Bank transfer c*ck-up - how can I stop it impacting my credit file?

[Never-In-Doubt]

Well, it's more complicated than that. I've been in agency work for quite a while. The last 'employer' was an agency that I was contracting through, although the end client was a government department. I've been on a very high daily rate (well, high to me anyway) through the agency. I put down the agency as being the 'employer'. I started a new short-term contract with an NHS trust in April, again via an agency. As with the first agency, they've been paying weekly.

I haven't heard of N Hunter, so have I messed things up here?

Perfect. So if anything use tomorrow as your start date on new job. It doesn't matter the pay date. That's not important at all.

So once fD sort the card, any applications afterwards means you use your new and current employer with a start date no earlier than today.

[Never-In-Doubt]

I work part time for unitemps but when I get paid it says university of xxx even though I work for different people. Luckily my main pay is that as well.

Im really pleased you got it all sorted. I know how stressful it is when things don’t go to plan.

Exactly. Who pays you isn't important however fD is unique in that they use humans more than machines so a lot of manual stuff. They may ask why salary is different name on Friday and all OP says is yea, started Weds (tmw), and paid Friday as I did a couple shifts last week on top of my normal (old) job.

Easy to hide it, saying something as above. But unlikely fD will ask / care.

[evilcartman]

I did get a call and when I explained it was contract work, she did ask me how long I'd been in that and I said it had only been since November. They'd really like to see how things pan out over a period of 12 months or so, which I think is fair enough, so I asked if i could withdraw my application for the time being and that was fine. I'd rather be safe than sorry and don't want to mess up my CRA and CIFAS records for the sake of a card that I don't even need right now.

[Never-In-Doubt]

Seriously, they didn't proceed (based on income / job)! That's a new one.... maybe stricter as you're getting the switch bonus, I wasn't eligible as I've had HSBC Advance for a while & got that reward.

Thing is they're pretty good so as you say, wait a wee while and try again. No search would have been done anyway - guessing your credit file is thin, hence the call? Again, difference with me is I've got dozens of accounts and a large utilisation so it must play a part. But anyway, best to be safe and wait a month till your feed updates before more applications using different employment.

So to summarise, I'm guessing your credit file is thin - as in literally a handful of accounts; if that?

[evilcartman]

Yeah, it is pretty thin really. There's the Co-op current account, three credit cards (all with zero balances for a few months), Virgin Media, British Gas and Yorkshire Water. There's also a house insurance policy from Admiral on a monthly payment.

I wouldn't have gone to BG by choice. What happened there is that I switched from EDF to White Rose, who promptly went bust and were bought out by BG - I stayed with them as they promised to honour the fixed rates offered by White Rose. I hadn't realised that they report to CRAs.

There is no adverse information on my file apart from two late payments recorded by our old friends Yorkshire Water from five years ago. Once those roll off, the file will be squeaky clean. But I doubt that those ones are making a difference after all this time anyway - I have an "excellent" score with all three main agencies.

[evilcartman]

Seriously, they didn't proceed (based on income / job)! That's a new one.... maybe stricter as you're getting the switch bonus, I wasn't eligible as I've had HSBC Advance for a while & got that reward.

Thing is they're pretty good so as you say, wait a wee while and try again. No search would have been done anyway - guessing your credit file is thin, hence the call? Again, difference with me is I've got dozens of accounts and a large utilisation so it must play a part. But anyway, best to be safe and wait a month till your feed updates before more applications using different employment.

So to summarise, I'm guessing your credit file is thin - as in literally a handful of accounts; if that?

Well, oddly enough they did use a hard search for the credit card.

And the Experian app has now downgraded the score from "excellent" to "good", presumably because of the two consecutive hard searches.

So no more hard searches from me for a while. Fortunately, I absolutely don't need credit right now but I do like to protect my hard-earned rating - you know how long it took me to rebuild after going the UE route a few years ago...

[PlanB]

Well, oddly enough they did use a hard search for the credit card.

And the Experian app has now downgraded the score from "excellent" to "good", presumably because of the two consecutive hard searches.

So no more hard searches from me for a while. Fortunately, I absolutely don't need credit right now but I do like to protect my hard-earned rating - you know how long it took me to rebuild after going the UE route a few years ago...

That's so annoying!

Searches should only remain on your Experian file for 2 years.

Could your credit score have been impacted by something else such as those two Yorkshire Water late payments which are due to 'expire' soon?

Di

[Never-In-Doubt]

Ahh - see, don't worry. The "score" you're being shown is irrelevant. The CRA's do not offer credit so they do not have an algorithm like the banks do. Each lender has their own algorithm and thus the score you see on the CRA is only a representation of how they'd score you - IF they provided credit, which they don't.

That's why you may see a 100% preapproval on the likes of Credit Karma but when you apply you're rejected. Always use the lenders own eligibility checker for accurate results.

So the Excellent -> Good status change is meaningless, as are the searches. I've got almost 200 searches but still get credit when I apply as my payment history and accounts are all being reported as a good customer. Searches play very little part; plus most lenders algorithms only search 3-6 months; so they're only interested in the most recent 3-6 month searches - what you did from month 7-24 is irrelevant so is ignored unless manually processed by underwriting - auto decisions ignore that period in the main.

As you aren't applying for credit again, the score is irrelevant. Honestly - ignore those numbers you see. It's the actual accounts and repayment history which holds most weight in any scoring model, obviously.