On Bad Credit

frantic_mel

I had problems paying off my loan and was in arrears regulary. Although i have agreed a suggestion to pay it back with the bank i have been keeping with this for approx 2 months now.
However my account is locked from local branches and my online banking has been diabled. There is only one person dealing with my accound now in Dublin and is the only one that can access it. I am on the bad credit list.
What does this mean exactly. I know other banks can view this, but what about credit unions. I asked how long this will last and she said about 5 years. I even asked her if i had the money to pay the whole loan off does that take me off the list and she said even if i paid it off my name would stay on this list for 5 years. Is this true?, what exactly goes on when on this list. And does it mean you cant get a mortgage or anything.
Has anyone been on list bad credit list any advice is needed.

Cheers

spongebob

It is 5 years , yes. Try to pay slightly more than agreed every month. If it is €100 then give them €110 . This should be noted on your record and helps your case in future. Bare minimum payments ,while compliant, look insipid at best .

Credit Unions are usually separate, rebuild your credit there first if it is impaired, it appears that this is the case. The 5 years dates from your last 'miss' and not from when you got into arrears first.

You will have grave difficulties with Mortgage applications during those 5 years and with other forms of finance, this includes carloans and stuff. There are companies who will deal with you for everything short of a mortgage but they will charge a premium as you are a risk.

Check the Mabs website and also read this background on the Credit Bureau

By keeping WELLin with this person who deals with you in the bank, you may get another loan during the 5 years , even if it is a small overdraft and not strictly needed. You must again overpay this again every month to

a) Reduce the loan period and therfore the interest paid , it will be 13% when I could get a loan for 7-8%
b) Get some good looking scores on your overall record again.

Not having any credit over the next 5 years means that you cannot get good scores, that is essentially your conundrum .

HTH

M

shoegirl

First the good news:

I was in your situation 2 years ago. I owed 10,000 on a carloan, 2 credit cards (one of which was revoked), an overdraft (I lost the account) and a large eircom bill. I set down at once to reduce the smallest amounts first and set up reasonable payments to keep them happy.

Within 2 years I've reduced my original liability from 10,000 to 400. Ok I have about 2000 on my VISA, but I've just opened a new bank account with NIB and was even preapproved for a credit card with a 1300 limit.

The thing is, if you can keep up reasonable repayments and clear it down, it doesn't look that bad on your credit record. Once you don't increase the debt and have a reasonable income, you'll be able to pick up again within a couple of years.

Nowadays the credit record isn't the be all and end all of everything. Do your best and good luck, there is a light at the end of the tunnel!