Bad credit

[whymoi]

I have bad credit
House repossessed 2 years ago

Currently renting privately from a friend & pay rent monthly unfailingly but property too small for me & my 2 kids who are sharing a room (age 12 & 8- boy & girl)

Now I want to rent from an agent

I don't mint paying 6 months or 12 months in advance because of bad credit & getting/paying a company that does/stand as a guarantors for tenants

But I am wondering how to table my situation with an estate agent.

Do I call them & say I have very bad credit & that I wanna pay 6-12 months in advance & see what they say? Or is there a better way to table this with them? Or shall I find someone to speak to them on my behalf.

I desperately have to move pls help with suggestions & ideas

I wish you luck, but I think it's unrealistic and you should look for another private landlord. You'll fail a credit check with an estate agent and if your area is anything like mine there are 30-40 applications per house, a landlord isn't going to pick someone whose house was repossessed if they have other options. Even paying 6-12 months in advance is a risk for a landlord because if you stop paying after that point they have to start the court eviction process.

I would enquire with as many private landlords as you can instead. Maybe get your name down on housing association lists as I expect you're classed as overcrowded currently. It'll be a long wait but may as well try.

But if I don't mention about repossession, they wouldn't know because I haven't seen it on my credit file + renting privately for 2 years now

My friend has bad credit and she was looking for a rental property. She approached an letting agent and he said she had no chance. The rental market is crazy at the moment and there's so may people after one property. He told her she would be bottom of the list every time and paying 6 months up front would make a difference. She has had to go into a static home......which actually is lovely.

Private landlords don't usually do credit checks but the agents always will so if your credit rating is bad you pretty much have no chance. You need to find another private landlord really.

Have you checked your report on checkmyfile.com ? It's free for 7 days
Then you'll see the same thing that the estate agents will see. It pulls in all the agencies, equifax, experian, etc.

To have a property repossessed I'm assuming you missed a fair few mortgage payments? Unless those took place more than 6 years ago you should have a fairly colourful credit history. Have you checked all 3 credit agencies?

I think you might need a home-owning guarantor and to pay 6-12 months in advance. If you word it along the lines of 'I would need to pay a year's rent upfront and provide you with a guarantor' the estate agent will know exactly what you mean without you even needing to mention bad credit/a repossession. You might find you have to look at the slightly less desirable properties, i.e. those with tiny gardens, a tiny kitchen, that sort of thing. The sort of property you wouldn't expect to see fly off the shelf.

If you install Property Log on the Chrome browser, you'll be able to see listings that have been sitting there for a long time / and / or have had to be reduced in price as the home isn't in great a demand.

What works in your benefit is that you are not on benefits as well, right?

There are landlords out there who will accept this arrangement, so please don't think it's a hopeless cause.

But I'm afraid you will almost certainly need to find a home-owning guarantor; they'll check the person actually owns the home, too.

@FriendlyNeighbourhoodAccountant
No missed monthly mortgage payments at all/ I bought the house cash outright

@KievLoverTwo

I was hoping the guarantor companies would do

I don’t know what those are. What do they do?

So you racked up so much debt they took your house?

OP I'm so sad for you. This is why we need to be teaching teens money sense advice in schools.

How you got to the point that they sold your house to pay your debts without offering you an IVA I will never know. Someone even someone from the courts should have taken action to help you, in this situation. If you ever find yourself in a bad place again go and seek debt management advice. You didn't need to lose your house and I'm extremely sad for you and your children that you did.

Basicly you have been declared bankrupt. You have extremely limited options.

What I would do is one of these.

A) contact some estate agents and tell them your situation because your bankruptcy will be on your credit record, it doesnt matter if your house repossession is or not. You could apply to some landlords that they recommend who may accept. Having some declines isn't going to matter all that much as the bankruptcy is as bad as it gets credit wise. That said I wouldn't make to many applications, the 2 years of regular and on time rent payments will help and get a reference from your current landlord aswell.

Option B is the worst option but its a means to an end eventually.
You have 2 options with this route.

Your over crowded so you can apply to your council for re-housing. You will be made a high priority as you have a boy and girl sharing over the age of 10. This will still take years but it will get you a bigger property.

The second option would be if your landlord evicted you this is the riskier route because you would be placed in temporary housing which could be far away from places you need like work and schools and could still take years depending on your area. Mine it would be months not years but I know some areas are years even for homeless. You would be the very top priority in this situation but I would strongly recommend only doing this if the wait for top priority people is months not years.

In the mean time to alleviate your current issues could you not give your children a room each and buy a sofa bed for yourself?

So why was it repossessed? I've never heard of a repossession where there was no impact on a credit history.

@Mummy2024

I have not been declared bankrupt.

@FriendlyNeighbourhoodAccountant
I don't know why the repossession is not on my credit file what is on the file is other defaults nothing about repossession. I don't know why

Have you checked all 3 credit agencies, it may be missed on one but show on others.

Defaults can be a problem anyway.

The repossession, if you weren't mortgaged, I assume is because you owed money elsewhere and was taken to court for a judgement. Do the ccj(s) show on there?

@KievLoverTwo

housinghand.co.uk/guarantor-service/

I see. Please have a read through the lowest (as well as the highest) Trustpilot reviews before you commit to using a service like this :)

@KievLoverTwo
Yes I will read and ask around before I use it thank you very much.

What I know so far is that there are lots of companies offered the service

If you didn't have a mortgage then your house wasn't repossessed it was sold to pay off debt, which is basicly bankruptcy. Unless you borrowed against the equity in your house and couldn't repay? Which would explain why it was repossessed and you arnt bankrupt? Just apply for a house and see how it goes. Explain your situation

My cousin has bad credit but a fine household income with no rent payment defaults and when she and her family were evicted due to landlord selling she had a hard time finding an alternative. Estate agents wouldn't accept them.

She ended up getting a property to rent through a family friend.

I agree with others, I don't think there's a way of presenting it that will change the outcome, you'll be considered a risk. Definitely look for private landlords.

This makes no sense they still want someone over 18 to be your gaurentor with them so what's the point in them?

@Mummy2024

The last time I checked the guarantor companies, it didn't say one needs someone over 18.
Perhaps is just the company I copied and pasted earlier.