Black mark on credit file - Banks fault

arambol

I took out a Barclay card in 2006 and they gave me an utterly useless initial credit limit of £320, so I called and cancelled the card and never activated it.

I then moved abroad for 5 months during which they sent me 3 letters at £25 a pop telling me I'd defaulted on my repayments.

It turned out that they added a £16 payment protection fee onto the card and expected me to make the minimum payments on this £16 each month. About 50p per month! I obviously had no direct debit set up as I never agreed to or activated the card.

By the time I returned home and saw the letters I had around £90 on my balance from the £16 insurance, bank letter charges and interest.

Eventually they admitted liability and apologised but now I have 4 defaults showing on my credit file and with an otherwise perfect payment history it's particularly annoying.

Can Barclays remove all evidence of these defaults from my file or is it a permanent record?

Thanks guys.

Dave_the_Ginger_Cat

arambol wrote: »

I took out a Barclay card in 2006 and they gave me an utterly useless initial credit limit of £320, so I called and cancelled the card and never activated it.

I then moved abroad for 5 months during which they sent me 3 letters at £25 a pop telling me I'd defaulted on my repayments.

It turned out that they added a £16 payment protection fee onto the card and expected me to make the minimum payments on this £16 each month. About 50p per month! I obviously had no direct debit set up as I never agreed to or activated the card.

By the time I returned home and saw the letters I had around £90 on my balance from the £16 insurance, bank letter charges and interest.

Eventually they admitted liability and apologised but now I have 4 defaults showing on my credit file and with an otherwise perfect payment history it's particularly annoying.

Can Barclays remove all evidence of these defaults from my file or is it a permanent record?

Thanks guys.

If they have agreed that this is entirely their fault, they can request your credit reference record to be altered. If, however, they've agreed to write off the balance out of goodwill, or a similar customer services principle, I'm afraid you are less likley to succeed.

HTH

System

I would suggest you make a formal complaint.
Be firm, but polite and insist that they correct your credit file.
I would ask them for further gesture for wasting your time.

arambol wrote: »

I took out a Barclay card in 2006 and they gave me an utterly useless initial credit limit of £320, so I called and cancelled the card and never activated it.

I then moved abroad for 5 months during which they sent me 3 letters at £25 a pop telling me I'd defaulted on my repayments.

It turned out that they added a £16 payment protection fee onto the card and expected me to make the minimum payments on this £16 each month. About 50p per month! I obviously had no direct debit set up as I never agreed to or activated the card.

By the time I returned home and saw the letters I had around £90 on my balance from the £16 insurance, bank letter charges and interest.

Eventually they admitted liability and apologised but now I have 4 defaults showing on my credit file and with an otherwise perfect payment history it's particularly annoying.

Can Barclays remove all evidence of these defaults from my file or is it a permanent record?

Thanks guys.