Before you may get accepted for a house loan, banks and lenders verify your credit file. Your credit file is a record of your credit history, and it might contain things like unpaid invoices, loan rejections, late payments, applying for credit too frequently, or declaring bankruptcy.

Understand how your credit score got so low:

• There are bills that have not been paid. Make sure your payments are up to date and made on time.
• I was turned down for a loan. If you've just been turned down for a house loan, it'll show up on your credit report. This will be interpreted by many lenders as an indication of poor credit.
• Late payments were made. Late payments will also have an impact on your credit history, although not as much as delinquent invoices.
• I've applied for credit far too many times. You should only do a credit enquiry once every six months as a basic rule of thumb. Lenders may raise an eyebrow if you have more than this.

Your options will be limited if the lender checks your credit file and finds any unfavourable marks. All of your previous borrowing experiences are compiled and used to predict your capacity to repay debts in the future.