Bankruptcy Credit Reference File Clean Up - Discussion

NINANinja

Hi
I was BR December 2013, discharged December 2014.
I tidied up my Equifax and Call Credit files some time ago, and recently got hold of my Experian file, which bears little resemblance to the other two.
Is this normal? I thought once I'd written to creditors telling them to correct their entries this would correct them across the 'big 3' credit file companies? Clearly this hasn't happened, but is this the fault of the creditors, or Experian? Do I write to all my creditors again, or raise the issue with Experian?
TIA
Nina

TheGardener

NINANinja wrote: »

Hi
I was BR December 2013, discharged December 2014.
I tidied up my Equifax and Call Credit files some time ago, and recently got hold of my Experian file, which bears little resemblance to the other two.
Is this normal? I thought once I'd written to creditors telling them to correct their entries this would correct them across the 'big 3' credit file companies? Clearly this hasn't happened, but is this the fault of the creditors, or Experian? Do I write to all my creditors again, or raise the issue with Experian?
TIA
Nina

I would raise it with Experian in the first instance, there is a facility to do that on their web page.

Primer

Hi Nina,

In theory if you've written to your creditors to ask them to correct their entries then this should have been done to any of the three they use.
I know I had a few problems with some but can't remember the details now as I went BR in 2008 and discharged 2009. As far as I can remember you can put in notices of correction/disputes with the individual incorrect entries with Experian, they should then investigate with the creditor and correct it.

The main one I had an issue with after it was corrected was several years later Lloyds/Tsb decided to resurect my credit card account and start showing it in default with new dates about 3 years after my original BR date, I put in a dispute with the credit agencies and sent a stern letter to Lloyds, never got a reply from them but the dates were removed from my credit reports. A year or so after that I received an apology from Lloyds to say they just noticed they were supposed to send me a cheque in recompense for their mistake and please find a cheque for £180 enclosed, although no cheque was enclosed, a quick call to them and they deposited the money straight into my account, just shows how incompetent Lloyds are and they were my worst creditor throughout my BR and were the ones that continually hounded me for many months and I had to report them to the insolvency agency to get them to cease calling me.

So you can see you need to keep an eye on all three of your credit reports until the 6 years is up and all your defaulted creditors drop off the reports, you can get free reports from them all these days too.

As a final notice I think some financial institutions are keeping your default accounts open beyond the 6 years as I had an argument with my bank (co-op) a few years ago as they refused me an upgrade from cashminder to a proper current account and when I went into my branch to discuss this (with copies of all 3 credit reports showing I was clear and actually had very good scores) they said they kept records for 8 years on bankruptcies as was the norm and I had to show them a statement from the insolvency agency that said legally it's only kept for 6 years, they then opened my account, I never had a debt with the co-op so couldn't understand why they were so difficult to deal with, it also took them 7 years before they would open me a savings account yet I had managed to get savings accounts elsewhere within a couple of years of BR and a couple of low limit credit cards to start rebuilding my credit score, so you've got to be vigilant and keep checking those reports.

Sorry for the rant, hopefully I've answered your question.

Regards

Peter

Gaurdio

Hi all ... I'm trying to interpret my Equifax info.

I had a joint account with my ex ( 5 years on now) ... since my BR, I'm trying to clean things up, the joint account is NOT marked as partial or satisfied, but it is marked as "gone away" as I think she did a runner from the bank.

My question is, can I ask / insist that they mark my record relating to this account as something different to "gone away" ?

Thanks,

NINANinja

Morning Folks
I posted on here a couple of months ago saying my Experian credit report had some serious errors on it. To be fair, Experian were really quick to contact the lenders and put most of it right.
But I still have an issue with O2, who have refused to amend my record unless I send them my Statement of Affairs. I’ve already sent them a copy of my BO and DO.
I queried this with them, saying that they can clearly see that the debt was pre-BR. They said that unless I sent the Statement of Affairs to prove that this debt was included in the BR, they wouldn’t amend the record.
However, the same debt is shown as Settled on my date of discharge on their records in my Call Credit and Equifax reports... I’ve told them this but it has made no difference.
Plus, the debt showing on my Experian report was initially marked ‘Settled’ (£0) but for some reason was reinstated by O2 in September 2015 (I was discharged in Dec 14). I’m worried that they now think this is a new debt!
Is it normal to be asked for a copy of the Statement of Affairs?
I’m also thinking that even if the debt wasn’t on the SOA, then it’s still a debt in BR, having been incurred prior to BR proceedings?
I’ve raised a formal complaint with O2, and will report this to my OR and the Information Commissioner next week, but would welcome thoughts on this from my fellow ‘File Cleaner-uppers’.
Thanks and have a good weekend

Rscott93

Hi folks.

All but ONE of my creditors have updated my credit files post bankruptcy (They received the letter on 26/02/2018). I rang back last week for the 6th time and they said it is still with the legal team and has been since 13/03/2018. I raised a complaint on 03/05/2018 and have just received a letter 4 weeks later stating it is still being investigated and they still have another 4 weeks.

I have decided to complain to the Information Commissioner however the links for the complaint form aren't valid anymore on the credit file clean up page -
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.php?t=677875

If someone could direct me to them it would be greatly appreciated.

Also, I notice it states I must send them " A copy of the relevant entry from the Credit Reference Files which MUST be no younger than 35 days after you sent to complaint letter to the Creditor / DCA." Is this something I can just download online or do I need to request and pay for them to be sent out by all 3 credit reference agencies?

Any advice is much appreciated. 4 months on from being discharged I really want this last thing sorted so I can move on from this whole farce.

fermi

Links updated in the sticky.

Also see: https://ico.org.uk/make-a-complaint/your-personal-information-concerns/personal-information-concerns/personal-information-concerns-report/

Rscott93

Awesome.You are an outstanding member of this board.

kimplus8

thanks Fermi x

Rscott93

ARGH! Further trouble.

I have been checking my statutory credit reports and found that although my creditors have updated the default date to 28/02/2017 (date of bankruptcy order), Only some of them have updated the SATISFACTION DATE to 28/02/2018! There are a few of them who have it as dates after that as far up top 24/04/2018. Am I correct in thinking this is incorrect and it needs to be shown as no later than 28/02/2018 as in line with the bankruptcy discharge?

Also it might be worth mentioning, the ones that have the SATISFACTION DATE after 28/02/2018, have the "PARTIAL SETTLEMENT - START DATE" as 28/02/2018. Does this mean I don't need to worry about the former issue?

4 months on and this is still so confusing and frustrating! How you guys know to advise people on these issues I have no idea, fair play to you all.