Rubbish credit score due being an indiot

[Saavhi]

I'm holding my hands up to being really very foolish!

When I was 22 I very abrupt;y decided to take a year off to clear my head follow a boy to S.America before embarking on my masters. I completely forgot about paying my phone bill to Vodafone. I was not receiving any letters due to a change in address. The worst thing is I was only paying £8/month as I was sim only and didn't bother getting an upgrade in order to save money!

It was only 2 years later when I returned home and started my grad scheme that I started thinking about my finances.

I have a very low Experian score off 500/999. The only negative thing influencing the score is the defaulted Vodafone account. I earn a decent salary for my age (£37K) but I feel like I've majorly messed up.

Is there any way I can pay Vodafone a lump sum in order to improve my score? Or do I just have to wit 6 years for decent credit

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Don’t worry about your score, no one sees it apart from you and Experian.

The only thing you can do here is make sure the debt is paid in full and just wait for it to drop off your credit history.

It takes 6 years for it to drop off! It prevented me from getting a mobile contract yesterday.

That seems harsh! I have a terrible credit score from defaulting when I was a teen with money issues but never had any problems getting a phone contact. Was it with Vodafone? If not, make sure you're on the electoral roll and maybe consider getting a credit builder credit card. If your credit rating is bad then it will have a high APR, so make sure you pay it in full at the end of every month.

Also, it won't be 6 years, will it? When did you stop paying? Obviously at least 2 years ago. The 6 years will have started a couple of months after you stopped paying.

Make sure you've settled your Vodafone debt and it shows as settled on your credit file.

Ignore your Experian score, it's meaningless. I hope you're not paying to see it, waste of money. You can see your credit file for free via Moneysavingexpert or other websites.

You say you couldn't get a mobile phone contract, who did you try?

You could get a SIM only service from someone like GiffGaff or Smarty and it's not a contract, so there's you credit check, but you still pay a fixed amount each month for an allowance, just like a contract. Then just buy a phone separately. It's cheaper that way anyway.

Get a credit builder credit card and put a few pounds of normal spending such as one tank of fuel or one supermarket shop on it every month and set up a direct debit to pay it off in full every month.

Make sure you run your current account perfectly with no bounced direct debits, overdrafts etc.

Your credit file should improve with time and in a couple of years, your one mistake amongst an otherwise good file shouldn't matter.

If you're thinking of saving a house deposit, make sure you take out a Help to Buy or Lifetime ISA as a decent deposit and good record of saving will also help overcome a less than perfect credit file.

No credit check, I meant.