Credit Report - Removing Marks/Defaults

droopzjnr

Hi All,

I hope someone here can help clear something up for me. I've read on here in a number of different threads that people have had marks or defaults removed from their credit reports.

I've know about 2 particular 'marks' on my credit report with both experian and equifax with my (now closed) HSBC current account. When the account was used, only ever used as a bills account, with no overdraft whatsoever, however on 2 seperate occasions there was not enough money in the account to cover my phone bill direct debit (usually not enough by about £3) however HSBC then bounced the direct debit, charged me £25 for the privilege but also marked my account, which are some of you may know when looking at the credit report shows an amber colour '1' and after querying this with HSBC they said that they are well within their rights to do so and they can not remove the mark! However I feel this is a complete mis-representation of my financial situation and is having an adverse effect on my obtaining credit.

I have seen on a number of threads people have complained to companies using some information from learnmoneydotcodotuk and have had their reports changed... but is that mark on my account a default? or just a mark? I'm a bit confused but also like I said, really feel like its a mis-representation, its not like my account was even overdrawn overnight!

Any help would really be appreciated?

Many Thanks

Andy

topcat9

Hi droopzjnr,

A '1' on your credit report for a current account indicates that either you have gone over your overdraft limit or the bank has bounced a payment - from what you have said, you had 2 direct debits bounced so HSBC are correct in what they have done. These indicators are sometimes referred to as defaults, because you have not met the terms of your agreement with your creditor, however they are not official/legal 'defaults' - this is where the creditor has issued you with a default notice, you have not taken action to address the default and they have ended the agreement with you (I'm assuming that it was you who closed the account with HSBC and that you never received a default notice?)

The good news is that whilst an official default is really awful news for your credit rating, a couple of '1's are nowhere near as bad, as long as the rest of your report is clean. As the months go by they become less and less important, so if you are planning to get more credit I would maybe hold off for a little while just to be on the safe side.

nottoolate

what they have recorded is accurate so its going to stay