URGENT HELP! Remove unaware 2 year old late payment from credit report

cnuk

I just run a credit report, which shows that I have an outstanding payment £25 since November 2009 with Vodafone. I wasn't unware of this payment at all for the past more than two year. I spoke to Vodaphone collection team, they said that it is for my final bill two years ago. I can now recall that I cancelled contract with Vadafone in September and moved home in November 2009. This payment must be fell off then. All the correspondance must be sent to my old address. Could I anyone kindly advise me what I shall do please? Who shall I speak to get this removed, or if this cannot be removed, what I can do to minimise the impact on my credit rating. I am so desparate. Any help would be really appreciated!

shannon_brown

cnuk wrote: »

I just run a credit report, which shows that I have an outstanding payment £25 since November 2009 with Vodafone. I wasn't unware of this payment at all for the past more than two year. I spoke to Vodaphone collection team, they said that it is for my final bill two years ago. I can now recall that I cancelled contract with Vadafone in September and moved home in November 2009. This payment must be fell off then. All the correspondance must be sent to my old address. Could I anyone kindly advise me what I shall do please? Who shall I speak to get this removed, or if this cannot be removed, what I can do to minimise the impact on my credit rating. I am so desparate. Any help would be really appreciated!

First you need to clear that Vodafone payment, Vodafone will send update to Credit Agencies which will then update your Credit Report!!
It take about a month or two!! If it doesn't get rectify then speak to Credit Agencies i.e. Experian who will then contact Vodafone to confirm and then update your Credit Report!!!

cnuk

Thanks for the advice. I shall contact Vodafone tomorrow to make the payment. As far as I understand, even after the payment is cleared, the late payment would still be on my file and lower my credit rating significantly. How do I have this removed or what can I do to minimise the impact on the rating?

Thrugelmir

cnuk wrote: »

How do I have this removed or what can I do to minimise the impact on the rating?

No removal, its an accurate record.

Maintain an impeccable financial record from now on.

MoneyMagic01273

You have a couple of options that may work.

If this was a genuine error and the debt is not disputed you could contact vodaphone in writing and advise them of this. Explain the situation, apologise and highlight your otherwise good record with them up to that point and offer them a payment of £50 to cover both the £25 debt plus interest if they agree to remove the default . A show of goodfaith might work (you never know). It's a slim chance though and they are under no obligation to oblige your request.

Option 2, lie. If you cancelled over the phone, you could tell them you gave your new forwarding address at the time you cancelled and suggest that they failed to update their records and forward remaining bills to your new address. Is lying right? No. Could it help you get the default removed? Potenially. You asked what your options were and this is one. Decide for yourself if this one is worth trying.

Option 3 - I believe both experian and equifax allow you to place an explanatory "comment" of your own on your file should you wish to explain to potential future creditors reviewing your file of any mitigating circumstances surrounding a debt. Not sure what you could write against this other than highlight it was a genuine error related to an address change and a recently cancelled account, point out it was settled as soon as you were made aware of the small amount still owed. Please be aware that these kinds of updates to your file may prevent credit applications from being instantly decisioned (not always a bad thing) as it can trigger a manual review of your file giving lenders an opportunity to read the file comments. I should also point out I have no personal experience as to whether something like this noted on your file actually does help lessen the effect of a default/late payment. Other posters may have more knowledge of this than I do.

kingstreet

Is this late payment a default?

It's been a long time for it to have been left at only late payment stage.

Conrad

MoneyMagic01273 wrote: »

that they failed to update their records and forward remaining bills to your new address.

This wont work. It is an individuals responsibility to ensure TEHY know what debts they have and when they are due. It is not for any organisation to remind them.

Your moving address is irrelevant. It's like me moving address and then not paying my staff and somehow claiming the move lead to me forgetting my duty.

When you sign a credit agreement YOU take responsibility to pay on time in full, COME WHAT MAY. You cannot abbrogate this responsibility by moving address, it's actually pathetic when people make this claim to me (it wasn't my fault, I was on holiday / moved home /no one told me yada yada).

cnuk

kingstreet wrote: »

Is this late payment a default?

It's been a long time for it to have been left at only late payment stage.

You are right. The status is default. What is the difference between default and late payment? Does default a lot of worse than later payment? What can default do to me?

cnuk

MoneyMagic01273 wrote: »

You have a couple of options that may work.

If this was a genuine error and the debt is not disputed you could contact vodaphone in writing and advise them of this. Explain the situation, apologise and highlight your otherwise good record with them up to that point and offer them a payment of £50 to cover both the £25 debt plus interest if they agree to remove the default . A show of goodfaith might work (you never know). It's a slim chance though and they are under no obligation to oblige your request.

Option 2, lie. If you cancelled over the phone, you could tell them you gave your new forwarding address at the time you cancelled and suggest that they failed to update their records and forward remaining bills to your new address. Is lying right? No. Could it help you get the default removed? Potenially. You asked what your options were and this is one. Decide for yourself if this one is worth trying.

Option 3 - I believe both experian and equifax allow you to place an explanatory "comment" of your own on your file should you wish to explain to potential future creditors reviewing your file of any mitigating circumstances surrounding a debt. Not sure what you could write against this other than highlight it was a genuine error related to an address change and a recently cancelled account, point out it was settled as soon as you were made aware of the small amount still owed. Please be aware that these kinds of updates to your file may prevent credit applications from being instantly decisioned (not always a bad thing) as it can trigger a manual review of your file giving lenders an opportunity to read the file comments. I should also point out I have no personal experience as to whether something like this noted on your file actually does help lessen the effect of a default/late payment. Other posters may have more knowledge of this than I do.

Thanks for the advice. I took your first suggestion. I paid the bill over the phone. The guy took my payment forwarded me his request to quality service department to update my credit record. I 've also wrote a letter to explaining my situation. Not sure whether this will help. I'm praying they would remove the bad history. I will send the same letter to customer relationship manager. Fingers crossed!

ACG

They wont remove the default from your account because by law theyre now allowed.
They have give an accurate representation of your account. 1 late payment left for 3 years goes to a default.... so its an accurate representation.
Just like the other 11, 17 or 23 months you were with them were showing as paid on time is an accurate representation.

The only way it could be removed is if it were their mistake...eg there was no money owing at that point in time (paying it off now doesnt count as that money was still owed).

Sorry, this is one of those things where it will have to be taken as a lesson learnt.
It will hve a negative effect on your credit file, some lenders wont accept you, the good thing is that it was a long time ago. Most lenders will accept you in around 3-6 months. Some will require longer and some will accept you straight away.

Any mortgages going forward i suggest you look at their criteria before aplying or consult a mortgage advisor.

Sorry if that post is quite straight and direct but you seem to be bnder the impression they will/should removed and they wont.

cnuk

cnuk wrote: »

ACG wrote: »

Any mortgages going forward i suggest you look at their criteria before aplying or consult a mortgage advisor.

Many thanks. What kind of criteria shall I look for when applying for mortgage? Since it has been paid now, when would be the best time to start trying mortgage?