As many people do, you were young and foolish with your credit cards early on in life. You either had a credit card or signed for one for someone else and the credit card ended up maxed out and went into default.
You have been making payments on the debt and charges, but how long will it take to get your credit rating back where it belongs in order to get better credit cards, personal loans, or even a mortgage?
The first thing that needs to be looked at is the debt itself. If the company is still charging you fees, you need to contact them in an effort to halt them. If your monthly payments are not creating any progress on the debt, paying it is useless if the account is already in default.
All you are doing at this point is putting money into the credit card company’s pockets with no way out of this debt.
If the credit card company refuses to negotiate terms of repayment, see if you can get a credit card that offers a lower rate on transfers.
At the very least, it will make your payments more effective. There are credit cards for people with bad credit that do not have the best terms, but if there is a trial period where you are paying no interest on transfers, you can knock the debt down considerably.
In the United Kingdom, bad debt can stay on your report for up to six years. If they re contact you and renew the debt, it can remain on the report longer.
When you have a debt that has been defaulted on, you have to be very careful when talking to creditors.
Any acknowledgement of that debt, even if it is the day before it is due to be wiped from your report, will renew it on your report.
While you are waiting for the bad credit to fall off, do everything you can do help build your credit back up. The negative marks will keep the grade down, but as time passes, it will gradually creep back up.
Once the black mark is off the report, you should see a significant jump in the rating and you will finally be able to apply for credit cards with a lower rate and mortgage and loans with reasonable terms.
