Negative point on credit score.

[CinnamonBunYou]

Just did a credit check online and it came up as 'stable'. Wasn't expecting it to be anything more as I have stuff on finance like my sofa, phone and Littlewoods catalogue but they are always paid every month without fail.

It said I had 6 positives and 2 negatives. Negatives being that I applied for credit more than once in the last year (Wonga loans to pay for Christmas presents - could have waited until I got paid but too impatient) and the other on being that I don't have a credit card.

Why would NOT having a credit card be a negative thing?

I'm thinking perhaps it's a way of the website trying to dupe me and make me take one out.

Which website is it? I've used Equifax and Experience and they are pretty reliable AFAIK.

I used to have large credit card debts. I paid then off, then the fact that I had a lot of credit available counted against me, I didn't expect that!

I may be wrong but I think it just affected my score at that point, it wasn't like a black mark for bad debt that stays on your account for 6 years or something.

It was Clear Score. Saw it advertised today so thought I would give it a go.

A friend told me that having nothing on your credit score is worse than having a few things and I thought what a load of crap but now I'm thinking she could be right

When me and my husband applied for a mortgage we both checked our scores. Husband didn't have an overdraft, credit card or phone contract. I had all three and my score was higher than his. I found that using the credit card improved the score as well! I'm not sure there is much logic to credit scores...

I had a credit card for emergencies while at university, but didn't use it as I had no need to. They cancelled it and had a bit of trouble getting a new one. A housemate who ran up thousands in debt on hers was having letters for new cards all the time...illogical!

Having credit cards (not in arrears) shows you are able to borrow and repay responsibly, hence improving the score.

Ah, makes sense now! Thanks.

So when I pay off my stuff I have got on finance my score should go up, then?

Bear in mind if you want a mortgage, Payday loans are viewed very negatively. Some lenders won't lend if you've had one within the last year or even two, whether you paid it off quickly or not.

A credit score doesn't measure how much spare cash you have (I.e. How well you budget); it measures how good at managing debt you are. So not having a credit card doesn't demonstrate you can manage credit ok, and taking out a payday loan shows you're prepared to pay extortionate interest rates because you can't get credit elsewhere (really stupid move if that was just because you were being impatient....)

Beware checking your credit score too often - that alerts the credit score companies that you're attempting to get credit, each card or loan you apply for will also trigger a check, and more than one or two a year will be a big red flag.

You can do a soft check of your eligibility for cards that doesn't go on your record I think. It's linked from the money saving expert website IIRC.

"Beware checking your credit score too often - that alerts the credit score companies that you're attempting to get credit"

But you can sign up with Experian or Equifax and have permanent access to your credit file and alerts when it changes. They do free trials IIRC.

Surely that doesn't put a negative mark on your account?

You'd be better off getting a credit card to use for emergencies than relying on payday loans :) lower interest and look much better on your credit history