My Experian Credit Report - Advise Needed

Private_and_Confidential

***Apologies if this is in the wrong forum - Please advise and I'll move if necessary***

After being turned down for credit recently, I became worried that there may be something bogus on my credit report so today I obtained my credit report from Experian.

To be honest, all seems to be in order with nothing too scary on there. I did pick up on a couple of things though which I'm hoping you can advise.

• The report states that in the past 3 months my credit report has been searched only once, but I know that recently I have applied for loans from a few companies. Will these show on my credit report soon or at all?
• I have a Default on there from O2 for just £14. I'm going to call them to try and resolve, but is there any way of having this removed? It seems a bit harsh to be judged on a £14 default although I did default in Aug '08 so it's been longstanding.
• I'm not on the voters roll - Which is a suprise. How do I get myself added? I assume this will strenghten my credit score.
• I paid off my HSBC Credit Card on 23rd March, however the balance is still showing of £1407. How often is this updated?

Thanks in advance.

Rich.

Tixy

The electoral roll is maintained by each local authority - which should be your local district council (or city council). You need to contact them to register. The register is updated monthly I think so it will probably take a month or so to appear on your credit reports. This should definately improve your report.

Have you checked all credit agency reports? Experian and Equifax are the most common but there is also callcredit. Different companies search different agencies so your searches may appear on the other agencies reports. (A default will almost always appear on all).

I think HSBC will update your record monthly but it could take 6weeks to appear depending on the update date and the pay off date.

Not sure about having a default removed - you can have it marked as settled if you pay it I think - hopefully someone else will post more on this for you.

GeorgeUK

The report states that in the past 3 months my credit report has been searched only once, but I know that recently I have applied for loans from a few companies. Will these show on my credit report soon or at all?

They should show as soon as the search is done. It may depend however on which CRA's the companies use. You can usually have about 3 credit searches i na 6 month period before your credit rating is affected.

I have a Default on there from O2 for just £14. I'm going to call them to try and resolve, but is there any way of having this removed? It seems a bit harsh to be judged on a £14 default although I did default in Aug '08 so it's been longstanding.

Harsh yes, but they are within their rights to do this and may refuse to take it off your account as you missed the payments. Did you receive a default notice? This should have been issued before the default was put on your account and would have given you (i think) 7 days to make the payment. If you didn't receive the default notice then you should be able to argue your case but it won't be easy. If they say they can't remove the default, they're full of it.

I'm not on the voters roll - Which is a suprise. How do I get myself added? I assume this will strenghten my credit score.

Not being on the electoral roll will have a big impact on your score. I'm not sure how often the CRA's update their electoral roll information but you should definately be on it.
http://www.aboutmyvote.co.uk/

I paid off my HSBC Credit Card on 23rd March, however the balance is still showing of £1407. How often is this updated?

The bank may update the CRA at the end of the month, then the CRA may update their records at the end of the next month. Any longer than this and i would be asking questions.

Private_and_Confidential

Quick update (thanks to those of you who've responded so far)...

I have a Default on there from O2 for just £14. I'm going to call them to try and resolve, but is there any way of having this removed? It seems a bit harsh to be judged on a £14 default although I did default in Aug '08 so it's been longstanding.

Well I spoke with O2 to lean that the £14 debt is with a Debt Collection Agency, who I've called up and settled the £14 bill. Just hoping now that the experian records are updated - SEMI-RESULT !!

I'm not on the voters roll - Which is a suprise. How do I get myself added? I assume this will strenghten my credit score.

I've just spoken to my local council, and they are snding me a form to have me and my wife added to the Electoral Register - RESULT !!


So my next steps are to...

• Keep an eye on the HSBC amount to make sure it's 'settled' soon.
• Obtain the Credit Reports from the other agencys out there.

--- Any progress is good progress ---

GeorgeUK

Did you ask O2 about removing the default?
Did you get a notice of default at the time?

Private_and_Confidential

GeorgeUK wrote: »

Did you ask O2 about removing the default?
Did you get a notice of default at the time?

I'll be back in touch with 02 maybe mid next week as by then the £14 to O2 via the Debt Collection Agency will have cleared. Then I'll be requesting that they correct my Credit File.

TBH I got a lot of letters from 02 and some I only vaguey read so I couldn;t confirm whether I got a notice of default or not.

Hopefully they'll be open to reason when I call next week.

Thanks for your help so far....:beer: