Can I have a default removed from my credit file?

Futureintatters

As a teenager I was irresponsible and carefree. I did as I pleased and didnt worry about the consequences. At the age of 15 I fraudulently told a catalogue company I was 18 and ordered £22 of products in credit and never paid for them. I ignored any letters from them until they stopped. Now at the age of 20 having entirely forgot about that instance I have been declined for a mortgage as their is a default in my credit file. This is ruining my life and putting a major stress on my relationship. I will of course pay any money I owe without any question including any charges I may have incurred but as this was for such a small amount and was when I was young and stupid is there any way I can go about having this removed from my file?

BigCraigJohn

What date is the default?, generally no once its on there it on there paid or not. If you were 15 that would mean its nearly time up as they are on 6 years.
But this is very different given you were a child when it was placed, whoever gave the credit broke the law but at the same time you committed fraud.
Im not gonna give any advice but I think imo you may be opening a can of worms and better off to sit the 6 years out.

BigCraigJohn

Oh hang on you took the credit at 18. Even so you were underage when opening the account. Sit tight for more advice.

vuittondreamer

There are no removing of defaults for 6 years. You can ask your credit file company to look into the matter, but as BigCraigJohn said as it was fraudalance on your part. best let sleeping dogs lay! frustrating i know but most of us are in the same boat.

Futureintatters

I was only 15 when I took the credit but I did lie about my age, so as you have said I committed fraud. This is why this is such a difficult matter and really causing me problems. I am losing sleep over this and am at a loss as what to do.

BigCraigJohn

Well imo it will do no harm to get it settled, the creditor will then mark it as settled, it will show but it will be a default still just a settled one. I know when applying for mortgages they will see this as a positive and given the amount. From what I gather you can still get mortgages with adverse date, you'll just struggle to get the really competitive rates. However nothing stopping you from moving to a better rate in 4 years.
No point worrying about it, worst case youve got 4 years to save more towards your deposit. I know its not what you want to hear but its far from the end of world, and contrary to what you may think, you are still very young and there is plenty of time for mortgages.
Good luck.

jonjamie1970

She was 15 so she needs to wait another year before the default will be removed from her credit file.

Gordon_Hose

If you wanted a good nights sleep you shouldn't have fraudulently used credit in return for goods with no intention of paying the debt off.

Maybe when you start making credit applications again they'll notice the discrepancy and place a fraud marker on your file, preventing you from getting anymore credit.

rdchick

woah 20 and buying a house!! wish I had your wage!! In theory it should just drop off next year or you can face up to what you did - we all do stupid stuff when we're young and it's partly why there's an age limit on stuff like credit because we think if we can hide long enough then it will go away

Could you not talk to your partner and explain and see if you can wait a year and save up for a bigger deposit and get a better deal?

rdchick

Gordon_Hose wrote: »

If you wanted a good nights sleep you shouldn't have fraudulently used credit in return for goods with no intention of paying the debt off.

Maybe when you start making credit applications again they'll notice the discrepancy and place a fraud marker on your file, preventing you from getting anymore credit.

Hold on Gordon no need to be harsh it was 5 years ago and they were 15!! kids do stuff without knowing/thinking about the consequences. But I bet you were perfect at 15!!

Gordon_Hose

Yeah, some of did some daft things with regards to credit...but I'm pretty sure we didn't defraud catalogue companies for the craic!

Shocking behaviour really. And it's no wonder lenders are getting tighter and tighter, with innocent people feeling the brunt of it.