Best way to repair my credit file? [essay warning]

Sam_G_3

Hello everyone, I just registered on the site today (although I have been visiting for about a couple of years).

I need some advice on sorting out my credit file, this is a bit of a long post I'm afraid so you'd better make a cup of tea first before reading it all!

Background

About a couple of years ago I entered into an IVA as I could no longer afford to repay my debts and needed a solution which enabled me to be able to make lower payments. I was advised to get an IVA and was told that in 5 years I would be debt free and that a large majority of my debt would be written off? Anyway having thought of this as a good idea at the time I decided to do it, but the final monthly payments I had to make (creditors were moaning that they wanted me to pay more than the IVA was originally drawn up for) were still quite high. The IVA company basically couldn't care less about my situation after they got me in as a customer - they hardly ever responded to phone calls, responded maybe twice to several emails, so I decided to take matters into my own hands and stop paying it (after paying just over £2k into it, £2k I will never get back I might point out) - this resulted in my IVA defaulting and subsequently failing.

Debt Management Plan

Once the harrassing phone calls and threatening letters started (on a daily basis with the letters, and literally an hourly basis with the phone calls - I kid you not!), I spoke to the nice people at CCCS who actually listened to what I had to say and arranged a debt management plan for me with my creditors.

I still got harrassing/threatening calls and letters from the many random debt collection agencies that one particular bank use (*cough* HSBC *cough*) I wrote strongly worded letters to all of them and said I am in a DMP now and I cannot afford to pay any more than what I am paying now, and if they continue harrassing me it would be me taking them to court! Oddly enough they stopped harrassing me since then...

I am pleased to report that I have been successfully paying my DMP since December 2007 (and it's a great feeling knowing that you can actually see your debts going down - yay!).

My Dilemma

At the start of this year I became self-employed, and have only one cash card account with a building society, who I have been with since 2006. Firstly I asked them if they would give me a debit card (they said no), so I thought I would try elsewhere (and also apply for a business account too since it's against their T&Cs to use the account for business purposes, and they offer no business accounts).

I tried for a NatWest Current Account first of all (they said no) and then a Step Account (they said no to that too), and I also tried for a current account with Lloyds TSB (they also said no). NatWest said I should look at my credit file, I said I know it's in a poor state, but nethertheless I applied online yesterday with Experian and Equifax for their free 30 day trials.

Experian say they have to get back to me (?) and Equifax required a scan of my driving license and utility bill which I sent to them via their secure website yesterday, and they opened the 'account' for me today.

Having downloaded my credit report, I see there are several problems with it, here they are:

• Apart from the HSBC debt and another creditor, my other creditors are showing as 'settled' even though there is a default balance and the current balance is less than the default balance (because I have obviously been paying them via my DMP). Some of the debts are showing a balance of £0 which is not true and I am paying them via my DMP.
• I apparently have a financial association with my mum since 2002 (I have not had a financial association with her since then).
• HSBC have put a 'GONE AWAY' note on one of my debts with them - even though they already know my current address.

I really don't know where to start with this. I am still waiting to hear back from Experian since I want to check my credit file with them too, but once I have got it, I haven't a clue on the best way to proceed with this now.

I don't want any lending of any description, all I want is a basic business account that I can transfer money in and out of, and a normal current account for myself that has a debit card. I don't even want a cheque book!

Any help would be greatly appreciated...

Sam

Sam_G_3

Hello...

tuggy

I dont know the answer just feel bad for you sitting here by yourself! sorry....

weegie.geek

I've read that this can help, but you'd be paying £60 for the priviledge. The card might be useful to you if you can't get a credit/debit card from a bank as well.

http://www.mycreditbuilder.co.uk/credit-information.htm

It's their creditbuilder facility you'll be interested in. It's mentioned a few times around the forums.

dhassen

Breifly looking at your post, I'd suggest starting a new similar thread in the debt-free wannabe board.... they'll probably have more advice and experience with IVAs and debt management plans etc

jimbo26

All of the problems you have highlighted appear to be due to errors by the companies concerned. They have a duty in law to ensure that the information they supply to credit reference agencies is accurate.

Contact each company by letter pointing out their duty under the Data Protection Act. Any failure to correct the information contact the data Commissioner.

Sammy_Girl

Hi Sam,

RE the bank account, have you tried the Co-op Cashminder Account? As far as I am aware you can set this up over the phone or online without having to go into the bank, and I think that you get a Visa Electron card. Might be worth checking out on line?

RE the credit reports, wait until you have both the Experian and Equifax reports and go through them with a fine toothcomb highlighting any errors. Anything that is not correct, you need to write to the companies concerned and the CRAs asking for them to rectified. You can also ask the CRAs to disassociate yourself from your mother if you have no financial links with her.

I hope that helps

weegie.geek

Sammy_Girl wrote: »

Hi Sam,

RE the bank account, have you tried the Co-op Cashminder Account? As far as I am aware you can set this up over the phone or online without having to go into the bank, and I think that you get a Visa Electron card. Might be worth checking out on line?

Over the phone or online, yep. They might ask you to post them a phone bill or some other proof of address, but it's prety painless.

Sam_G_3

Yay replies!

Today on the Equifax website I put a request through to 'disassociate' myself from my mum, I also spent virtually the whole day phoning various different HSBC departments/companies/Indian call centres trying to sort out the 'gone away' problem - as an aside they can't actually tell me whether I still owe them the money or not (i.e. some people there say it's written, some say it's not), so in the end I made a formal complaint about it all and they are apparently going to launch an investigation into this - going by my past experiences with them, I'm not holding my breath...

Tomorrow I will be tackling the debts that show £0 balance.

I found a copy of an Experian credit report I obtained back in August 2007 which shows some slightly different information to what's on the Equifax report, so it will be interesting to see what the latest one shows.

Looks like I have my work cut out for me! D'oh!

Thanks for all the replies so far!

Sam