We’d like to remind Forumites to please avoid political debate on the Forum.
This is to keep it a safe and useful space for MoneySaving discussions. Threads that are – or become – political in nature may be removed in line with the Forum’s rules. Thank you for your understanding.
📨 Have you signed up to the Forum's new Email Digest yet? Get a selection of trending threads sent straight to your inbox daily, weekly or monthly!
Defaults and credit files
narabanekeater
Posts: 1,892 Forumite
in Credit cards
Firstly appoligies if this is the incorrect place to post this.
My partner and I have been in a dispute with Studio cards over an account with them that according to them he defaulted on early last year
They sent no letter of default at all. We only found out through Equafax
The sum is a bit less than £250. They shall not remeove this default even though it is showing as satisfied and it was paid the same month as it was put on. They just wont budge on the matter and weve been trying for a year to get it off
He has 3 credit cards himself that are all now paid off but can never get good credit limits (he earns 16k a year and gets a £200 limit)
Should we make sure that theres a small balance on at leat one card to at least give him a good credit rating now.
Were looking at remortgaing next year and can afford the payments does this defualt mean no high st lenders will look at us
I have approx £5000 on my cards all at 6.9 for life which im reducing.
I have no credit problems. He out earns me and it only now im addicted to this site im realising what a big hassle this default can be for us. He needs no credit but who knows what we may need in the future
Any advice is most welcome
My partner and I have been in a dispute with Studio cards over an account with them that according to them he defaulted on early last year
They sent no letter of default at all. We only found out through Equafax
The sum is a bit less than £250. They shall not remeove this default even though it is showing as satisfied and it was paid the same month as it was put on. They just wont budge on the matter and weve been trying for a year to get it off
He has 3 credit cards himself that are all now paid off but can never get good credit limits (he earns 16k a year and gets a £200 limit)
Should we make sure that theres a small balance on at leat one card to at least give him a good credit rating now.
Were looking at remortgaing next year and can afford the payments does this defualt mean no high st lenders will look at us
I have approx £5000 on my cards all at 6.9 for life which im reducing.
I have no credit problems. He out earns me and it only now im addicted to this site im realising what a big hassle this default can be for us. He needs no credit but who knows what we may need in the future
Any advice is most welcome
Mad Mum to 3 wonderful children, 2 foster kittens and 2 big fat cats that never made it to a new home!
Aiming to loose 56 pounds this year. Total to date 44.5 pounds 12.5 to go. Slimming World Rocks!
Aiming to loose 56 pounds this year. Total to date 44.5 pounds 12.5 to go. Slimming World Rocks!
0
Comments
-
I just thought id post exactly what equifax says
Limit £200
start £0
Current +0
Default £245
Effective dates Start 24/03/2003
Default 02/2002
End 29/02/2004
Insight last updated 31/03/04
Monthly status sd43210042100
What does all this mean please? especially the numbers?Mad Mum to 3 wonderful children, 2 foster kittens and 2 big fat cats that never made it to a new home!
Aiming to loose 56 pounds this year. Total to date 44.5 pounds 12.5 to go. Slimming World Rocks!0 -
First of all your default date is before your start date - I'm assuming this is just a typo?narabanekeater wrote:I just thought id post exactly what equifax says
Limit £200
start £0
Current +0
Default £245
Effective dates Start 24/03/2003
Default 02/2002
End 29/02/2004
Insight last updated 31/03/04
Monthly status sd43210042100
What does all this mean please? especially the numbers?
In summary...
* Of your 11 payments you only made 4 on time.
* Twice, you let your payments get 4 months in arrears.
* The second time you did this they marked your account as defaulted.
* At this stage the value of the default was more than your credit limit - possibly due to penalties/charges?
* You fully paid off the account
* They then marked your account as settled (but with the default left on your file)
So, the numbers...
Account opened
0 - payment made on time
0 - payment again made on time
1 - no payment made
2 - no payment made again
4 - a strange one - suddenly 4 payments not made?
