How to Wipe Your Credit History Clean

If you’re hoping to borrow money, then you might be keen to wipe your credit report so that you have a clean slate. A poor credit history could be hurting your chances to borrow but how easy is it to remove a missed payment from your credit report? Or to improve your credit report?

What is a good credit score?

A low credit score could be impacting your chance to take out new credit but what is a bad credit score and what is a good credit score?

Each credit reference agency uses a different scale for scoring so a “good credit score” can look different.

What's considered a good credit score?

This is a basic idea of a what a credit reference agency or lender will think is a good credit score. However, credit scores do vary, and an individual’s perception of what is good or bad will often be driven by their ability to obtain the credit they need.

The main thing to focus on is that a credit score can be improved, and even if you have a bad credit history, it does not mean it has to remain this way indefinitely.

What do credit reference agencies look at when assigning a credit score?

When credit reference agencies check your credit history, they are looking at a number of things, such as:

• How much credit history do you have - for example, have you taken out credit before or is your credit history limited or non-existent?
• Your payment history with your creditors, have you paid the right amount, on time or late, do you have any default notices, or other key markers, such as County Court Judgements.

They take all of these factors into account and give you a credit score.

There are three main credit reference agencies in the UK. The three credit reference agencies are:

If you think there’s a mistake on your credit file, you need to go directly to your credit reference agency and report it. You might think an error or a mistake is no big deal, but it could be a sign of identity theft, so it’s always important to report anything you don’t recognise.

How long is a default notice on your credit file?

From the date of issue, a default notice will remain on your credit file for six years. It will show on your credit file even if you pay the balance of the debt in full meaning other credit reference agencies and lenders will be able to see it for six years.

Can you remove a CCJ (County Court Judgement) from your credit report?

It is possible to remove a CCJ (County Court Judgement) from your credit file.

To get it removed from your credit file, you need to:

• Pay the full amount of the CCJ within a month of the receiving the judgement
• Apply to have the CCJ removed from your credit file and the public register by applying for a "Certification of Cancellation"
• Submit this along with proof of payment

It will cost £14 however, if you’re on a low income, you may be eligible for payment exemption.

How can you get something removed from your credit file?

It’s a myth that you can get correct information cleared from your credit file. If you have poor credit, you might want to clean up your credit report, but the only way to do this is to slowly improve your credit score, and it takes time.

You can get incorrect information removed from your credit file by reporting the mistake to your credit reference agency.

Can you pay to clear your credit history?

If you’ve been looking to repair your credit history, you might have been looking into credit repair companies. Some companies offer credit repair services that claim to fix your credit report, for a price.

But these credit repair companies don’t do anything you couldn’t do yourself so it’s probably not worth paying for a credit repair service.

Unfortunately, there is no quick fix when it comes to your credit file and the best way to improve your credit rating is by managing debt repayments and other payments properly so that over time, that will show on your credit file.

How can you improve your credit score?

There are lots of ways to improve your credit rating.

Quick-fire ways to improve your credit rating:

Another way to improve your credit score if you’re struggling with debts is to consider a debt solution like a Debt Management Plan (DMP).

A DMP can help you to turn several monthly payments into one single monthly payment. A reduced monthly payment could help if you are finding it difficult to meet your current repayments.

A Debt Management Plan is an informal debt solution, meaning if creditors accept the DMP, they will be more likely to:

• Reduce the contact they make with you
• Agree to stop interest and charges
• Accept the agreed upon repayment amount