Punitive Credit Report?

Armchair

Hi All,
Checking my credit reports today I find worrying info and wonder if anyone else has experienced this or whether it is standard practice by the lender.

I'll try and be brief:
In Feb 2003 I defaulted on a credit card, 6 months later I had settled the default and cleared the account.
However, according to the credit report, the lender did not actually close my account until January 2007, leaving the account in the meantime with a credit limit of £1 and an owing balance of £0. I received no statements or communications nor did I hold a card, to my mind the account was closed in 2003.

Now to the worrying part:
Since the account was not closed until 2007 the default is still shown as my worst point and since the record is held on file for 6 years am I to assume that this will remain the case until Jan 2013, i.e. 6 years from the account closure?

Alright, I had problems in the past which I remedied as soon as I was able but am I to be penalised for a total of 10 years?

Any advice or comments appreciated
Thanks for your time
Rod

Tixy

The account will only stay on 6years from the default I think, even if it does stay on longer than that then the default certainly won't show after 6years.
Unless you formally wote to close the account I don't think there is anything you can do to change the info on there.

fermi

Did the lender record a default of your report? If so, on what date?

Armchair

The default was recorded by the lender in Feb of 2003 and the account marked as 'OK payment on time' from Aug 2003 until Jan 2007 when it was marked with a '(S) : The account has been closed following settlement'

Hence it is already more than 6 years from Aug 2003, yet my score with Equifax is still 557 with 'worst' showing as a default. (Using checkmyfile.com terminology)...

DVardysShadow

Armchair wrote: »

The default was recorded by the lender in Feb of 2003 and the account marked as 'OK payment on time' from Aug 2003 until Jan 2007 when it was marked with a '(S) : The account has been closed following settlement'

Hence it is already more than 6 years from Aug 2003, yet my score with Equifax is still 557 with 'worst' showing as a default. (Using checkmyfile.com terminology)...

If you settled in Aug 2003, that is when any settlement should be marked. It is unfair processing of your data to record it any later. This should ahve been off in August last year.

Armchair

DVardysShadow wrote: »

If you settled in Aug 2003, that is when any settlement should be marked. It is unfair processing of your data to record it any later. This should ahve been off in August last year.

Hi,
The time of the default had been recorded correctly in Aug 2003.

What I thought should happen is as time goes by the 6+ years old data would drop off the report. However there is stuff in the credit card part of the report going back to 2002.

Can anyone comment on whether this an error/oversight or standard practice?
Thanks again
Rod

Armchair

Having made further investigations into this with Equifax it turns out I wasn't actually defaulted on the cards but had made an 'arrangement to pay'.

Now for some reason Barclaycard held the accounts open for a further 4 years after I settled and paid them off. This means the arangement to pay 'black mark' will stay on the report until 2013. (If I had actually defaulted it would have been expunged last year in 2009)

To add further confusion the partial account numbers Equifax quote are different to the account numbers on my Barclays correspondence.

I've taken the problem to Barclays, who, after I've waited 4 weeks (+25 minutes on the phone just now), inform me that no one has yet been assigned to my complaint and that I must wait a total of 8 working weeks before I can expect a reply. (Roll on Sept 8)

I wanted to apply for a mortgage at the beginning of July but dare not while this remains unsolved....BTW my Experian score is over 700 and Callcredit score over 900 so go figure.....