Are these defaults unfair

lilyp

Hi there - am new and hoping for some advice.

My partner has trashed his credit rating due to not paying his Halifax credit card for most of last year. We are now desperate for a mortgage and despite paying what was asked all year his Experian still says poor.

Going through his statements even though he has paid the amount asked each month they have said he has paid late and been charged for this. These are showing up on his credit file.

Everytime he has called Halifax to make payments or query anything he has been passed around departments with no answers. We have tried asking them to remove the defaults or tell us how not to default in the future and no one seems to be able to give a straight answer.

has anyone experienced anything similer? Or how do we go about getting the defaults removed and the charges reimbursed?

Thanks, Lily xx

dfwsometimesoon

When u say 'despite paying what was asked all year' do u mean he is now in a reduced repayment plan with them ?

Unless all the arrears from last year have been fully cleared and he is now making at least the minimum payment, they will continue to record as they are doing so. He would need to be completely uptodate with no arrears and making payments on time etc for them to report the account was satisfactory x

Are u not able to check the payment due dates on his statements to make sure payment is made well in advance?

lilyp

Thanks for your reply. I think it was a reduced payment plan but the payments were made on time. Does this mean they are classing it as a latepayment because it wasnt paid when it should have been? (ie last year)

I think he is out of the payment plan as of now and back to normality. Am hoping his Experian report will start to improve.

dfwsometimesoon

If its now all up to date, no repayment plan or arrears then they will start reporting accordingly and it should start to improve, ud prob be looking at the very least 1year of all uptodate payments before looking to apply for a mortgage tho (someone correct if im wrong ty)

gizmo111

My partner has trashed his credit rating due to not paying his Halifax credit card for most of last year. We are now desperate for a mortgage and despite paying what was asked all year his Experian still says poor

This will be why he had a default and the payments he has asked to been made will be a ARP.
It is a true refelection of his abiltiy to mange credit and so will stay there for 6 years from default date.
Mortgage will be hard to find unless you can do it on your own earnings.

RosaBernicia

If you have the statements, surely you should also have the date that the payments were due plus the transactions, and can see whether the money reached them in time?

Even if you missed one month and the payment ended up in the wrong billing cycle, that's only one late payment not several. I'm not clear on how you could consistently be late unless the credit was hitting the account just a couple of days after the due date every time. Or did you mean 'late' in paying at all, and he just didn't pay anything for several months?


Rosa xx

bargainbetty

If he did not pay his credit card for most of last year, he will have negative markers for those months, and defaults can be applied. A default is a reflection of the situation at the time and in this case specfiically applies to a series of non-payments. Why should the bank remove what is an accurate note of what happened?

With regard to not defaulting in future, establish the date payment is required and make the payment before that date. Pay on time. Then you will not pay late fees or get negative markers.

You might be able to claim some of the late fees back under a request for goodwill if you plead poverty, but the fees were correctly applied if the payments were late.

Honestly, and I don't mean to be nasty, until your individual and joint finances are in a better state and under control, you might be better off not going for a mortgage. He is unlikely to get one for a while, so use that time to get everything sorted and save up a deposit etc. If you have the assets to put down a deposit, use them to clear your debts and start saving and rebuilding the credit files. If you don't have assets (5-10% of purchase price seems to be the minimum now) then you won't get the mortgage anyway, as very few places offer 100% mortgages anymore and definitely not to someone with recent defaults.

I'm sorry, I know this isn't what you want to hear.

lilyp

Just wanted to say thank you for all your messages. By some miracle Natwest have given us a mortgage. Very relieved.