Credit file marking...Help!!

MK55

Hi all,

In need of some advice about credit files and late payment markers.!

In June 09 abbey national paid money into my account, (£602) in error. It was then taken back out when I alerted them in August 09. We agreed I would pay back £100 per month from September to February in instalments of £100pm.

Those payments had to be made by the 28th of each month, and they were each month. After being turned down for a 0% credit card, for the first time ever, I ordered some credit reports the following appears on the reports;
September (1) = 1 payment late
October (0) upto date
November!(0) upto date
December!(0) upto date
January!!(5) = 5 payment late
February!!(6) = 6 payment late

The advice I need is; I currently have a complaint open with Santander at day 32, they have said they believe they have marked it right and "often update CRA to show your account was in arrears"!

Is this correct? If I am paying back an agreed amount each month should they mark a credit file as late payments if payments are made??

I want to take it to the ombudsman as I feel it is wrong but don't want to sound stupid complaining about something that might be right, Santander are trying to convince me that I'm n the wrong...!

Thanks for your help!!!

Eonel

This should be fairly straightforward to resolve. You can get bank statements that show when you made the payments and compare against Santanders view of the payment dates. If all payments were on time then your credit record should be cleared.

What is not quite so clear is the sequence of events. They put money in your account in June and you notified them in August. I assume you spent the money otherwise you would have paid it back in lump sum. If you had spent the money, why proactively notify them?

MK55

Eonel wrote: »

This should be fairly straightforward to resolve. You can get bank statements that show when you made the payments and compare against Santanders view of the payment dates. If all payments were on time then your credit record should be cleared.

Wht is not so clear is the sequence of events. They put money in your account in June yet you notified them in August. I assume you spent the money otherwise you would have paid it back in lump sum. If you had spent the money, why proactively notify them?

Hi and thanks for helping,

I did indeed use the money or well most of it, I realised the next month then alerted them when I got paid again. If I had noticed straight away I would of certainly paid back in lump sum.

Santander are saying my credit file has been marked as correct, even though they can see the payments for the months in question, guess I'll have to wait for ombudsman.

Eonel

The ombudsman will be a long process and no guarantee they will look closely into your complaint. I would try Santander customer services again and ask them to explain to you why payments have been marked as late when they can clearly be seen as on time.

What reason have they given you so far for the late payment markers?

MK55

Eonel wrote: »

The ombudsman will be a long process and no guarantee they will look closely into your complaint. I would try Santander customer services again and ask them to explain to you why payments have been marked as late when they can clearly be seen as on time.

What reason have they given you so far for the late payment markers?

I'll try them again tomorrow, I've only spoke to them 4 times. Each time I get told ill get a call back. I received a letter yesterday saying they will amend my credit file to show 1,2,3,4,5,6. But not sure what this means so will ring central complaints and ask them what that means. I dread to think that they've amended it to show all payments were late now lol.

YorkshireBoy

The numbers used for current account reporting have different meanings to those used for credit card account reporting...

http://www.experian.co.uk/downloads/consumer/creditfileexplained.pdf (see page 11)

It looks like they're now reporting that "your overdraft balance has been greater than your overdraft limit for 6 months". Is that a true reflection of your account?

MK55

YorkshireBoy wrote: »

The numbers used for current account reporting have different meanings to those used for credit card account reporting...

http://www.experian.co.uk/downloads/consumer/creditfileexplained.pdf (see page 11)

It looks like they're now reporting that "your overdraft balance has been greater than your overdraft limit for 6 months". Is that a true reflection of your account?

Hi,
This is correct...I didn't have an OD and this put me into a - figure. This is why I arranged the overdraft. Surely it shouldn't show as 6 late payments on my credit file though??

YorkshireBoy

MK55 wrote: »

This is correct...I didn't have an OD and this put me into a - figure. This is why I arranged the overdraft.

Are you absolutely sure you have a formal overdraft in place?...or simply an 'arrangement' to repay the debt?

Surely it shouldn't show as 6 late payments on my credit file though??

They're not "late payments". As I said earlier, and from the link provided, the numbers have different meanings for current accounts.

However, as the descriptions given by Experian are only "examples", your best approach would be to ask Santander why, specifically, they're reporting a 1/2/3/4/5/6 sequence since they agreed the repayment plan with you.

MK55

YorkshireBoy wrote: »

Are you absolutely sure you have a formal overdraft in place?...or simply an 'arrangement' to repay the debt?They're not "late payments". As I said earlier, and from the link provided, the numbers have different meanings for current accounts.

However, as the descriptions given by Experian are only "examples", your best approach would be to ask Santander why, specifically, they're reporting a 1/2/3/4/5/6 sequence since they agreed the repayment plan with you.

Hi,

No I did not have an overdraft in place. I had a repayment plan. Still got original letter. I'll ring them tomorrow and ask why they're reporting 1-6... Looking at the experian info a 3 may be correct. They're so useless when you ring them, makes me want to cry inside.

chattychappy

Isn't there some logic to this?

1) The OP received money that wasn't his(hers).

2) OP spent it.

3) So became overdrawn when the money was taken back . No overdraft had been agreed.

True repayments may have been agreed in order to bring the account back into the agreed terms. But isn't it the fact of the over limit status that is being recorded?

MK55

chattychappy wrote: »

Isn't there some logic to this?

1) The OP received money that wasn't his(hers).

2) OP spent it.

3) So became overdrawn when the money was taken back . No overdraft had been agreed.

True repayments may have been agreed in order to bring the account back into the agreed terms. But isn't it the fact of the over limit status that is being recorded?

Hi,
This is correct. However the part I'm unsure of is on experian it lists upto a 6, and when I rang them they said Santander have reported you was 6 months behind on a payment plan.

May be me, I always assumed a payment plan would stop my credit rating being affected. Otherwise I might as well of just paid as and when I wanted and had the same effect??