A tale of post bankruptcy clean-up

4$£&*(£$&*(!

As you may know I've been supporting someone through a bankruptcy, and now I've been dealing with their credit file.

First things first, applying for the credit report. Experian is a free trial. As is Equifax, however you only get one full report in your trial, it's not constantly updated like Experian, so to avoid any post trial charges I decided to cancel the trial almost immediately after I obtained the report.

Various companies involved. Max Recovery was on there, and I dealt with Eversheds as this is their main company. Very easy to deal with. One recorded letter, few emails, they made a small error which was corrected fast as soon as I provided a screen print of the section of credit reporting I was unhappy with.

Lloyds TSB however - entirely different story. They've ignored my recorded letter, they sent a courtesy reply by email to say it had been passed to the relevant department but that was it. I have since registered a formal complaint with the ICO.

Capital One sold debt onto Cabot. They refused to accept they was responsible for updating the information point blank. The most they did was to tell Cabot of my concerns, but nothing else. When threatened with the Financial Ombudsman for their actions, they replied by email to advise I had their final response for complaint purposes.

The store cards - couple of them, these were passed onto Link Financial and Max. Here's where it gets tricky. Link then sold the debt onto CL Finance, who - two months into the bankruptcy - applied a CCJ. The forms were never received as the person had moved address. CL Finance have not responded to a recorded letter, and their solicitors have equally remained silent.

Because I am so concerned about the CCJ I decided to find out the best person to contact at the top. The storecards are your standard run of the mill ones you can get from GE Money. As I found out, they have been brought out, by the banking giant Santander. I've managed to find an email address for Antonio Horta-Osorio and told him the situation. The CCJ is now in the process of being 'set aside'.

A DWP debt was also passed to Eversheds and this was only discovered by accident when the person called to check the debt had been written off as we're ensuring every single debt is marked as fully settled whether it appears on the credit check or not.

I hope this gives people some useful information, and it is worthwhile doing this. Had it not been for this, we would never have discovered the CCJ, and we've all heard stories of the bailliff who takes action first and asks questions later so better we found out this way than when a bailliff turns up.

Good luck to anyone who is about to become discharged.

Lost2

Thanks for that CS

CJV_2

Very useful to know, thanks CS.

Princess9

Hi CS

Can you help me - i have mostly finished cleaning up my file, but MBNA which has been passed to Eversheds still have my account as default, and that i borrowed £4 million (Iwish!!!) Wondered if the error you mentioned was similar, and who you contacted as they do not seem to be moving on mine. Thanks!

philnicandamy

If they're not changing details you've asked to change despite asking....then you need to contact the information commisioners office (the ICO) with a complaint against the company refusing to do what you asked.....

http://www.ico.gov.uk/

Princess9

Yeah, I tried that I sent everything recorded delivery etc etc and heard nothing back AT ALL from ICO so just strarting from scratch, writing to Eversheds again, and MBNA agaun, with all previous correspondance, and submitting again to ICO. Just wonderd wher OP sent info to or if email was used?

slowtraintodawn

Ive just got back from my Bankruptcy hearing, me and my husband. What a relief,I didnt sleep a wink last nght,I must have worried about every Implication. Today is a nerw start. T:beer:hanks to everyone for their advice, its really been useful xx

4$£&*(£$&*(!

Princess9 wrote: »

Hi CS

Can you help me - i have mostly finished cleaning up my file, but MBNA which has been passed to Eversheds still have my account as default, and that i borrowed £4 million (Iwish!!!) Wondered if the error you mentioned was similar, and who you contacted as they do not seem to be moving on mine. Thanks!

Try emailing creditreporting@eversheds.com, and try also marking it Dear xxx - the two names I have been dealing with include Lisa Huyton and Jamie Dickerson. May be a good 'hook' to get you in.

If you can send either a screenprint or a scan of the document in question this is helpful evidence to them - they don't like chasing ghosts so ideally need to see the error.

Princess9

Thanks CS, will try that!

FACEDUPTOITATLAST

I am due to be discharged on 18th August, and got my credit file from equifax and Experian a month ago, My BR doesn't even show up on Equifax, but all defaulted accounts have been removed already. Looks like I only have to make sure that my BR gets updated once discharged.

4$£&*(£$&*(!

Usually the defaulted accounts will stay but be marked as settled and the settlement date will be the date of bankruptcy. It's best to wait for a month after bankruptcy before applying for your credit reports, this is when you need to identify errors.