Disagreement with Santander means I can't get mortgage!

C.Lightowler

Hi all,

I'm hoping someone can help on this because I am struggling to get an answer elsewhere so here goes...

I'm 24 and a first time buyer. I had a mortgage for £285,000 agreed on principle and so, after I had put an offer on my dream house, the mortgage company ran checks on my credit background.

I was 100% confident that everything would come back with no problems so you can imagine my surprise when it came back that it was "red" next to an alleged Topshop store card by Santander.

They are alleging that I owe them £248 and the payments are now 6 months late. I have asked them to send me copies of the statements and the credit agreement because I deny these charges.

I did in fact have a Topshop card but paid it off in full (£449) back in June 2009 and then never used the card again.

Due to the fact that I am applying for this mortgage on my own it has now been refused and is sickening that I can't get my dream house for a £250 debt that I deny is even mine.

Does anyone have any advice as to what I can do or how I can prove this isn't my debt?!

Thank you!!

MPH80

You've done the right first step - wait for the details to come back and have patience.

Hanky_Panky

You believe you paid it off in 2009 and you may well have but did you get confirmation of this ? Did you also change address soon after ?

These are usually the reasons this type of thing happens. Person believes they've cleared the debt but are actually due closing interest/charges etc, subsequently move and have no knowledge that the lender is still trying to contact them.

Really only thing you can do is confirm with Santander what this debt is for and work from there. May be a mistake that can be rectified easily, may be something you have to grin and bear.

sharpy2010

Hanky_Panky wrote: »

Really only thing you can do is confirm with Santander what this debt is for and work from there. May be a mistake that can be rectified easily, may be something you have to grin and bear.

Whether its a mistake, or anything else, I certainly wouldn't be grinning about it.

Hanky_Panky

sharpy2010 wrote: »

Whether its a mistake, or anything else, I certainly wouldn't be grinning about it.

You've never heard that expression before ?

Hazzinho

Unlucky one thing you have learned now is always check your credit files when applying for credit. Same thing happened to my dad his file was some how mixed with another blokes with the same name who had awful credit.

kev.s

to date i have found santander pretty accomodating(SP) i previously had a debt against my name on my credit file (was not mine) santander pursued the this and removed the entry within a few weeks, i just had to fill out few bits of paper, they don't have the best rep on here but i've found them to be ok to date. each case will be different though. think positive

C.Lightowler

Thanks for all of your replies. I did receive confirmation that I had fully paid off the amount and have proof of this. Even if I can't prove that the charges on the account are mine and I have to pay the amount off myself, what are the chances of Santander agreeing to remove this from my credit file?

My mortgage adviser has said that because of this bad credit rating I will either have to pay a 15% deposit rather than 10% or will get a bad rate

I didn't move house for over a year after I had paid off the outstanding amount so don't understand why I didn't receive any statements or letters asking for money between then and now.