply you can’t take this information away - as you say it will drop off your record after 6 years. But you can try to get the rest of your data as good as possible. One of the best ways is to have 1 credit account (like a credit card) that you pay off every month. Also some companies only look at more recent data - for example they look at if you have any late payments in the last 3 years, so although they can access your data from 5 years ago they don’t look at it.

You can't get rid of it, but if it's nearly at the end of the 6 year time limit nost lenders won't hold it against you by withholding a mortgage, but you might have to accept a slightly higher interest rate.

I feel like it's being used against me. But I've had another look at my Experian report and it appears that because I have been paying back the minimum amount of money towards my credit card (not late payments just paying back in minima amounts) then this has resulted in a reduction of my credit score. Is this true and could this be the reason why I'm unable to get a mortgage?

Yes, massively. That’s probably more of an issue

@DrMarciaFieldstone Thank you. Can you explain further as I had no idea that this was not a good thing! I thought as long as your not late but are making regular payments then this wouldn't impact on my credit...

@secular39 because you are not reducing the debt. You need to get it paid off, or pay off much more the minimum for a while to improve your score. They don’t like to see debt sitting there for any length of time, with apparently no plan to pay it off.

Also your payment obligations for your credit card (and anything else) comes off your mortgage potential.

You should speak to a broker if you aren’t clear on all this.

But there is a plan... I have to pay a certain amount by a certain date (which I am adhering to). But you are right, I need to pay off much more.