How do I fix my credit score?

[penniesandpounds]

I'm in my early 20s. Unfortunately I never grew up being taught how credit works and how important it is, I was more of a parent to my parents in all honesty and still recovering from the effects of their upbringing.
The last few years have been extremely hard for me and DP both financially and mentally due to some very serious family problems. We have recovered extremely well all things considered.
In between everything though a few things have happened which have had an impact on my credit score all of them out of stupidity...

1. DF bought me a small phone contract for my birthday in my name to "help me" start building my credit which was lovely, he insisted on paying for all the bills (£20 a month) then once I moved out to live with DP he cancelled it without telling me and ignored all subsequent letters regarding it. In the meantime he told me it ended and I just took out a giffgaff card. - I have only realised this happened a few months ago when I started looking at my credit score and saw the default. I contacted the provider straight away and paid the arrears in full and then it took another few weeks of mistakes and back and forth before it got marked as satisfied on my report as of 2 months ago. - my DF still claims he told me all about it and gave me all the letters.

1. I have a default for a Gym membership which is a bit of a long story - it's all satisfied and up to date but will be here for another 3 years.

1. I have some missed payments marked down on my file. It was silly of me really but I stopped using my old current account when me and DP got a joint one. Then over a year later it accidentally got used for a small eBay purchase and went into unplanned overdraft for which the bank tried to charge me for and the letters went to my old address (clever of me I know ) so now I have 4 missed payments marked down for last year.

Apart from that I don't have much of a credit history. I've been in PT employment since I was 19 and now have been in a FT job for going on 2 years now.
We have been talking about buying a house have a large deposit saved which we have been doing automatically over the last few years. But my idiot uneducated self never thought about credit scores in the meantime and I now know how important it is and really want to improve it any way I can.

What can I do that helps?
I have no loans, no arrears anywhere, I'm on the electoral roll, pay my bills on time, have no phone contract or anything like that.

What other factors are important?
I would really appreciate advice.

Can you get a credit card with a small limit, use it for a regular expense (grocery shopping?) and pay it off on time and in full each month?

May help. But the best thing to clear up bad credit is time and good behaviour, so you may be in for a bit of a wait before your score improves significantly.

I do not know how long it will take or how much of an affect it will have bearing in mind your current situation but to get a good rating you have to buy on credit and pay off on time and the amount due. So avoiding credit now leaves only one story on your credit file - I am a bad credit risk. You need to start creating a good story by having your name on accounts and using a credit card (if you can get one) and paying them.

You can get credit builder credit cards, Tesco do one. You start with a very low credit limit and once you use it and pay it back each month, your limit will slowly increase, and your credit score will slowly increase too. It takes time though. Realistically it’ll take a tear or two for your credit score to improve enough to get a decent mortgage but if you start now it will improve.

Thanks. I forgot to mention I have a vanquis credit card with a £500 limit since November but I don't really use it as I honestly don't need it. It took my clear score score down 15 points when it took it out though.
Then since the phone contract was marked as paid off my score jumped up by 85points in early December.

@penniesandpounds

Thanks. I forgot to mention I have a vanquis credit card with a £500 limit since November but I don't really use it as I honestly don't need it. It took my clear score score down 15 points when it took it out though. Then since the phone contract was marked as paid off my score jumped up by 85points in early December.

Start using the card 👍🏻

As a PP said for grocery shopping, I used mine for petrol when trying to build my credit score ready to buy a house.

Spent maybe £150/month on it, then paid it off in full, on time. Made a big difference.

Yep, you need to use the card, or get another 'credit builder' card and use that. It blew my mind to see how my credit score went from absysmal (unpaid gas bill from student days, never had a credit card) to very good within a couple of years - by getting into debt! Set up a regular payment (phone bill or something) to come off your credit card, and set up a regular payment to your credit card from your bank account, and within a year or so you should see a big improvement.

Also sign up to Credit Karma - it gives you a good insight into your (Transunion) credit rating, and breaks down exactly what you need to do in different areas to build it up.

vanquis credit card with a £500 limit since November but I don't really use it as I honestly don't need it.

Set up a DD (direct debit) to clear it in full every month, then use it for your everyday shopping

Make sure you keep track of your spending do you know that you have less to spend than is in your account.

If you might be tempted to dip into these funds , then do it strictly with a separate account and transfer the money as soon as you have used the card.