'very poor' credit rating???

[loveyoumummy]

So when my oh was with his ex, they bought a new - and expensive - table and chairs on finance. When he moved out, she said she'd carry on the repayments.

About 3 months ago, he tried for a credit card and it was declined. He checked experian and turns out the payments for said furniture had not been paid. He cleared it straight away as was only about £175. It is now settled, but appears as a default on his file.

He now has that default and the credit card rejection as negatives on his file. Overall it is 'very poor' with experian.

This has meant that we can't possibly look to move anywhere as no one would look to give him any 'credit'.

He is fighting the default as him and his ex don't speak and he is asking for mitigating circumstances but we don't have faith.

He has learnt from his mistake....big time.

But I'm curious, with those two negatives why is his score just so low? Looking on here people have talked about defaults and there scores are higher.

Is there any chance we could look at buying? Together we have about £90k equity. I don't think they'd give us a mortgage in just my name.

Meant to add, I currently own my own property, but it is not big enough to house our 'blended' families

Your credit rating is affected not just by negatives but also by positives.
If you have a credit card or other loan that you always pay off regularly, that will improve your rating.
There are some credit cards designed for people with poor ratings. They generally have worse conditions - higher interest etc. But if he can get one and pay it off regularly that will be a big help.

Crossed with your second post.
Do you own your property outright, or pay a mortgage? If you pay that promptly it will give you a good record that will help when you buy together.

Sallying the credit card he applied for was a credit builder as he'd never had a credit card before so went with one that builds credit etc as he thought it would guarantee acceptance.

My property is mortgaged but a third is equity.

There may be certain lenders who will allow you to borrow with default (mortgage advisor should find some) but it means paying more each month until you switch lending companies down the line

I'm very surprised he couldn't get the card, if there was only the one small default and he had paid it off. In fact I smell a rat.
Has the ex done anything else financially dodgy related to his old address? It shouldn't still be linked to him but that would be worth investigating.

If your mortgage has always paid on time, that history will stand you in good stead when you come to move up the property ladder.

Defaults stick around for 6 years but get less and less important (particularly if you have other positive activity in the meanwhile) over that time. I'm afraid that his ex's behaviour is unlikely to be considered mitigating circumstances because from the lender's point of view he gave up on his responsibility to them by not keeping on top of everything himself as he was liable to do. Good luck though, poor credit is a total pain!!

That's very odd as my partner has a crap credit rating and recently got approved for a credit rebuild card with Vanquis. My fella has had ccj's (satisfied), missed payments, gone in to unauthorised overdraft and his rating is classed as 'poor' with Experian so I am also wondering if there is anything else going on.

If it was a joint finance agreement with his ex, they will be linked and if she has a poor credit history, that could be impacting his score.

He needs to get a notice of disassociation put on his credit file too.