0 - payment made on time
0 - payment made on time
1 - no payment made
2 - no payment made again
3 - no payment made again
4 - no payment made again
D - account in default
S - account settled
Edited to add: your Equifax report should contain a key to the numbers. Their formal definitions are...
0 - Payments up to date/made on time
1 - Account 1 month or more in arrears
2 - Account 2 months or more in arrears
3 - Account 3 months or more in arrears
4 - Account 4 months or more in arrears
D - Defaulted account
S - Settled or satisfied account0 -
Unfortunately the account will remain on your credit file for six years from the date of the default; even when satisfied there is nothing you can do to have it removed from your file unless Studio cards were to notify the credit agency and have it removed because it was an error. ( you said you disputed it, so how was it satisfied?) Even if they are wrong you it stays there although you can have a notice attached to your file explaining your dispute about it.
Even without the default the payment history will remain on your file and it will be difficult to obtain low interest rate credit/cards. All is not lost with regards to the mortgage as long as this is the one and only thing against him on his credit record, but you must explain the position as you apply for the re-mortage and I would suggest you have paperwork from the company confirming the account is satisfied. My OH and I were in this position earlier this year as I have a CCJ (satisfied) on my file; took all the paperwork into the BS and explained we would be rejected by their computer(yes) It went further for approval and was agreed but I must say this was the only thing against us.
Sadly some of us do learn about the importance of a good credit history the hard way.0 -
To add to my earlier post, I'm aware that companies such as Studio Cards & Ace Cards used to "fine" you an administration charge for late/missed payments.
So, for example, say your payments are £20 per month, and you miss one - then this is obviously reported as a missed payment. The credit provider will then fine you say £2 in admin charges. If you make the next payment of £20 on time, then the provider uses £2 of this to pay your fine and credits only £18 of your payment towards the debt - very similar to a credit cards "order of payments" policy. This then results in another late/missed payment notification to the CRA's.
It's very easy for this to escalate, if you're not notified or don't understand the T&C's.
I wonder if this has happened in the OP's case?0 -
Firstly the start date as mentioned by another kind was a typo and should be 2004
How Yorkshire boy explained the situation is spot on
Also byself and my hustband both had accounts with studio and we bothe have the same name as they only open them with your 1st initial and surname
This regarding the payments even though we were sending off cheques for the amount stated was confimred by a man over the phone. We told him we wanted to close the account and how much we needed to send. He said £xxx pounds and so off in the post went another cheque.
I had an itimised phone bill and the guys name
Only that amount because of these charges never cleared it
We found out about the default around October last year when we had paid every penny in charges etc off. We wrote several times by recorded post and eventually got hold of the top man there. I gave him the guys name date and time of call and offered him itimised phone bills and recorded letter proof as they had been ignoring me.
All I got told was tough look its on there now
The admin charges were £3.50p a time
How can we atatch a note to his file and would it make a difference
Apart from this were both credit clean. I keep up with all my payments and his cards are all clear. Were going to close 2 of the 3 and keep one open spending just for petrol every month and repaying in full to give him a decent credit history
We do have a authorised small overdraft that we use sometimes but thats it.Mad Mum to 3 wonderful children, 2 foster kittens and 2 big fat cats that never made it to a new home!
Aiming to loose 56 pounds this year. Total to date 44.5 pounds 12.5 to go. Slimming World Rocks!0 -
See here...narabanekeater wrote:How can we atatch a note to his file
https://www.econsumer.equifax.co.uk/consumer/uk/sitepage.ehtml?forward=gb_elearning_credit130
This discussion has been closed.
Confirm your email address to Create Threads and Reply
Categories
- All Categories
- 351.7K Banking & Borrowing
- 253.4K Reduce Debt & Boost Income
- 454K Spending & Discounts
- 244.7K Work, Benefits & Business
- 600.1K Mortgages, Homes & Bills
- 177.3K Life & Family
- 258.3K Travel & Transport
- 1.5M Hobbies & Leisure
- 16.2K Discuss & Feedback
- 37.6K Read-Only Boards