Will paying off a delinquent debt improve credit rating?

witpig

Hi

I have a defaulted account at a bank for £500.
It has been marked as a default on CC so there's nothing to be done about that.
There is nothing listed at all on Experian (yippee!)
At Equifax there are 3 late payments shown and then it says settled, there is a delinquent balance of £500 showing but no default.

At the moment anyone looking at my equifax report could figure out it's pretty much a default, but what if I paid it off? It would still show the late payments but if the balance is zero wouldn't it just look like I closed the account?

elfen

Pay it. It may stop the default and only show the late payments. But it might not have been updated yet with the default, so I'd pay it anyway, just in case, as you could say I paid it off ,can you remove the default and the late payment markers can stay. Better to get rid then wreck your credit rating (I've wrecked mine and only starting to get somewhere with rebuilding it three years later)

witpig

Does anyone know how long after an account is in default that it can take to have it reported to the agencies? On Call Credit the default date is Feb 09 and at Equifax the settled date is Feb 09. Is it likely that my 'settled' at equifax will be changed to default in the future? And seeing as nearly a year has gone by is it likely to be reported to Experian at all?

afzaal1988

well if it doesnt appear on equifax. and does appear on experian. than even if you repay the 500 quids and you mght get away. but still most (well actually all of them) use experian before they open new credit card,bank accout or mortage. only barclaycard credit card use equfax not for normal current accounts though. not really usefull to be honest.