A missed payment or a default on your credit file narrows your options but does not close them. What a lender wants to know is when it happened, how much was owed, and whether it is settled.
A default is judged by its size, its age and its status. Those three facts decide which lenders will look at your case.
Recent defaults weigh more than older ones. An adviser will tell you where your file sits against what each lender will accept.
A settled default of a few hundred pounds reads very differently from an unpaid one of several thousand. Lenders look at the balance, not just the mark.
Satisfied defaults are treated more kindly than outstanding ones. Clearing what you can before you apply usually widens your options.
Three things cover most of what a lender will ask about, and all of them sit in your own records.
Check every default's date, amount and status. Correcting a report is free and can change what a lender is willing to offer.
A letter or statement showing the balance is cleared. If a default was never yours, the dispute goes to the lender who recorded it.
Cases with defaults usually need more upfront. Your adviser will give you the figure the lender expects before you apply.
What people ask us most when a default is showing on their credit file.
Yes. Lenders differ on how old a default can be, how much it can be for and whether it must be settled. A specialist adviser matches your file to those rules.
Six years from the date of the default, whether or not it was paid. Its effect on lending decisions fades as it ages.
No. A missed payment is recorded separately and is less serious. A default is registered when a lender decides the account has been in arrears long enough.
Usually, yes. Lenders price for the risk a credit history represents, and rates tend to improve as time passes and the record stays clean.
Free, no-obligation introduction to an FCA-authorised adviser who works with defaults and missed payments.
Reviewed by Charlotte Wood, Adverse Credit Mortgages, updated November 2026