Equifax - Terminology

Brussel_Sprout

hi,

I've just finished paying everything off!! I've dared to sign up to Equifax to take a look at my abysmal credit score.

Hoping someone can enlighten me on what the following mean as its impossible to find out on Equifax!

Up to Date - why does this not say 'settled'?
Deliquent/Defaulted balance - should this not show as 0 if the account is settled in full?

I'm going to write to Natwest as i was told that my defaults would be removed as a condition of settlement - I doubt they will but its worth asking I suppose.

Thanks,

BS x

immoral_angeluk

Brussel_Sprout wrote: »

Up to Date - why does this not say 'settled'?

Because being up to date, and being settled are two different things. Up to date is that the account is running and not in arrears. Settled is where the balance has been paid, or the account has been sold to another company. However, sometimes it takes them a while to update the report if you've only recently paid it off. Anything up to 3 months isn't uncommon.

Deliquent/Defaulted balance - should this not show as 0 if the account is settled in full?

The balance may be 0 if it's been paid in full, but the default will remain on the credit file (with the amount of the default) for 6 years.

I'm going to write to Natwest as i was told that my defaults would be removed as a condition of settlement - I doubt they will but its worth asking I suppose.

Highly unlikely they'll do this. A Default is their report that you have defaulted on your account and they generally terminate your agreement after a it is issued. You will get a default is you are more than 3 months in arrears and fail to remedy it by paying them off within 14 days of your default notice. This is a true representation of your account history so unlikely they'll agree to remove it just because you paid the debt off post default.

Tixy

What shows as up to date? If its a card or similar revolving credit agreement then that implies payments are up to date but the account is still open - you need to formally close the account for it to show as settled. And if you have closed it, how recently? it can easily take a month to show on your credit file, and down to the timing of when their cut off date is for reporting its not uncommon for it to lag 7weeks or so behind.

If its a loan that shows up to date but is paid off and finished - then again it could just be a small delay, if its more than a couple of months since you paid up then worth chasing up the creditor to update your file.

Delinquent / defaulted balance - this should be the balance that was owed at the date you defaulted. As long as it shows the current balance is nil then thats how it should be.

Good luck with natwest - did they confirm in writing that they would remove them?

Brussel_Sprout

Thank you both for replying, I did think i was being a bit optimistic with how quickly they would update my file listings!

Of course not Tixy ;o) I do however have the persons name that i spoke to and the date - and as they say they 'record all phone calls for training and monitoring purposes' so its worth a try at least!

I feel so positive about being debt free, anything to build my rating back up is worth a go!