Low Credit Score Help

[SpringHasSprung13]

DH had a dongle for an apartment we were temporarily living in between selling our old home and buying our new one.

When we eventually moved to the new house, DH cancelled said dongle monthly payment, paid what we were told was owed and on we went with our lives.

Fast forward 6-8 months or so, and we apparently owed a small amount to Vodafone but didn't realise this. Vodafone didn't have our new address. DH now has a terrible credit score, despite no other previous debts, we don't have a mortgage on our home etc. He's tried various attempts speaking to Vodafone regarding this - but it's useless.

We have no clue how to increase his credit score and it's making me so angry as it wasn't through any fault of our own - we genuinely thought we had paid what we owed. It was only a small amount around £25 I think!

We tried getting a credit card and buying things on it each month (which we'd usually purchase outright, then fully paying it off the following month ) to hopefully improve his credit score but to no avail).

Does anyone know how he improves his credit score? We don't need any credit at the moment, but we don't know what the future holds, we may do one day, and his credit score doesn't seem to improve since this incident month on month, despite us having no debts or late payments at all. It's so frustrating and seems unfair.

Do we speak to citizens advice? Has anyone any tips to help? It would be appreciated!

If you sign up to credit raters like Experian or ClearScore they will tell you where you positives and negatives are and what you can do to go improve your score.

It’s just a case of time & good management of credit to improve it. Missed/late payments stay on your credit report for 6 years, however the more time passes since then the less impact it has, and your more recent credit history carries more weight. If this has only just been resolved then it will take awhile to get things back up, it’s a case of proving you’re not a risk basically. The credit card thing is a good idea, pay it off in full each month, but ultimately its just a case of time passing and better management going forward x

Everything you do impacts on your credit score, so if you purchased a house in the past year that can make your score go down for a bit, or if you've taken out other credit.

All you need is time, so just keep making all your payments on time and not applying for new credit so it has a chance to go back up.

Also, they like to see you have lived at your address for a long time, that you are on the electoral register at that address, that you have held the same accounts for some time etc..., so if you moved in the past year or so you basically need time for that too.

Good credit is a long game, so you need to be really patient.

Edited to add, applying for a new credit card also pushes your score down for a while, as will any new credit applications that are recorded.

Really helpful! Thankyou ☺️

If you have paid the debt in full I think you can ask the company to add a nite to your credit file . Ask on MSE debt free wannabee forum for some good advice .