Urgent Help Needed :(

goob

Hi, this is my first post as I dont know who or where to turn too. I have recently sold a house as I am looking to buy another house with my partner so we moved back in with my parents so we could save for a deposit. Upon moving back I discovered that my mother has a credit card in my name, I knew she once had this card as she was in difficulty a few years back however she had told me that she had paid this off and as far as I was concerned that was the end of the matter. How wrong was I?

I then ordered my credit report as this had late payment charges on there and was over the agreed limit by quite a way. The credit report has 4 missed payments showing as yellow marks and my score is poor because of this, I have had loans, credit cards and a mortgage before and never missed any payments but this is having a MASSIVE affect on my score, I confronted my mother about this and basically she cant afford to pay this off, I have paid enough so its now under the agreed limit but these are still showing.

My mother has said that the company had agreed to get these removed as she was on a payment plan and these payments had in fact been made, this was weeks ago! I have been onto the credit reference agencies and they have asked for it to be removed again over a week ago, and nothing has happened. I just want to know what I can do if this cannot be removed, will this dash my hopes of a mortgage? How long will this last for? How do I get this removed?

I just dont know where to turn and I want to get this sorted out ASAP

Anyone know what I can do???

Thank you

onlypaddy

It is in your name....did you make the application? If not, it's fraud. It's illegal to apply for credit in someone else's name

DarkConvict

If the payments were late, it is upto the creditor to remove them if they want to, as they were marked late because she failed to pay then they are valid and will usually not be removed.

If she is on a payment plan, this is an informal arrangement and as such below the minimum payment on the card (usually 2-5% of the balance), this means that they can continue to place late payments against the account, because a late payment is a payment below the contractual minimum payment, which is what an informal amount would be.

This is why we insist on not putting credit in your name for others to use, as if she can't pay they will chase the account holder which is you, and as you can see already damaging your credit file meaning you can't get the best offers on loans, mortgage deals etc. If however you wish to go down the fraud route which i doubt you will as you have helped your mom, she will be in trouble with the police.

A possible middle ground option, if you can afford it is to pay off the card in full and close the account, with the agreement that any defaults and late payments are removed from the credit file. This is an agreement you would have to agree with the credit card company.
Your credit report contains 6 years of history, so if she is going to struggle for sometime with late payments, it will affect your credit for 6 years from when the account is closed.

GeorgeUK

Not sure there is anything you can actually do. The card was in your name and if the contractual payments weren't made, then it will be reported on your credit file as it is your card and your debt. Even if it was your mother who spend on it.

You need to find out exactly what the situation is.

My mother has said that the company had agreed to get these removed as she was on a payment plan and these payments had in fact been made, this was weeks ago!

This concerns me a little - she was on a payment plan? With who? The creditor or a debt management company?

The agreed payments had been made, but were these payments the originally agreed amounts according to the credit agreement or a later agreement when she got into difficulty?

If they can't be removed, then there isn't really anything that you can do about it. Late payments can impact your credit rating for about a year and then that impact gradually decreases - after 2 years the impact is negligible. For missed payments (and these would need to be the originally agreed amounts, not some later repayment structured ones), the impact may be more severe and last longer.

One other thing that will impact your credit rating is if you are not on the electoral roll at your current address. If you can rectify this you should see an improvement. Also the CRA's often only update their records once a month so if they have been asked to change the record, it may take up to 2 months. At the end of the 1st month they may get the request and then at the end of the 2nd the record could be updated.

LeeSouthEast

Your options are: pay it off, and accept the impact on your credit rating.

Or

Report your mum for fraud and get the whole thing struck from your report.

There isn't really any other option.

MrsTinks

And to answer one of the big questions? The default will fall off 6 years after it was placed - however there might be late payment markers on your account longer than that if it's not paid off...
If you LET her take the card out then that's one matter - if you did not... then it's fraud. If you don't report it then you could end up with a mark against you for being connected with fraud - I don't have to tell you what that could mean for your mortgage chances in the future
Because the late payment markers have been correctly placed and any defaults have been correctly placed as far as the lender is concerned they are under NO obligation to remove the markers from YOUR file.
You can as suggested try to barter with them to have them removed but you may damage your chances of not getting dragged into matters if this becomes a fraud issue... ie if they say no then it's going to be hard for you to claim it was fraud as a second option IYSWIM

goob

Thanks guys, I think the best option is for me to speak to them and see if I clear the balance outstanding in full, will they remove the late payment markers.

Do banks often go for that then? I hope so, I am not thinking of the fraud route.

onlypaddy

they wont remove the late payment markers