Question re cleaning up credit rating

willing2learn_3

Hi all

I am working on getting my credit rating clean and i have a few questions you guys might be able to help with....

1) I've just checked a credit report from credit expert and there are two old CCJ's on there. I'm assuming they relate to a bank debt i had a few years back (when i was lacking in the wisdom i have now!) One is for 2002 and another for 2004, they are for amounts of £500 and £100 respectively.

I'm wondering what the best thing to do about this is....the thing is i don't know if i've paid them or not. I know that may sound daft but i remember paying a credit card debt with the bank. Equally confusing is there was another debt i don't remember paying and that's not on my credit report!

I'm worried about contacting these companies because if i have paid these debts will they be honest and tell me? and if i haven't am i just opening up a can of worms, ie extra payments that right now i cannot afford.......sorry to say this but right now i couldn't afford to pay these debts anyway.....and i haven't had any contact from the bank in question since 2005....(?)

So i guess i'm asking what the best thing to do about this is and would appreciate any advice anyone can give. I was really stupid with money back then and i'm paying for it now but i just need to know the best thing to do. Nowadays i make all payments on time.

2) Also i'm thinking that back in those days i may have had a lot of bank charges against me. I know Martin has outlined the appeals process but i'm wondering whether i should be contacting this bank and asking for old bank statements from that time to begin an appeal.......or again am i just going to create more problems for myself and open up the can of worms? I'm not with that bank anymore and the bank i'm with i have a good relationship with.........which leads me onto another question.

3) I was going through bank statements the other day and noticed i'd had bank charges totalling £140. I was unaware of these before. Since i have a good relationship with my current bank should i really appeal against these charges? Or will that make them biassed against me when i wish to upgrade my bank account (i have a basic bank account and the moment), or apply for a credit card....etc?

Thanks everyone for your time and i will really appreciate any responses!

W2L

willing2learn_3

wow! I've never know such a busy forum! Just been reading the chat thread and you all seem like such a great bunch of people. I'm going to log on later and catch up.

It's so easy to feel down about money isn't it? but it's really cheerful here and i don't feel quite so alone

willing2learn_3

I think i will just have to take the plunge tomorrow and ring these contacts and see what they say.....

Tixy

Hello. Sorry I don't know what to advise you but just thought I'd give you a bump up the board so someone else will read this.

Fire_Fox

There will be records on Experian that are not on Equifax and vice versa, so you should get both reports and possible CallCredit too. AFAIK CCJs will never fall off your file if they are not settled, so if you want a clean record they will have to be addressed at some point. When is really your call - can you cope with the potential hassle, do you have any spare money, would you rather this was sorted ASAP?

If you have a good relationship with your bank, and make all payments on time then it might be worth querying (rather than challenging) the recent charges. This is money you could be using to pay off another debt, so you want to at least be able to avoid future charges.

willing2learn_3

Thanks Firefox

So it would seem from what you are saying that these payments were not settled then.....and they still don't come off even after 5 years? I'm happy to find a way of settling them but i still would have thought they would come off after 5 years - that way they are not affecting my credit file....oh well, many of us are in the same boat here so i am not complaining, just thinking out loud.

I didn't call the companies today as i had other challenges to deal with but i will do so, maybe after i've got up to date credit records.....

Yes the bank charges could pay part of that debt off - but i don't see them being very helpful and i don't want to get a bad relationship with them.

As for the old bank, still unsure whether to ask for statements from them - i'm sure i've got bank charges from them as i was with them when i had these difficulties in the past. If i've owed them a debt for this amount of time and it was a CCJ though i guess they might have reason to argue against paying back any old bank charges.....

Thanks again and i will welcome any further thoughts :-)

matty538

From what i understood they come off after six years regardless of if theyve been settled or not.

willing2learn_3

Thanks Matty538

it would help if they came off - i'll still sort them out but it would help to clean up my credit rating, especially as the problems only occured because i didn't have any idea (yes i was stupid) as to the damage i was doing to my finances at the time!

MrsTinks

CCJs should drop of your credit report 6 years after the CCJ was granted. I think the creditor can apply to have it extended (no doubt there is a fancy term ) but I am too tired tonight to try and look it up I'm afraid

willing2learn_3

Thanks Mrs Tine

well i phoned up one of the credit companies and they kindly told me that one of the CCJ's has gone off the report......I've also written to the two other credit compnaies to get a check on their reports.

Slowly but surely....

:-)