Clearing car finance and credit rating

[Coupe_Daz]

Hi all, Just after some info as I can't seem to get a straight answer anywhere.

Situation is I have sent a cheque off to clear my existing finance deal, the finance house have said from date of receipt (6/4/10) that its 10 days for cheque to clear, upto 14 to recieve a letter stating the account has been closed, and upto 4 weeks before my credit file/rating shows it as a cleared debt.

My question is, how accurate is that timescale? I would like to take out a loan to buy a new car asap as I do a fair bit of miles per week and I don't really like using my bike to do my commuting, not to mention its only insured for 4,000 miles a year when I do on average 14,000.

However I am concerned that if I apply for a loan too soon, my credit rating will still be showing an outstanding debt and I will get refusal after refusal and I believe this is a vicious circle and be hard to get out of with lots of rejections against me?

Thanks for any help

[bogie]

I think thats how it *should* work, but it dosent always ...a few days late communicating on their part and you can lose another month

also there is not one central "credit rating" company, there are a few ..and it depends on who you go to borrow from as to which company they use. Most big lenders have their own criteria and just use a search as additional information anyway.

And yes, if you apply, they search, then they refuse, its down on your record as a search...more than 3 searches in a 3-6 month period can cause the score to go down

its all bull*hit anyway and depends on the lending criteria also - one lender may be on hold for new applications, yet another lender is in a credit frenzy, with a pot of cash they need to lend out (keep an eye out for all those junk letters in the post from them )

so its really just a case of suck it and see - you could always join the online version of the credit reference agencies, so you can check your rating each month to make sure it has come off - its about £10 a month I think, or you can do a free trial with some of them, sign up for a month, then cancel...

[pmanson]

Interesting...

I have a credit card and an overdraft that I'm looking to consolidate into a loan.

Credit history is good but we do have a secured loan against the house (part of mortgage) that is in our joint names.

Seems to be a bit suck it and see as to wether or not i'll be accepted.