Nationwide Default from 7 Years ago

simmian · 22 May 2017 at 10:22PM

I recently wrote to this useful forum regarding my credit rating being quite bad. On the one hand I understand that credit scores bare no relevance. I was made redundant several years ago and I admit that I could no longer pay loans etc. I always paid my mortgage which I managed to keep up. Lucky for me I managed to get a job, so to cut a long story short I ended up with a CCJ on my credit file which dropped off last year because it was 6 years ago.

I have slowly seen my credit rating improve. I decided to pay for a full credit report which held more information and I noticed that I had a default on a old account with Nationwide. Following advice from here I rang Nationwide regarding the issue. I did have an account with Nationwide until 2010 which I would use occasionally. I do recall visiting the branch and closing the account and that was the end of that as far as i was concerned. I cannot find any paperwork that confirmed that I done this but its not really something I would keep. I also moved property around the same date. Last week I popped into the branch to find out why I had a default with Nationwide and they had to get my statements from the archives. Having salvaged my statements from Jun 2010 it appears that I had a balance of £1.25 an attempt to withdraw a Direct Debit for £19.99 occurred on the 23rd Jun 29th Jun and the 05 July 10. I explained that I assumed that I closed the account and it must have been a direct debit that I had missed or not transferred to my new bank having assumed that when I switched accounts the direct debits had been moved across. I have no paperwork to back this up as it was years ago and I am an idiot when it comes to paperwork. I was further charged £30.00 per unpaid direct debit so £90.00 in all, which I thought was excessive. I did not receive any paperwork to tell me what had happened but this could have been sent to my old address.

Looking at my credit report it appears that the debt was bought by a debt company which is also on my credit report. I explained that if I would have been aware at the time I would have been able to deal with the issue but because of an unpaid direct debit of £19.99. I ended up with a debt of £235.00 and a default on my report. I am not sure how to proceed. On the one hand I can afford to pay the default but I don't see why I should for starters they still said that my account was open even though I returned the card and closed the account years ago. They said I still owed them the amount even though they sold the debt on? Any suggestions on how to proceed would be appreciated. Am I right in thinking that even if I paid the default it would stay on my report?

[Deleted User] · 22 May 2017 at 10:27PM

simmian wrote: »

for starters they still said that my account was open even though I returned the card and closed the account years ago.

They'd be right, as the transactions would have reactivated it.

Candyapple · 23 May 2017 at 11:00AM

If the default is from 2010, just wait until whatever month the default started from and then it will drop off your file and go back to normal.

National_Debtline · 23 May 2017 at 3:43PM

Hi simmian

It is correct that the default will not be removed from your credit report because you have paid the debt, but it will be removed 6 years after the date the default was registered. This is regardless of whether the debt has been paid. Whilst the debt remains on your credit report, it will be updated to show the debt is satisfied if you pay it.

With regards to who you owe the debt to, if Nationwide has sold the debt to a debt collection agency then you will owe the money to the debt collection agency. If the debt collection agency acts as Nationwide’s agent, then you still owe the money to Nationwide. With such an old debt it would be fairly unusual that the debt had not been sold on. If you choose to pay the debt make sure you pay it to the company that you legally owe it to.

Also bear in mind that the debt may become statute barred, meaning they are out of time to obtain a CCJ to make you pay it. This would apply if there had been 6 years since the date the bank called the debt in (in effect this debt is an overdraft) where no payments had been made, you had not acknowledged the debt in writing and a CCJ had not been obtained. You can find a factsheet on statute barred debts here https://www.nationaldebtline.org/EW/factsheets/Pages/time-limits-for-recovering-debts/statute-barred-debt.aspx.

Susie
@natdebtline

simmian · 1 June 2017 at 7:40PM

Thanks for all the feedback and given me food for thought. It had me thinking about the chain of events that led to this. I noticed on my archived bank statement that prior to the direct debit attempting to be took out, that I had a balance of approximately £1.34. This means that I was not in debt prior to me closing the account. If the account would have been closed when I wanted it to be closed none of this would have happened. The direct debit would have bounced and they would have charged me but I would have not ended up with this mess. Any advice would be appreciated.

redux · 1 June 2017 at 9:34PM

You could try talking to their complaints team.

If they are obstinate as some firms they might say it is over 6 years ago, so they can't consider it, but you might get somewhere.

sheff6107 · 2 June 2017 at 12:58PM

Personally I'd just ignore it if 6 years is coming up.

Nationwide Default from 7 Years ago

Comments

Categories

Get our FREE Weekly email full of deals & guides - and it’s spam-free