Help please - default - gutted!

cord123

Hello all!

I posted a couple of weeks ago that I was over the moon to realise that by the end of next year I will be completely debt free. I logged onto experian thinking I will spend the year making my credit rating good etc...

On there I found I had a default I knew nothing about! It is from HSBC.... Basically, I had an overdraft with HSBC that I had agreed to pay off by £20 a month. I was doing this and then logged on line to check the balance and the account was gone. I went into the branch and they couldnt understand what was happening and it transpired that they had sold the debt to metropolitan. Metropolitan were really good and I managed to pay the debt off in 3 months. All good I thought. Then I find this!!

I was never told that I incurred this default and am gutted! Is there a way I can get it taken off? What are the affects of it? I have read it is treated as a CCJ?

Really upset! I am still paying off my debt and did an experian credit checker and it said that my credit rating could be back up to very good by next year.. is this correct? I dont plan on applying for any credit at all and as I say have no debt by next year......

Also, has anyone got any tips on improving your credit rating....?

Many thanks

Zoe

Tixy

When you were paying back £20 a month was that because the overdraft had been recalled and you couldn't pay off in full?

What is the date of the default? does it show on your credit file that is has been paid now?
A default can be nearly as bad as a CCJ - but a paid up one is better than an outstanding one. It will stay on for 6years from the date of the default. But the older it gets the less of an impact it will have.

MoneyWasting_Expert

Tixy do you know just how bad a default is to a credit report?

I have 7 defaults on file. 4 of them satisfied, 2 outstanding which are currently be paid off, not too mention that 1 of them carries a monthly payment history and another 1 which is sitting at a balance of 50pounds paid to a doorstep collector though despite a Equifax dispute and still not updated. Oldest default - 22/5/2008 Latest Default - 30/9/2009. Most defaulted accounts were during 2009.

McKneff

cord123 wrote: »

Hello all!

I posted a couple of weeks ago that I was over the moon to realise that by the end of next year I will be completely debt free. I logged onto experian thinking I will spend the year making my credit rating good etc...

On there I found I had a default I knew nothing about! It is from HSBC.... Basically, I had an overdraft with HSBC that I had agreed to pay off by £20 a month. I was doing this and then logged on line to check the balance and the account was gone. I went into the branch and they couldnt understand what was happening and it transpired that they had sold the debt to metropolitan. Metropolitan were really good and I managed to pay the debt off in 3 months. All good I thought. Then I find this!!

I was never told that I incurred this default and am gutted! Is there a way I can get it taken off? What are the affects of it? I have read it is treated as a CCJ?

Really upset! I am still paying off my debt and did an experian credit checker and it said that my credit rating could be back up to very good by next year.. is this correct? I dont plan on applying for any credit at all and as I say have no debt by next year......

Also, has anyone got any tips on improving your credit rating....?

Many thanks

Zoe

If you think mistakes have been made by HSBCs or the DC company then fight it all the way, its the only way to get it removed.
My daughter did this last year and it was deleted and she was given compensation.

cord123

McKneff wrote: »

If you think mistakes have been made by HSBCs or the DC company then fight it all the way, its the only way to get it removed.
My daughter did this last year and it was deleted and she was given compensation.

Thank you! I will!

Basically, what happened was my (now husband) and I set up a joint account with halifax so I never used my HSBC account. I receieved a letter from them saying that my overdraft had been reviewed and it was being withdrawn. When I called them they were fine and said that the terms of the overdraft (this is from memory so slightly sketchy!) was that I needed to pay over £1k in a month. I spoke with someone and he said that I would need to pay x amount into the account and then set up an so to pay the balance. I said that I could do this when i got paid (a week later). He then said that after i would get a phone call from the collections dept.
A week later I call up and pay the amount promised and set up my so. all is good.... i didnt get the phone call but didnt worry to much about it as i had done what i was told to do. It was only when I got overtime and wanted to pay more of my balance off I found they had given my account to these debt people 2 days before.
It is all paid off now... will check it is on my credit file.

Is there a template letter I can send my cheeky friends at HSBC?

bottleofred

MoneyWasting_Expert wrote: »

Tixy do you know just how bad a default is to a credit report?

I have 7 defaults on file. 4 of them satisfied, 2 outstanding which are currently be paid off, not too mention that 1 of them carries a monthly payment history and another 1 which is sitting at a balance of 50pounds paid to a doorstep collector though despite a Equifax dispute and still not updated. Oldest default - 22/5/2008 Latest Default - 30/9/2009. Most defaulted accounts were during 2009.

I don't speak on behalf of Tixy, but wanted to explain that defaults on a credit file are bad and make it very difficult to get credit etc. While you will find some lenders who provide mortgages for people with defaults, the interest rates are usually higher. The default stays on your credit file for a total of 6 years from the date it was applied, after which time it drops off your credit file. As Tixy has already explained, settled defaults are much better than unsettled and give people a better opportunity to get some credit.

MoneyWasting_Expert

Lucky for me I don't plan on getting a mortgage or any more credit. Just really want a good credit history in the future and not feel shamed if employers etc are checking it out. Hopefully my CF does represent a positive turn around in behaviour at present.

P.S from collecting data to make my earlier post, I just learned that I was accepted for my Barclaycard Platinum, a month after a just got rewarded a default on my credit file back in June 2008. If I am right in saying though that was around the last push before the industry tighten its belts with the recession and everything else.