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Take Control of your Credit Score

Your credit score shows how well you’ve managed credit in previous years. Simply put, the higher your score, the more likely it is that any credit applications you make will be accepted, whereas if you have a lower score, you will find it more difficult to borrow.

We always suggest that a good starting point is to visit one of the many Credit Monitoring sites, where you can access your credit score for free. Not only does it give you access to your current score, but you will also be provided with some useful information that will help you improve your score based on your unique circumstances, along with a tracker to see how it’s changing.

Understanding Credit

Credit is what allows our customers to lease vans with us; we use it to place new vehicle orders and our customers repay this cost in monthly installments by way of a van lease or contract hire agreement. The vehicle leasing industry itself all comes down to credit, and if you can’t get it, you can’t lease a van – so it’s important to understand how your credit rating is calculated, how it’s used, and what you can do to improve it.

How Your Credit Score is Used

Each lender scores their applicants by their criteria, so if you do get declined it might just be because you don’t match their ideal customer profile. A declined credit footprint isn’t necessarily a terrible thing, but if you start to get a few declines racked up against your name it could become a concern. The possibility of obtaining credit could be further reduced as each time you are declined for (or apply for) credit, an electronic footprint is left on your record. Comparison websites (e.g. www.moneysupermarket.com) allow you to use your credit report to see if you’re likely to be accepted for a particular form of credit and this is something well worth doing to avoid being declined and showing on your record.

Improving your Credit Rating

Credit history is generally built up over some time, and this increases with the number of correct payments you make on time. If the debt goes unpaid, your credit score goes down. The good news is, that there are steps you can take to improve your credit score – here are a few practical things you can do:

  1. Register to vote. It’s much harder to get credit if you’re not on the electoral register.
  2. Keep up to date with payments. Paying any of your current contracts on time and in full will help.
  3. Reduce existing debt. If you can, try and pay off as much outstanding debt as possible before asking for more credit.
  4. Don’t use all your credit. Don’t always max out the credit you have available to you. Keep your credit card under control, if possible, keep to 50% of the limit or lower and make regular monthly payments.
  5. Check for fraud. Take note of all the details on your credit report – if something doesn’t seem right to you about your activity, highlight it.

Keeping your Details up to Date

Lines of credit will stay on your file if you forget to cancel them so make sure you terminate old credit cards or phone contracts that you no longer use. Links to ex-partners, old addresses or failing to register for the electoral roll can also negatively affect your rating so make sure all your details are kept up to date.

Can I Lease a Van with Bad Credit?

The simple answer is yes. Just because your credit report shows a few missed payments, you may still be eligible for the credit to lease a van so it’s always worth asking the question. One outcome could be that due to the increased risk of lending, lease payments may be higher.

At vanleasing.com we specialise in bad credit van leasing and do our best to ensure that we can get all of our customers into a van, regardless of previous issues with poor credit. Get in touch with the team today to find out more.

Other Sources

The main credit reference companies are, ExperianTransUnion, and Equifax, and you should be able to get a record of your credit rating free of charge from any of these. Your standard free report will give some information about your credit history, but it won’t include any of the extras such as monitoring your credit score.