Improve credit rating

[BatCrapCrazy]

Me and DP are planning on buying a house towards the end of the year. His credit rating is fine but I've checked mine and it's in the 600s. I have 3 missed payments on a store card (moved house and forgot all about it) and late payment on a next account. How can I improve my credit rating? I will sort out getting out on the electoral role. I have 3 payments remaining on my loan but am otherwise debt free. I use my next account but either pay it in full or pay it over 2 months.

Bumping

Assuming your accounts are fully paid up now you can try contacting the store cards etc directly and asking them if they are prepared to wipe the defaults from your record. Lending criteria varies a lot from place to place and it's not solely based on your credit rating.

Is it common for lenders to wipe defaults off credit history?

What else will a potential mortgage lender take into account other than earnings and credit rating?

I don't know about common but it isn't unheard of. My DB had some defaults on a loan which still had a few months to run. He managed to persuade the lender to wipe the default record provided he settled the debt early... but he had something to bargain with admittedly.

Mortgage lenders look at all kinds of things these days and they have their own ways of determining credit-worthiness which mean the score they give you may not be the same as published ratings. They don't necessarily publish their criteria. You might find this MoneySavingExpert article interesting... link