FTB advice - default

aha77

Hi all, I'm after a bit of advice. My wife and I are hoping to buy our first home next year. Should have a 20% deposit (combination of savings and gift from parents).

I've been going through my CRA reports and everything was fine, no late/missed payments, all accounts settled - I have no debt as all has been paid off in full over the last 18 months. However, today a default has appeared on experian for £20. This apparently relates to a British Gas bill from Nov 2006. I moved from London to Edinburgh in August of that year and closed the account down - paying it in full. The default is dated August 2008 so wont drop off until 2014, which seems a bit harsh as it was registered nearly 2 years from when the first late marker appears. I've yet to pay the default as BG has not been able to find my account from that period - spoke to five different departments today and no one can find any record of me for the outstanding amount. Also one month after default was registered in 2008 I had another contract with BG, which is puzzling if I defaulted in the first place.

Sorry for the ramble, thought Id get the facts in. My actual question is if I cant get the default removed and have to pay it what impact is this going to have on mortgage applications? It does seem a bit harsh to be turned down for a £20 default which at worse is a genuine mistake when moving home 6 years ago.

Incidently, only looking to borrow <2.5x joint salary with 20% deposit. Any help advice would be much appreciated as I'm stressing!!!

ACG

At 20% deposit it shouldnt matter too much, but some of the stricter lenders might have issues with it.

Dave_Ham

Complain to BG in writing and by phone and you will need to make a pest of yourself. This process is sometimes quick and sometimes painfully slow.

Whilst you will have options now, the options will increase and the solutions will be better if you get this removed (obvious I know)

Good luck

aha77

Thanks for the replies, I'm currently waiting for them to get back to me - apparently their archive department needs to look for my account! For once they were actually quite helpful. The fact that they have details for every person that lived in the property before me and subsequently I'm hopeful that its a mix up of sorts.