What is Bad Credit?

If you have bad or adverse credit it means that when you try and get a credit card, loan, mortgage or car finance you might get turned down. In fact, you might not even be able to open an ordinary bank account. 

In the past if you've had defaults on previous loan or hire purchase agreements, missed credit card payments, been issued with a County Court Judgment or been made bankrupt, you have a bad credit history. 

So if you've had anything less than a perfect credit history, don't think for a minute that it won't eventually catch up with you. Even the most relatively small monetary misdemeanor such as missing a couple of payments on your credit card many years previously many eventually come back to haunt you and prevent you from getting credit. 

Most lenders will automatically run a credit search on applicants by contacting the major credit reference agencies, whose purpose is to hold files containing credit information about you. If your credit file contains details of passed missed payments, defaults, county court judgments, bankruptcy or other financial misdemeanors, you'll end up with a bad credit rating.

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