Does anyone know the difference between poor credit and bad credit?
Here's my interpretation of these terms:
Poor Credit: short credit history, not many applications to borrow. Quite high proportion of refusals: application unseccessful. Ocassional small default, or late payment.
Bad credit: Significant credit history, with multitude of entries. Major defaults on repayments, reposessions, judgements. Applied and or was granted a bankruptcy status (Chapter 11).
With poor credit your chances to satisfy lenders is reasonably high. With bad credit, you've no chances with the main-stream lenders (banks, credit cards companies). You may succeed with the second tier lenders (Cash Converters, financial coys, private financing,etc). However, there will be a high price to pay. The security required will be high (deposit, chattels, etc.), and you'll have to pay a significant higher interest rates, often 10-25% above the market rate.
Hardly, a way to get back to responsive financial management...
