Someone else affecting my credit rating?

kevkelly90

I have never had a loan from any institution. I have never owned a credit card. I do not have any outstanding bills with any provider nor have I ever. I have earned over €18k the last three years.

However any time I try to purchase something on Hire Purchase I get rejected. Pc World and Harvey Norman I have tried in recent years and most recently DFS.

I can not make sense of this. Could it be that someone with my exact name and date of birth has bad credit?

corkonion

If you never owned a credit card or previously never taken a loan, then you do not have a credit rating at all. An easy way to rectify this is to open a credit union account with €50, then borrow €50 from them and pay it back over a few weeks, it would be a good idea to do this a few times to start your credit repayment history.

28064212

Easy way to definitively check, for the princely sum of €6: http://www.icb.ie/

Victor

kevkelly90 wrote: »

I have earned over €18k the last three years.

Total? Or each year?

Not having a material record, but having a record of rejections won't help.

OU812

You can get a copy of your credit record for about €6. You currently have absolutely no credit record & this is what the problem is. To establish a credit record you have to get into debt - counter intuitive, but there you go.

You need to have a couple of small loans & have them paid off completely before you'll start appearing on credit records.

kevkelly90

Victor wrote: »

Total? Or each year?

Not having a material record, but having a record of rejections won't help.

Each year

kevkelly90

Ok. I'll join the credit union and put in and take out €50.

jhegarty

None of the companies listed in the OP have access to you ICB record.

corkonion

kevkelly90 wrote: »

Ok. I'll join the credit union and put in and take out €50.

Don't lodge and withdraw the money, take a loan equal to the amount you have lodged and pay it back over a few weeks and repeat the process a couple of times.

kevkelly90

jhegarty wrote: »

None of the companies listed in the OP have access to you ICB record.

So what are they making there decision from?

Pacifico

Wages, previous credit (so a credit card would be a benefit here), time at current address, how long you're with your bank etc...

jhegarty

kevkelly90 wrote: »

So what are they making there decision from?

They use information you provide and use it to determine how reliable they think you are.

This is the list of ICB member who can see you credit history :
http://www.icb.ie/membership.php

Peregrinus

jhegarty wrote: »

None of the companies listed in the OP have access to you ICB record.

No, but they are usually just agents arranging hire purchase finance for the buyer, with the actual finance being provided by an institution which does have access to the ICB data. It's the finance house which accepts or rejects the application for finance.

MarkAnthony

I used to arrange finance for a similar type of business. Irish customers are notorious with UK credit companies that PC world and alike use as it's nigh on impossible to nail down Joe Murphy of Ballygobackwards Co. Galway. There's also a higher delinquency rate here and so phobia against landlines (which used to negatively impact credit score - the score for that application rather than over all score - no idea if it still does).

€18K a year would be well below average I'm afraid, we all start somewhere of course no offence intended. No previous credit will be an issue and so will moving around a lot. Frankly though you're better off. The only debt you should ever have is a mortgage, ideally don't even get a car loan but there are smart ways to do this. Anything else if you can't buy it cash, don't buy it. A credit card is good for deposits and emergencies and gives a bit of extra protection.

I'm sure you didn't come on here to be pontificated to by me, but trust me when I say starting £30K of debt in the face with naff all to show for it except the latest gizmos is not fun. Luckily the only sensible thing I did was buy my own place when I was starting out and managed to sell it and clear my debts.

If you really must buy electronics buy from Amazon et al - much cheaper. If you really must get credit, build a relationship with the credit union.

ssmith6287

kevkelly90 wrote: »

So what are they making there decision from?

They don't but their finance companies do