Your Credit Rating: How it works and How to improve it Discussion Area

gax23

tmd wrote: »

Hi,

Does the Direct Debit late payment affect the Credit History. I recently changed a direct debit to my another Bank A/C. During this period, the monthly payments setup as direct debit was not paid. I noticed this after the second months due. I paid it for two monts in total with my card then. Does this late payment do affect my Credit History,

Can i claim against the bank who agreed to change this direct debit with one signature, but not intimated me the payments due arrived nor paid.

Regards,

tmd

Yes, late payments will affect your credit history.

dac_2

beware: have recently viewed my credit report on experian and then cancelled the free membership but was told would still be valid for the rest of the 30 days. 3 days before my time was up decided to get the dreaded credit score. this is a paid for service-£5.95. HOWEVER was unable to access the site all through the w/end and evening and early hours. had no option other than to rejoin. have asked for the monthly membership fee which they have charged me to be refunded as could not access site and all they say is t&c's state that they update at night. pointed out tried to access all w/end but they still refuse to refund.

cariad84

What does the term 'late payment' actually denote on a person's credit report (i.e. does it just literally mean a late payment on store card/credit card/loan or does it refer to something else?).

I've managed to claim back two bank charges on the grounds that they were the result of a bank error, but I've looked at my credit report and found 5 late payments during the period when I had entered an unauthorised overdraft as a result of those charges. I'm confused as I didn't receive a single letter demanding payment so I don't understand how my credit report can now show late/missed payments.

I wonder how many others are clocking up defaults on their credit report whilst waiting for a response to charges claims following the end of the test case eek!

Thanks in advance for your help!

dac_2

are u sure u requested the free report or the credit score which u have to pay for?

dalumsden1 wrote: »

Does anyone know exactly how to view the free credit report and such on Experian? I applied, got no confirmation which annoyed me but managed to get in after a while and it says I'll be charged just under £5 for a report. Was there a special link I missed?

IWasWondering...

Hi Everyone,

Can anyone offer any advice please?

I applied for an Asda credit card (only wanted it for fuel purchases as they offer 2p per litre discount). Shock - they turned me down. Not that I'm bothered. So I thought I would do as Martin recommends and check my credit files as all Asda said was I didn't meet their criteria.

So earlier this month I sent letters off to Experian, Callcredit and Equifax with a cheque for £2.

Callcredit replied promptly with my report - confirming my name, address and that I am on the Electoral Roll. No other information on report, which is what I expected to be honest - no debts, no mortgage and pay off my credit card in full each month.

Experian - still waiting for report to arrive.

Equifax wrote and sent me their own form to fill in. I thought fair enough and filled it in. The only extra information I put in it were my telephone numbers (mobile and landline) and email address. I did not fill in previous address details (only because I have lived at my present address since 1995 - so over the 6 year requirement to supply previous address details).
Today I come home from work and find a letter from Equifax. Eagerly opened it expecting to see a credit report to find yet another request for more information. It states "I wish to apply under Section 7 of the above Act for a copy of the file (if any) held by Equifax, which relates to me" and they want 2 photocopied documents (to validate my residency? I thought that's what the electoral roll check was for?), they are asking for:
* Utility bill
* Bank or credit card statement
* Letting/lease agreement
:eek: Now call me Paranoid - but I have no wish to supply them with copies of my utility bills. I do not wish to tell them where I bank or with whom I have a credit card. Don't have a letting/lease agreement.
:mad: I am getting annoyed with them now because I have supplied them with the information they need (name, address and DoB) to send me a copy of my credit report. I even re-sent the information on their own form.

I have now jumped to the conclusion that they are asking me to supply them with this information just so they can open a credit file for me and it's costing me £2 for the honour!

So now we get to the reason for this post.

Can anyone offer a valid argument as to why I should tell them?

Otherwise I am going to write back and tell them to either send me the report or refund my £2. As far as I'm concerned I have sent the information required to enable them to supply a report so I can't see that they have a valid reason for not sending it.

Sorry it's such a long post, thanks for reading this far.

Appreciate any advice. Interested in your comments. Anyone else had a similar experience? Thank you.

ShelfStacker_3

IWasWondering... wrote: »

Now call me Paranoid - but I have no wish to supply them with copies of my utility bills. I do not wish to tell them where I bank or with whom I have a credit card.

erm... they're a credit reference agency, they already know!

IWasWondering...

ShelfStacker

Forgive me for asking the question - but if they already know why are they asking me to supply them with a utility bill/bank statement/credit card statement?

I was under (the obviously mistaken) impression that credit reference agencies gathered information on credit defaulters?

So you are saying that their records are so huge that they list every single person cross-referenced by utility company/bank/credit card holdings/lease agreements/etc/etc.?

On that argument alone I shall write back and tell them to stop asking questions when they already know the answers. Thanks for your helpful post.

danthemoneysavingman

IWasWondering... wrote: »

ShelfStacker

Forgive me for asking the question - but if they already know why are they asking me to supply them with a utility bill/bank statement/credit card statement?

I was under (the obviously mistaken) impression that credit reference agencies gathered information on credit defaulters?

So you are saying that their records are so huge that they list every single person cross-referenced by utility company/bank/credit card holdings/lease agreements/etc/etc.?

On that argument alone I shall write back and tell them to stop asking questions when they already know the answers. Thanks for your helpful post.

They want a utility bill as it proves you live at that address - as you received the bill. it is an anti-fraud measure.

CRAs gather all information on credit-takers that is made available to them by their subscribers, i.e. most financial institutions that provide credit of any type. This allows risk assessment, not just avoidance of uncredit-worthy types.

Yes their database is immense, they hold everything they've ever collated.

Writing back as you suggest will get you nowhere. It seems perhaps you don't understand why you want your credit file! I suggest you read Martin's articles on the subject again. Not being rude, just trying to help. :-)

giantjstack

After my partner was refused for a credit card to enable him to do a balance transfer, he decided to do as Martin suggests and checked his credit score out with the three companies.
We found that two entries on the credit report had defaulted and were not his own but his fathers. He hasn't been able to contact him for 4 years and he'd never had any kind of financial commitments with,yet does have the same name as his father (apart from their middle initial).
So it seems that the information that the credit check companies had was wrong and because his father's accounts had defaulted, this was badly effecting my partners credit score rating - big time!!
We are in the process of making sure that changes are made and that all the wrong third party information is removed asap - well,as fast as Experian and Natwest will go!

So my question is:
Due to the interest that he's been paying while waiting for Natwest to make the changes (for over three months now!) that they were responsible for not checking properly in the first place - is he entitled to claim compensation from the Natwest Bank ??

CannyJock

giantjstack wrote: »

Due to the interest that he's been paying while waiting for Natwest to make the changes (for over three months now!) that they were responsible for not checking properly in the first place - is he entitled to claim compensation from the Natwest Bank ??

Interest on what? On the card that he wanted to do a balance transfer from? Natwest aren't liable for your partners balance or ability to pay the credit card, so from a legal point of view you've not got a leg to stand on. You can ask them and hope that you get something from a customer service point of view. Why not ask them for a 0% balance transfer with no fees and see if you get any luck that way?